Out of Stardust Into Love
The title encapsulates the essence of existence: from the violent birth of the cosmos to the fundamental core of being, love. Within this project, love is understood as transcendence: a force that moves beyond the limits of the body, identity, and condition, reconnecting existence to its origin.
The work operates as a response to late capitalism, a system that produces alienation, suppresses individuality, and disconnects the human body from its intrinsic meaning. Within this condition, existence is reduced to function, and love is stripped of its depth, becoming transactional, diluted, or inaccessible. Out of Stardust Into Love proposes a return, through the body, to a state where transcendence becomes possible again.
The body is central to this process. It is not presented as stable or complete but as a mutable, material site of transformation. Covered in black liquid, crawling, dissolving and reforming, the body resists fixed identity and reclaims its connection to matter, to origin, and to sensation. It becomes a vessel through which transcendence can be experienced.
The project has been realized as a solo exhibition at Hyperlink Athens in December 2024, alongside the presentation of a film shot on the island of Naxos, one of Koumantaki’s most intimate locations, presented as part of the group exhibition Spectral Drift at Kaunas Picture Gallery 2025.
Alexandra Koumantaki, Out of Stardust Into Love, 2025, clay, silicone, microprocessor, LED, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist and Hyperlink Athens.
Alexandra Koumantaki, Out of Stardust Into Love, 2025, detail, clay, silicone, microprocessor, LED, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist and Hyperlink Athens.
Alexandra Koumantaki, Out of Stardust Into Love, 2025, detail, clay, silicone, microprocessor, LED, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist and Hyperlink Athens.
Alexandra Koumantaki, Out of Stardust Into Love, 2025, detail, clay, silicone, microprocessor, LED, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist and Hyperlink Athens.
Alexandra Koumantaki, Out of Stardust Into Love, 2025, detail, clay, silicone, microprocessor, LED, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist and Hyperlink Athens.
Alexandra Koumantaki, Out of Stardust Into Love, 2025, clay, silicone, microprocessor, LED, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist and Hyperlink Athens.
Alexandra Koumantaki, Out of Stardust Into Love, 2025, detail, clay, silicone, microprocessor, LED, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist and Hyperlink Athens.
Alexandra Koumantaki, Out of Stardust Into Love, 2025, clay, silicone, microprocessor, LED, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist and Hyperlink Athens.
Alexandra Koumantaki, Out of Stardust Into Love, 2025, clay, silicone, microprocessor, LED, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist and Hyperlink Athens.