2026-02-08 |***Reading Time: 10 minutes***

I visited Argiris Rallias’ studio to get a closer look at his latest work, and I found myself standing before “Atzouros.” In Kythnos, Atzouros is the term for the upright stone placed in a threshing floor, but Argyris explained that the word carries another meaning as well: it’s used to describe someone who remains detached, someone who refuses to take a stand.

As I was filming him work, I watched the way he assembled the materials. Nothing was bought. Even the gears are his own construction—an improvised mechanism that challenged him but gave him the joy of creating something from scratch. The most moving part, however, is the base. He used an old barrel that belonged to his grandfather, which he found discarded in a field. He left it exactly as it was, with the wear of time still on it, to keep the memory alive, filling it with soil and stones brought from Kythnos.

Watching it move, you get the sense that the iron pieces are levitating. Argyris connected them in a way that the work lacks downward weight; it “breathes.” It is a combination of hard metal, stone, and personal history that ultimately makes you stop in front of it and—contrary to its name—take a stand before his art.

Credits

Artist: Argiris Rallias

Cinematography & Editing: Christophe Anagnostopoulos

Music: Renaud Garcia-Fons & Derya Türkan – “Silk Moon”
Album: Silk Moon (2014)
Label: e-motive records

Filmed in Contrapposto Art Studio in Athens, Greece (February 2026)

Camera: Canon EOS C50
Lens: Tokina opera 50mm F1.4