Chloroquine Juggalo: the execution of Pepe the frog @ Ammophila
Video/installation at Ammophila Vol.1, a show curated by Evi Roumani. Between 22-25 August 2020, Elafonisos School, Elafonisos, Greece.
Kostis Stafylakis presents his slow immersion into the culture of American Juggalos. Juggalos are followers of the ICP (Insane Clown Posse) rap duet and of other horrorcore bands. The name Juggalo stemmed from ICP’s 1992 song “the Juggla”, and represents an urban subculture of inclusion and acceptance, governed by the contradictions of a mass social and cultural movement. Juggalos have described themselves as “scrubs” – the sprouts of the deindustrialization of former industrial zones. They speak of serial killers, fantasy, and class-struggle mixed with magic and acceptance. They carry tattoos with the hatchet-clown, paint their faces up, greet each other with “whoop whoop”, share “much mother-fucking wicked clown love” and spray themselves with Faygo. Chloroquine Juggalo is the persona forged by Stafylakis to socialize online with the communities of this diverse American subculture. Chloroquine Juggalo has a favorite horror gimmick: he consumes chloroquine cocktails. He’s “heard a lot good stories about it”. Throughout the quarantines, Stafylakis indulged in infiltrating distant, mostly American, subcultures from afar. The video features a decapitation of Pepe the Frog.
About the show:
The exhibition series Ammophila aspires to become a new event in the South of Greece, and prepare the ground for new networks and discussions between the local community, audiences and artists. Taking place on the picturesque island of Elafonisos, just off the coast of the Peloponnese, the first exhibition in the series signals a beginning, but also refers to the myth of a deer giving birth on the island, thus giving it its name (elafi is the Greek word for deer). Ammophila on the other hand is a kind of plant that grows in the local sand dunes, which stabilises the sand with its roots and prepares the soil for other kinds of plants to grow. The exhibition presents an impressive roster of no less than thirty one visual artists and texts by ten writers. If you happen to be in the Peloponnese, Kythera or anywhere near, this might be worth the detour.
Participating Artsits: Manolis Babousis, Dionisis Christofilogiannis, Stella N. Christou, Panagiotis Daramaras, Christina Dimakogianni, Eva Giannakopoulou, Christos Giannopoulos, Zoi Gaitanidou, Andreas Ragnar Kasapis, Panagiotis Kefalas, Stavroula Kostakou, Sofia Kouloukouri, Renata Metheniti, Persephone Nikolakopoulou, Ilias Papailiakis, Anna Papathanassiou, Evi Roumani, Vasiliki Sifostratoudaki, Kostis Stafylakis, Alexandros Tzannis, Nikolas Vamvouklis, Kostis Velonis, Poka-Yio, Xenia Vitos, [Kostis Damoulakis, Domna Degaita, Paulo Doda, Pegy Zali, Vasilis Zacharakopoulos, Panagiotis Lianos, Ilias Mokas]
Participating writers: Anna Chatzinasiou, Stephanos Giannoulis, Takis Koubis, Sofia Kouloukouri, Christina Papoulia, Kostis Stafylakis, Theophilos Tramboulis, Nicolas Vamvouklis, Maria Xypolopoulou, Kostis Zouliatis
