Three questions to Daphne Klagkou
About Daphne Klagkou
Daphne Klagkou (1996, Thessaloniki, Greece) is a multidisciplinary visual artist with a primary focus on ceramics and glass sculpture. She completed her integrated master’s degree in Fine Arts at Athens School of Fine Arts in 2021, and completed a Master of Glass and Ceramics Art & Science at Vicarte (FCT NOVA and FBAUL), in 2024. She is based in Athens and Lisbon. Her artwork explores subjects such as power relations and internal and social mechanisms.
Your works often evoke strong emotions and reflection — how do you envision the audience interacting with your pieces?
I am always hopeful that the viewer will be curious enough to spend time with the work, to explore the pieces and wander through the space in order to connect them. The work develops through dendritic thinking, generating subtle relationships between elements that may not be immediately evident at first glance.
In my projects, I try to create an environment that facilitates these connections and opens up multiple paths of thought. I would never expect the audience to arrive at my exact intentions or specific interpretations; however, it is always a pleasure when certain layers become apparent to them and they begin to build their own reflections on top of them. Additionally, I sometimes use the material itself to produce both a literal and metaphorical sense of reflection. Mirrors and reflective glass surfaces establish a direct dialogue between the artwork and the viewer, implicating them physically and conceptually within the work.
How do history and cultural context influence the ideas and forms in your art?
As a Greek artist, I am particularly aware of the tension between heritage and present reality, and of how powerful symbols shape national identity while also being appropriated, idealized, or politicized. I am often exploring the evolution or even the devolution of symbols and their relationship to history and cultural transformation. I believe we all inhabit two cultural spheres: one rooted in our national heritage and traditions, and another shaped by a westernized global culture. My work moves between these two conditions, examining how they intersect, conflict, and continuously redefine one another.
Is there a moment of surprise or chance in your creative process that shifts the direction of a work, and how do you work with it?
I work with two different approaches. Either I create works that have already been constructed in my mind, or I produce objects and experiments that gradually reveal themselves during the process of making. In the second case, it is always a profound surprise when a piece finally reaches its final form and essence. What interests me is not only the surprise of its capabilities, but also my own ability to perceive it with new eyes and from a different perspective.
Sometimes, I encounter a ready-made object or material, and an unexpected idea emerges, leading to the development of additional works within a project. These moments of discovery often redirect the course of the work, creating new relationships between form, material, and meaning. I see this openness as an essential part of my practice, allowing the work to evolve organically and remain in dialogue with both intuition and research.
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