Konstantina Sofokleous
Bio
Konstantina Sofokleous holds a Postgraduate Title in Animation with Distinction (Title: A children’s poem interpretation - The styles and approaches of the animated children’s literature, with particular reference on Jan Svankmajer’s interpretations of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Jabberwocky’ and ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’) from the University of Westminster (UK, 2006), a Certificate in Internet Technologies with Excellence including additional single modules in Multimedia and Programming from the New York University NYU (USA, 2001), and a BA Degree in Graphic Design from the Technological Educational Institute of Athens (Greece, 1996). She is trained in Virtual Cinematography and in 3D Environments and Games at the CIANT International Centre for Art and New Technologies and FAMU Film & TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts of Prague (Czech Republic, 2006), and in Film and Photography at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece, 2019/20). Since 2010 she has been participating in Programmes in Fine Arts at the University of the Arts London (UK, 2010/11/13/15/20/21/23), she is an Aardman Animation Academy graduate (UK, 2020/21/22), and has specialised in 2D Character Design at the Escape Studios (UK, 2020). At the same time she attended numerous Programmes, and Masterclasses in Art and New Technologies from Universities and Art Institutions abroad. During her studies she was granted scholarships by the Fulbright Commission, the European programmes Comett II and MEDIA, and the National Scholarship Foundation of Greece (IKY).
Her Artwork has been exhibited, screened, and awarded at International Biennales, Contemporary Art Exhibitions, Video Art, Animation, Film, and New Media Art Festivals and Conferences in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Νorth Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, Russia, Japan, Vietnam, India, Australia, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, USA, UK, Israel, Greece, and Cyprus. She has represented Cyprus at the 51st Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition with the works 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and 'Popular Children's Poem', and has exhibited, among others, at Frankfurter Kunstverein, Art Tech Media 1st International Congress in the Canary Islands, and her films have participated at the Academy Award Qualifying, Canadian Screen Award Qualifying, BAFTA Qualifying Festivals, Folye Film Festival, Flicker’s Rhode Island International Film Festival and Αnimaze Montreal International Animation Film Festival/Marché du Film-Festival de Cannes 2023. Her current work 'Thread Threat' (2021/23) has received so far thirteen International Awards and three Honorary Mentions in Festivals abroad. The whole of her work has been featured in the International Press (Le Monde, Artforum, Saatchi Gallery, Dall’ Oblio Polumnia, Lookout Magazine, Kunstbeeld Art Magazine, Plumart Magazine, Art Post, SEKCJA Magazyn Artystyczny, a-n, etc.), included in the Public Primary Education Art Curriculum of the Cyprus Ministry of Education and the State Contemporary Art Collection, and analysed in PhD and MPhil research at Universities abroad. Since 2023, she has been a Women in Games (WIG) Ambassador (UK), and since 2025, she has been an Applied Artificial Intelligence Researcher (UK).
Her research interests focus on Children’s Literature, Retelling of a Story, the Interpretation of Language, Music, and Rhythm within the Visual Language, Animation, and the New Technologies, and on Digital Cultural Heritage and Art with Artificial Intelligence.
Research/Work
I work with drawing, animation, and new technologies, and my projects include analogue and digital drawings, short films, interactive applications, and the digitisation of cultural heritage using artificial intelligence.
My artistic practice revolves around childhood, tradition, and rhythm. I often improvise. Old objects and toys are usually a starting point in my work. My research interests focus on the interpretation of children’s literature, retelling of a story, the translation of music and rhythm within the visual language and new technologies, and digital cultural heritage.
Teaching
- CIS 166 Content Creation
- CIS 353 Interactive Multimedia I
- CIS 453 Interactive Multimedia II
- CIS 454 Visual Content for the New Media
- CIS 103 Introduction to New Media (Lab)
- CIS 107 Introduction to Internet Technnologies (Lab, until 2021)
- CIS 108 Introduction to Computer Applications (Lab, until 2017)
Awards, Honours, Scholarships
- 2023 Animaze Animation Day in Cannes Film Festival Market, Marché du Film, Festival de Cannes. France
- 2023 8 & HalFilm Awards Special Event in Cannes, The Wild Filmmaker production meeting. Cannes, France. Best Animated Short Film Award Winner
- 2023 Mannheim Arts and Film Festival. Mannheim, Germany. Best Artist Short Film Award Winner
- 2023 Bright International Film Festival. London, UK. Best Animated Film Award Winner
- 2023 London Movie Awards. London, UK. Best Animated Film Award Winner
- 2023 Ethereal Frames Film and Art Awards. USA. Best Art Award Winner
- 2023 Berlin Indie Film Festival. Berlin, Germany. Best Artist Film (Short) Award Winner
- 2023 North London Animation Festival. London, UK. Best International Animation (short) Award Winner
- 2023 Art Film Spirit Awards. Toronto, Canada. Best Animation Nominee
- 2023 AltFF Alternative Film Festival. Toronto, Canada. Best Super Short Film Nominee
- 2023 Madonie Film Festival, Region of Sicily. Palermo, Italy. Best Artist, Short Film Award Winner
- 2023 New York Movie Awards. New York, USA. Gold Animation Award Winner
- 2022 Montreal International Animation Film Festival - ANIMAZE. Canada. Best Experimental Nominee Canadian Screen Award Qualifying
- 2022 Black Swan International Film Festival. Kolkata, India. Best Animated Film Award Winner
- 2022 Vesuvius International Film Fest. Campania, Italy. Best Animation Director Award Winner
- 2022 Indo French International Film Festival. Pondicherry, India. Best Animated Short Award Winner
- 2022 Best Shorts Competition. California, USA. Best Animated Film/Creativity/Originality Award of Merit Winner
- 2022 Blow-Up Arthouse Filmfest. Chicago, USA. Best Animated Film/New Media Semi Finalist Norman McLaren Award
- 2022 Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival. USA. Best Animated Film Semi Finalist Academy Award ® Qualifying/BAFTA Qualifying/Canadian Screen Award Qualifying
- 2022 Cinematic European Film Festival. Bănia, Romania. Best Animation Honorable Mention
- 2022 Bordeaux Shorts Biennale - Le festival international du film minute et de court-métrage de Bordeaux. France. Best Animation Honorable Mention
- 2006 Greek State Cinema Awards Nominee. Hellenic Ministry of Culture
- 2006 CIANT International Centre for Art and New Technologies of Prague Scholarship
- 2006 EU MEDIA Programme Grant
- 2005 Selected to represent Cyprus at the 51st Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition, Italy. Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture
- 2001 Fulbright Commission CASP Scholarship
- 1995 EEC Commet II Grant
- 1991 IKY State Scholarships Foundation of Greece Scholarship
Publications
My work has been selected and presented at International New Media, Video Art, and Visual Arts Education Conferences in Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Cyprus, as well as exhibited, screened and awarded at International Biennale, Contemporary Art Exhibitions and Animation/NewMedia/Film/Video Art Festivals around the world. It is included in International Art Catalogues and Databases, featured in International Press, and analyzed in PhD Dissertations and MPhil Theses of Universities abroad.
International Reviews, Texts
- 2007 TOP 10 ARTISTS CHOSEN BY ANA FINEL HONIGMAN, YOUR GALLERY CRITIC'S CHOICE, THE SAATCHI GALLERY, UK Picasso famously said, ‘It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.’ With mature artistic skill, these artists’ work expresses the vim, vibrancy, energy and ease of children’s art.
- 2006 DALL' OBLIO INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC POETRY, PROSE & ART MAGAZINE, POLUMNIA WRITING, NETHERLANDS. #12 MARCH 2006 RE 51 ESPOSIZIONE INTERNATIONALE D'ARTE LA BIENNALE DE VENEZIA Je n'ai jamais vu d'edition d' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland sans illustrations. Les illustrations de Sofokleous sont, neanmoins, entierement originales et bien choisies. La montre, par exemple, represente le Rabbit ...
- 2005 LE MONDE, FRANCE. CHYPRIOTES ET LETTONS BOUSCULENT LES GRANDES NATIONS. ARTICLE BY PHILIPPE DAGEN. Dans le même quartier sont aussi les Chypriotes... aux étranges dessins animés et immobiles, ... [Click to read in LE MONDE]
- 2005 LOOKOUT MAGAZINE, ITALY. BIENNALE DI VENEZIA 51 ESIMA ESPOSIZIONE INTERNAZIONALE D'ARTE. ARTICLE BY LEICAV Fuori dai Giardini e dall' Arsenale vi aspettano vere sorprese. Tipo: Kiki Smith ..., le bamboline disegnate da Konstantia Sofokleous al padiglione Cipro.
- 2005 PLUMART ART MAGAZINE, FRANCE. BIENNALE DE VENISE: UN PARCOURS FEMININ. PAR CATHERINE FEREY. Parmi les 90 artistes présents dans cette 51e biennale, nous avons choisi quelques femmes, artistes internationalement reconnues ou moins connues, ... Konstantia Sofokleous propose une installation qui mêle les références explicites à Alice aux Pays des Merveilles et à des contes d'enfants populaires ... [IMG]
- 2005 INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ART WALES. A GLIMPSE OF THE VENICE BIENNALE. ARTICLE BY JOHN BROWN. JUNE 2005. Next exhibition, Gravy Planet from Cyprus, a small but powerful exhibition... an animated video by Konstantia Sofokleous expressing the influence of fairy stories on our psyche powerfully put across by the use of a child reciting a gory piece of a nursery rhyme where her doll had lost an eye, as an accompaniment to animated drawings.
- Bang Larsen, L. (2005) ‘Who cares for you?' [PDF]
- Martinez, C., Sofokleous, K. (2005) ‘In conversation: Konstantia Sofokleous & Chus Martinez' [PDF]
