Aristeidis Antonas

Aristides Antonas began his studies in the Biology Department of the University of Athens but abandoned them in 1984 to graduate as an Architect Engineer from the National Technical University of Athens. He moved to Paris in 1988 and defended his doctoral thesis in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Nanterre. He has taught philosophy, architectural theory, and architectural design at universities such as the National Technical University of Athens, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Thessaly. From the age of ten (during summer vacations, when he was away from the city), he experienced severe allergic shortness of breath that kept him awake at night. He began writing during these solitary sleepless nights, initially penning plays and later prose. Along with visual artist Zafos Xagoraris and poet Phoebe Giannisi (who lived with him for seventeen years), he published the literary magazine "Black Museum," which was released in 1986 with pseudonymous texts, interspersed with fictitious biographies of supposed prose writers. The publications were mixed with real elements that revealed the true contributors to the magazine. The writer E. Ch. Gonatas (one of the few who realized the hoax) became his mentor in writing and reading. During his stay in Paris, Antonas became acquainted with the philosophical scene of the time and came into contact with Jacques Derrida. He returned from France and worked as a professional architect: he built residences and shops, and also designed a series of buildings without a client mandate, proposing the installation of unique architectural programs in special locations. His literary works have been characterized as philosophical novels in miniature, horror narratives, adventure stories, detective tales, family chronicles, minimalist recordings, impossible separations, occult allegories, and moral parables.