Nikos Kapetanios

Observations from a small house on the moon explores how perception is shaped through our relationship with ourselves, others and the environments we inhabit. The title refers to a position of looking from a distance while remaining connected to the world being observed.

I came in this position growing up queer and learning to relate to the world through distance, observation, and careful attention. In my research I explore the possibility of being beside: a way of existing alongside dominant ways of seeing while creating space for other ways of sensing and relating.

For the graduation show the research takes the form of an interactive installation consisting of murals, live projection, text fragments and participatory tools. One mural begins from an image of the self, while the other begins from fragments of a dusk sky. A live projection responds to movement within the space: moving bodies become visible, while stillness gradually fades into black. As visitors move through the installation, they become part of the conditions through which the work appears.

The murals function as layered surfaces that can be scratched and torn. Through these actions, visitors reveal photographs, texts, and traces hidden underneath. The work draws on the idea of the palimpsest: a surface where layers accumulate, are removed, and remain partially present. Scratching interrupts the surface of the image and allows other images and relations to emerge. Because visitors do not know exactly what lies underneath, participation is guided by both choice and chance.

Rather than presenting a fixed narrative, the installation stays in a state of becoming. Its meaning is shaped through attention, movement, touch, and the connections visitors make between its different elements. Through this, the installation creates conditions to observe differently: to notice how perception is formed, how it becomes familiar, and how it might shift.

The installation invites visitors to spend time, explore the layers, and reflect on their own ways of seeing, sensing, remembering, and relating.