Ektoras Arkomanis

Ektoras is a filmmaker and a Senior Lecturer in architectural history and theory. He is the course leader of the Architectural History, Research and Writing MA and the coordinator of the Critical and Contextual Studies module in undergraduate Architecture.

Ektoras Arkomanis looking away from the camera

Ektoras Arkomanis

Ektoras has taught on various courses and modules at London Met since 2007.

He is currently researching and shooting his second feature film, A Season in the Olive Grove, about the area of Eleonas in Athens. 

Ektoras recently edited a volume called Migrations in New Cinema (London: Cours de Poètique, 2020). He has published essays on film (notably in the journal Architecture and Culture,) and on architectural history (notably Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture, 21st ed, London: Bloomsbury, 2020).

Ektoras is a member of the Now What collective, together with Lucia Medina and James Thormod. Now What was established in 2020 to enable discussion on equality, diversity and the decolonisation of curricula in architectural education.

Ektoras is interested in cities in films, and particularly informal places, marginal in the conscience of the city. He explores his interest through filming, writing, and teaching the postgraduate course Cinema and the City (2007-present). His research and practice are broadly influenced by modernist and imagist writing, visual anthropology and the performative turn. 

A Season in the Olive Grove (film: 2014-present) and Migrations in New Cinema (book, 2016-2020)

Ektoras is currently collecting notes, stories and footage for a film about the area of Eleonas in Athens. Once known as the ancient olive grove of the city, Eleonas is a place of industry, leftover spaces with muddy roads, abandoned factories, kilns, etc. It hosts various migrant populations, scavengers’ markets and small businesses such as tanneries and cargo transport companies. Eleonas is the city at its most entropic state. It changes constantly, so the film aims to preserve a record of things that keep shifting or disappearing.

Since its conception the project has expanded into various areas: film screenings, book chapters, conferences, workshops, a series of open lectures, and much more. 

Ektoras has recently edited Migrations in New Cinema (London: Cours de Poètique, 2020), a book about migrations, changes and displacements in the city, as seen on film, and through the eyes of emerging filmmakers, artists and writers.

Another London, 2011-2014

Ektoras' debut feature film, Another London (UK, 2014; 60 min), is a documentary about architecture and urban space in London, in collaboration with architectural writer Robert Harbison. The film includes stories about: Nicholas Hawksmoor and Baroque London; currently contested zones such as Deptford, with its atmospheric creek and its colourful high street; modern architecture in the form of Laban Centre, Deptford Lounge and the Stephen Lawrence Centre; eccentric classicists, such as John Soane, and the river, still the thread of many of London’s narratives.

Ektoras is a member of the research centre CreATurE (Centre for Creative Arts, Cultures and Engagement) in the School of Art, Architecture and Design.

  • Supervisor, PhD
  • Module leader, Histories (MArch – RIBA 2; Architectural History, Research and Writing MA; MA in Architecture)
  • Module leader, Cinema and the City (MArch – RIBA 2; Architectural History, Research and Writing MA; MA in Architecture)
  • Module leader, Critical and Contextual Studies, Levels 4 and 5, Architecture (BA Architecture – RIBA 1)
  • Tutor, Dissertation Studio 1: Another Place (BA Architecture – RIBA 1)

 Ektoras welcomes proposals for PhD/MPhil supervision on subjects related to film and/or architectural history. 

 

Films

  • Director/producer: A Season in the Olive Grove (work in progress)
  • Director/producer: Passage Variations (UK, 2019; 16 min) 
  • Director/producer: Another London (UK, 2014, 60 min) 

Books (edited)

Book chapters

Journal articles

Other essays, articles and reviews

Practice-led research outputs

  • Arkomanis, E. (2020). Passage Variations. AAD Design Research Portfolios. London: London Metropolitan University. 

Exhibitions and media

Selected conferences and workshops

Ektoras is Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He mentors colleagues in the School of Art, Architecture and Design towards fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

Twitter: @Ektoras_A
Instagram: arch_history_ldnmetarts
Email: h.arkomanis@londonmet.ac.uk

 

Portfolio

 

Ektoras Arkomanis 

 
Work and memories of work by Ektoras Arkomanis

Work / Memories of work (in progress) 

 

Passage Variations (UK, 2019, 16 min) 

 

Migrations in New Cinema (2020) 

 
Ektoras Arkomanis 03

Another London (UK, 2014, 60 min) 

 

Work / Memories of work (in progress)