“Through the erotics inherent in these blind date projects and others, Volanakis has fostered the kind of knowledge production that results from unpredictable bodily encounters. Strangers open themselves to discovering and expressing deep feelings and joyful pleasure with one another. His works encourage the introvert to transform into the extrovert, creating circumstances through which people embrace their human capacity for sensorial readiness and resilience. Rather than asserting and re-asserting who they already are, participants in Volanakis’ projects step into an activated and ongoing space of “becoming.” On his blind dates, they experience their own dynamic personal power and political agency.”

Lydia Matthews, Professor of Visual Culture at Parsons School of Design and Director of the Curatorial Design Research Lab at the New School