Michail Mersinis

18th July 2025

TENDING AN OLIVE TREE by Michael Mersinis

An exploration of the entanglement of art, ecology, and geopolitical violence through the translocation of a Palestinian olive tree sapling to a Scottish gallery space. Drawing on many sources including Aristophanes’ Peace, Michael Mersinis positions the olive tree sapling not as an object of aesthetic contemplation, but as a living, contested agent that disrupts dominant narratives of peace and belonging.
29th July 2023

TRANSMISSIONS FOR UKRAINE
by
Michail Mersinis

What can an artist do when faced with another war? Engage as a war artist ... that is, stand by and reveal the horror? But surely, art always challenges the neutral? Artists make things that engage with ideas and situations. Michail Mersinis proposes a repurposing of the instruments of war to make sensitive participatory gestures that constitute a respite from the language of war and hate. The tragedy is happening in Ukraine now -but is it even possible to act innocently?