About
Vasilis Kountouris was born in Athens, where he lives and works. He studied piano and music theory at the National Conservatory, while also training in software programming for mainframe systems. Since the early 1980s, he has developed music software and explored electroacoustic music, studying with Stefanos Vassiliadis and Dimitris Kamarotos, and working with the U.P.I.C. system developed by Iannis Xenakis.
He is a founding member of “Studio19st”, a creative team producing sound, music, and multimedia content for performances, installations, film, and other media. His collaborations span a wide range of artists and institutions, including the National Theatre of Greece, Greek National Opera, National Theatre of Northern Greece, the Onassis Foundation (Stegi), and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
He also works as a technical designer and programmer for live multimedia projects and interactive web-based art. He has created sound designs and audiovisual works for theater, dance, cinema, and virtual reality, collaborating with prominent figures such as Dimitris Papaioannou, Robert Wilson, Danae Stratou, and many others.
He has been diving with both scuba and free diving equipment since a young age, dedicating himself to exploring light, optics, photography, video, and illumination in the unique conditions of underwater environments. Using specialized equipment and lighting systems, he has worked with a wide range of underwater lights and lenses, while placing particular emphasis on capturing super macro imagery. With over 3,000 hours beneath the surface, he has built an extensive body of work, including photographs, videos, and immersive 360° visuals, revealing the hidden interplay of light, form, and motion in the underwater world.
This deep engagement with the complex optical conditions of the underwater realm has profoundly shaped his understanding of visual perception and design. It continues to influence his visual storytelling and plays a central role in the creation of audiovisual content for multimedia art projects.
