101 About
Artist, maker, machine builder.
A professor once described me as “an unusual hybrid of design, craft and science”. It's still the most accurate description I have.
I studied fine arts at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, where I built my first 3D printer from a kit in 2012. I've since lived and worked in San Francisco, Berlin and Barcelona, for universities, research projects and tech startups. I designed circuits for Italy's National Research Council, worked on 3D technologies at Standard Cyborg in San Francisco, and developed robotics for the EU research project ROMI with Fab Lab Barcelona. Alongside that I kept making my own work: kinetic sculpture, light installations, instruments, drawing machines.
During my master's in Advanced Interaction at IAAC in 2018 I started printing clay. Clay brought a resistance that purely digital processes never had. It slumps, shrinks, cracks and surprises you. That tension between the system and the material became the centre of my practice, and the reason I opened my own studio, BinaryCeramics, back home in Athens.
I design and build most of the tools I work with, including printers, extruders, electronics and software. When you build the machine yourself, you understand it at a level that lets you push its limits. Every object starts as a rule, whether a line, a dataset or a sound, and ends as fired clay.
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∴ Statement
Statement
The possibilities that arise from exploring and integrating physics into design are endless.
The core of my fascination lies in understanding the physical world to the point where I can actively turn imagination into reality. My inspiration is constantly renewed by the balances, dynamics and relationships of nature: how a copper wire wound around iron creates a magnet, or how, in a different configuration, it can make a motor.
I use a diversity of materials, experiment with their physical limits and sometimes, with the help of electricity, see them come to life. I think of my creations as the interdependence of body and mind: the body is the physical object, and the mind is the software that commands it. Through electronics, photography, sculpture and other media I explore notions such as motion, light and function.
Repurposing mundane objects and giving them new functions amuses me. After all, it is the only way to reinvent or reinterpret reality. I avoid work that is overtly defined. Its purpose is to act as an input that unfolds into a unique experience for each person, tapping into preconceptions and shaking them off. The final product is a consequence of the process of making, which fuels itself through inspiration renewed along the way.
CV Exhibitions, education, experience
CV
Exhibitions & recognition
- 2024Hospitality commission — Hilton, AthensBinaryCeramics · Tornado, Dash & Sea Urchin pieces for guest rooms
- 2023Above and Below the Sea Level — group showSealed Earth Gallery, Santorini · with Nikos Athanasopoulos and Anali Vega
- 2023Copper vessels for the Zeus+Dione 10-year anniversary showResort ’24 collection, with Marios Schwab · Piraeus
- 2020BinaryCeramics — solo showSolo Shows, The Bold Type Hotel, Patras · curated by Theofano Tzimi
- 2018Global Grad ShowDubai, United Arab Emirates
- 2016Perception — solo showMichael Cacoyannis Foundation, Athens
- 2013Teatro IndiaRome, Italy
- 2013Fuori SaloneMilan, Italy
- 2012Premio Limen Arte — special mention (Promesse) for EyesVibo Valentia, Calabria, Italy
Education
- 2017–18Master in Advanced InteractionInstitute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), Barcelona
- 2015–16Individualized program — sculpture & electronicsCalifornia College of the Arts, San Francisco
- 2011–14Bachelor of ArtsAccademia di Belle Arti di Roma
Experience
- NowFounder & artistBinaryCeramics, Athens
- 2018–19Robotics developerROMI — EU Horizon 2020 project
- 2018–19Digital fabrication expertFab Lab Barcelona
- 2015–163D technologies expertStandard Cyborg, San Francisco
- 2013Circuit design, external contractorNational Research Council (CNR), Rome
Toolchain
Design
- Rhino / Grasshopper
- Fusion 360
- SolidWorks
- Blender
Code
- Python
- JavaScript
- C++ / openFrameworks
- Arduino
Electronics
- Sensors
- PCB design (Eagle, KiCad)
- Motion control
Fabrication
- Clay 3D printing
- Custom extruders
- CNC & laser
- Lathe & metalwork
- Mould-making
- Woodwork
100 Press & publications
Press
“I’m not a programmer, a sculptor, a ceramicist or a robotics engineer. Society expects a very specific title for each of us, but my case doesn’t fit a single category.”
Kathimerini, K magazine, 2022
- 16.02.2024 Athens Voice Γιάννης Βογδάνης: Κεραμικά από ένα -άμεσο- μέλλονCeramics from an immediate future
- 09.05.2023 LiFO Κεραμικά και 3D printing, η νέα τάσηCeramics and 3D printing, the new trend
- 20.01.2023 iefimerida Το μέλλον είναι τώρα: Κεραμικά με σχέδια που γράφονται σε κώδικες και τυπώνονται με 3D printersThe future is now: ceramics with designs written in code and printed with 3D printers
- 11.01.2023 Shoutout Miami Meet Yiannis Vogdanis — Multidisciplinary Artist
- 19.12.2022 Adorno Binary Simplicity in the Dash Collection
- 12.2022 ready2fly The White List: Binary Ceramics, AthensSky Express in-flight magazine, p. 106
- 05.2022 Kathimerini · K Γιάννης Βογδάνης: εξερευνώντας τις δυνατότητες μιας τέχνης αρχαίαςExploring the possibilities of an ancient art. From “Six Greek artists making art from the future”, K magazine no. 989
- 09.11.2020 Pelop.gr Γιάννης Βογδάνης: Προτιμώ την αλλαγή στη δουλειά μου παρά τα ακίνητα αντικείμενα“I prefer change in my work to still objects”
- 10.2020 Patras press BinaryCeramics, solo show at The Bold Type HotelCoverage of the Patras show
- 09.2016 Athens press Perception, at the Michael Cacoyannis FoundationCoverage of the 2016 solo show
