Kostis Stafylakis
Chloroquine Juggalo on the Loose (2021)
Performance and video, full HD, 02.41 min.
Chloroquine Juggalo is an online/offline persona invented by Kostis Stafylakis to navigate the subculture of American Juggalos, fans of the Insane Clown Posse (ICP), a hip-hop duo known for their distinctive persona and theatrical style.
The “Juggalo” lifestyle includes specific fashion choices, slang, and a sense of community. The culture is known for its unique identity, often marked by face paint, eccentric fashion, and a strong sense of camaraderie among its members.
“In Juggalo culture, the monstrous and the horrific are not just aesthetic but integral to the cultural experience and expression.”
– Kostis Stafylakis
Performed on June 26, 2021 during the Chloroquine Juggalo show at KEIV Athens. Edited by Aris Christakis. Filmed by Vembos Sound design by Aris Christakis. Mobile phone footage by Nadja Argyropoulou & Vassilis Vlastaras. Spider headpiece (Exoskeleton III) designed and executed by Kostis Stafylakis with technical and material assistance and consulting by Konstantinos Lianos. 3D letter C by Christos Fousekis Special Thanks to Mike Boukas, Konstantinos Lianos, Savvas Tsimouris, and KEIV Athens.
Stafylakis impersonated Chloroquine Juggalo to escape from the bleak reality of quarantine in Greece. Temporarily, he found refuge in socializing with this American rap subculture/social movement, exchanging content through his online outlets, re-enacting the online theatrics of his Juggalo friends, and becoming some kind of a juggalo in Athens, Greece.
At the opening of the Chloroquine Juggalo show at KEIV Athens (2021), Chloroquine Juggalo wears Exoskeleton III, a headpiece in the form of a toxic spider inspired by the nightmare of a juggalo friend, and performs a frenetic parkour through the streets of Athens. He encounters random hieroglyphs on public walls, terrorizes taxi drivers, blocks the entrance of a building, gets worshiped by a crowd of random passersby, and vanishes into the dark of the cityscape.
A speaker attached to his suit transmits the audio from a recorded gift of tongues from a speech by Paula White, Trump’s spiritual adviser: “Amanda aka ata rata tede paka sanda ata ambo osa kata rike eke banda ata rike tivi asa ta”.
“American political life and social movements that fought Trumpism on the streets would potentially benefit from ‘thinking with’ the Juggalos.”
– Kostis Stafylakis
Kostis Stafylakis
Kostis Stafylakis is a visual artist, curator, and art theorist, currently serving as Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, Expanded Media, and Forms at the Athens School of Fine Arts.
His work navigates the online and offline realms of fringe social groups, exploring the intersections of mimicry, politics, and contemporary identity in the post-internet era. Through performances, videos, and installations, he delves into the conflicts from the post-war period to the present, utilizing digital imagery to blur the lines between the “real” and the “virtual.” Stafylakis’ art, curatorial practice, and theory respond to social phenomena by mimetically reworking social reality, creating new forms and meanings.
Stafylakis earned a PhD in Political Science from Panteion University in Athens and is a graduate of the Athens School of Fine Arts. He also holds dual MAs in Art Theory and Continental Philosophy from the University of Essex.
Recent solo exhibitions by Kostis Stafylakis include On an island at K-Gold Temporary (2024), GZPRM GOPNIK (2023) and Chloroquine Juggalo (2021) at KEIV Athens, Readiness: Civil War at panke.gallery (2022), and KavecS at Neue Ravensburger Kunstverein (2017). He has also co-curated The Overkill Festival (2023) and the 4th and 6th Athens Biennale, among others.
Stafylakis’s projects have been showcased at major international platforms, including Bureau Europa, the Onassis Foundation, Palais de Tokyo, Steirischer Herbst, and the 4th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art.
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