[MGSA-L] Art among the ruins: can a sculpture show in Athens offer Greece new hope?

June Samaras june.samaras at gmail.com
Wed May 27 18:31:50 PDT 2015


USE THE LINK TO SEE THE PICTURES


http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/may/27/art-among-the-ruins-sculpture-show-athens-greece-new-hope

Art among the ruins: can a sculpture show in Athens offer Greece new hope?
Sculptures by Sarah Lucas, Yayoi Kusama and Richard Long sit alongside work
by contemporary Athenian artists, bringing a new perspective to a city
struggling to emerge from the shadow of austerity

Wednesday 27 May 2015 07.00 BST Last modified on Wednesday 27 May 2015
18.23 BST

A group of artists stand chatting on the terrace of a grand mansion in the
centre of Athens. In the distance lie the ruins of the Acropolis. The view
towards it, across the sprawl of the grand gardens, is interrupted by a
series of large sculptures. A contorted bronze statue by Sarah Lucas sits
over there – it’s her contemporary vision of a Greek goddess.

Nearby, a wall-mounted text sculpture by Richard Long charts the evolution
of technological power alongside animal extinction. A huge hippo by Allora
& Calzadilla lounges under the trees, while a pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama sits
quietly in the grass.

This is Terrapolis, a group show curated by the Whitechapel Gallery
director Iwona Blazwick, which brings together Athenian artists and an
assembly of international heavyweights, all in the shadow of the ancient –
and modern – ruins of Athens.

The curation is typical of Blazwick’s forward-thinking vision. Located in
the district of Kolonaki, which is populated by contemporary art galleries,
including the game-changing 3137 and State of Concept, the show also
borders the once-anarchist area of Exarchia, which is home to many artists’
studios. The location is testament to the recent renaissance of Athens’s
contemporary art scene.

Blazwick’s aim is to provide an alternative perspective on Greece. “We hope
to counter the grounding down of the Greek economy,” she said. “It’s a
reductive stereotype. We’re saying: Athens is alive, dynamic, and as
important as it ever was.”

Dimitris Daskalopoulos, founder of the non-profit cultural organisation
Neon, who initiated the show, hopes Terrapolis will move Greek society
forwards. “Art can stimulate our collective consciousness. It can help us
find new direction.”

Elina Kountouri, the director of Neon agreed. “I don’t know what art
historians will call this movement in the future, but there is a movement
here. Everyone is looking to Greece now. We’re saying: listen to the
creative community, it could be as effective as protest. This is how
societies change.”


Only three years ago, this scene wouldn’t have been possible. Austerity had
hit Greek artists hard, and many had left Athens for the lively art scenes
in cities like Berlin and Maastricht.

But gradually the artists have been returning. “The post-crisis shift
towards artist-run or non-profit spaces are a solid building ground for a
scene,” said the Athens-born artist Athanasios Argianas. “It’s a huge
difference to the trend-following commercial galleries boom of the ‘00s.”

Now the hope is that Athens will become a significant cultural hub in
Europe, one that offers a fresh contemporary aesthetic. By July, the city
will have hosted the Athens digital arts festival, Athens street art
festival and the opening of the National Athens Museum of Contemporary Art.

Public spaces in the city are continually being colonised by artists, and
transformed. The art collective Depression Era remodel places that are
damaged or decaying in the wake of the financial crisis, and turn them into
artworks. Meanwhile, Manolis Anastasakos, the Kretisis bros and INO have
pioneered a thriving mural movement — the latter famously recreated Dürer’s
praying hands on a downtown wall.

The Athens art scene is characterised by the desire to make social change
through the act of creativity – even if that’s at the expense of art which
is conventionally beautiful. “Powerful contemporary art doesn’t always
appeal to our aesthetic interests”, said Daskalopoulos. “But it can
stimulate our consciousness, which is important for Greece.”

“Athens today reminds me of London in the 1980s, when there was no art
market,” said Blazwick. “Back then, if you couldn’t get a show at the ICA,
you’d make your own. That’s what they’re doing in Athens – creating their
own platforms for a new generation.”

On the streets and in cafes, locals won’t hesitate to tell you that life
here can feel at times dire and even hopeless. But the artists of Athens
are suggesting something different: art can transform a city, and it can
make a difference.

---------------------------------
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.samaras at gmail.com
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