Author: gourgourini

On Friday February 3rd, we welcomed to Athens Alexandra Waierstall, choreographer, dance artist and member of our dance selection committee. Alexandra, along with her colleagues Rita McBride, Scott Jennings, Giorgos Kotsifakis and Eftychia Stefanou, organized an open studio for our #artworksfellows inspired by Rita McBride’s Arena (1997)–a modular sculpture that is activated by the presence of audiences.

During the open studio, cyclical encounters between the performers and our fellows unfolded in the space again and again: vertical and horizontal connections, resonances, transitions, changes of perspective and transformations were manifested. An ever changing and growing process which was not characterized by fixed points, beginnings or departures. Through her choreographic work Alexandra poetically responds to all those situations that are never entirely completed, are process-driven and indicative of the infinite perspectives on the relationship between man and space, body and structure, the individual and the collective.

The open studio culminated in a group discussion moderated by Anastasio Koukoutas around the ideas and values of democracy, the evolution of the arena concept, spaces within spaces, the economy of gaze and the importance of momentum.

Born in England and raised in Cyprus, Alexandra Waierstall is a Düsseldorf based choreographer and artist practicing for over 15 years. Her conceptually, physically detailed, crafted investigations are expressed through choreographies, installations, films, situations, sounds, texts and images. She approaches choreography as a vehicle for developing new skills and knowledge for living together, connecting bodies, life-forms, and environments. Choreography as a practice, as an act of empowerment, a way to reimagine and reinvent our world anew. She advocates for a form of radical attentiveness, across different contexts including theatres, galleries, museums, publications and in public spaces. Internationally, she has presented works at Musée du Louvre – FIAC, Sadler’s Wells, Dansenshus Oslo, Mousonturm, Crossing Festival Beijing, Fringe Festival Shanghai, International Festival Seoul, Dansenshus Stockholm, Sesc Pompeia (São Paulo), De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Bauhaus Museum amongst others. Alexandra Waierstall has choreographed the companies National Dance Company of Wales and tanzmainz. Her choreographic work has been selected and supported by networks such as Aerowaves, Modul Dance, IDEE – Initiatives in Dance through European Exchange as well as Chin-A-moves. Since 2007 her work has been co-produced by tanzhaus nrw in Germany.

Anastasio Koukoutas is working in the field of dance theory, dramaturgy and writing. He studied (BA) Communication and Marketing at the Athens University of Economics, (MA) Performing Arts Administration at Accademia Teatro alla Scala (in collaboration with Bocconi University), Ethnomusicology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (within the e-learning course Greek Music Culture and Education). He has worked, in the publishing field, as a contributor and editor, for art institutions and organizations, such as: Athens & Epidaurus Festival, Stegi Onassis, Dimitria Thessaloniki Festival, Megaron — The Athens Concert Hall et.al. He has worked as a dramaturg in theatre and dance performances (Athens Festival, Stegi Onassis, Experimental Stage of National Theatre in Greece, Arc for Dance Festival, Porta Theatre — Athens et.al.). He writes frequently about dance for the websites springbackmagazine.com, artivist.gr, und-athens.com, and teaches Dance History at the dance college ΑΚΤΙΝΑ. Last but not least, he has worked as a performer for Denis Savary (Lagune –National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens — 2016), Virgilio Sieni (Biennale Danza / La Biennale di Venezia — 2016), Pierre Bal Blanc (documenta14–2017), Dora Garcia (Megaron, The Athens Concert Hall — 2018) et. al.

Last week, Syrago Tsiara, Director of the National Gallery, welcomed us warmly to the recently refurbished building and guided us through the history of the institution outlining its mission and exhibition program. She highlighted the role of art in observing, creating, disseminating history as well as in shaping the collective memory. The tour was a stimulating experience, elaborating on certain works of the permanent collection and walking us through the exhibition currently on view “Konstantinos Parthenis (1878–1967) – Painting an Ideal Greece”. Thank you Syrago for sharing your knowledge and wisdom.

Syrago Tsiara is an art historian and curator. She is the Director of the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum. Until recently, she directed the ΜΟΜus – Museum of Contemporary Art and the Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art. She is a member of our selection committee for the 5th SNF Artist Fellowship Program in the discipline of curating.

2023 was kicked off with a gallery tour at Piraeus. Our Fellows were walked through Rodeo, The Intermission and Carwan gallery, learning about their history and exhibition program. They had the chance to see the current exhibitions and learn more about the hub that has been created in the neighbourhood of Pireaus.

Our Fellows were guided through the solo show “A KNIFE WITH NO BLADE, MISSING ITS HANDLE” by Guglielmo Castelli and the group show “ΝΕΟΚΛΑΣΙΚΟ” at RODEO Gallery. They then visited Carwan Gallery and the first retrospective of the late Aleko’s Fassianos design works. Finally, Artemis Baltogianni – art advisor and owner of The Intermission – welcomed us in the space and talked about the philosophy of the space, contributing to the creation of a market that attracts collectors and a hub for global artistic dialogue.

SNF ARTWORKS Fellows 2022 attended a workshop about intellectual property and artists’ rights led by Marina Markellou. What is the legal framework that protects and enforces creators’ rights?  How can the artist fortify his rights when creating? Through several case studies and q&a sessions, Marina Markellou mapped the general framework of intellectual property for artists in Greece.

Dr. Marina Markellou is a lawyer specializing in Intellectual Property Law. After obtaining a degree from the Faculty of Law, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a Master’s in Intellectual Property (Master 2, Spécialité Créations Immatérielles) from the University of Montpellier I in France, she continued her studies in Montpellier I with a PhD thesis entitled “The Copyright Contracts under French, German and Greek law”, studying under a scholarship from the State Scholarship Foundation in Greece. Subsequently, she completed a post-doctoral thesis on artistic appropriation at the Faculty of Law, University of Poitiers, France. In the last decade, she has been lecturing on intellectual property law, cultural heritage law and business law at the Ionian University, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Hellenic Open University, University of Nicosia and Open University of Cyprus, on both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Ioanna Gerakidi, Curatorial Fellow 2021, designed and moderated a workshop for SNF ARTWORKS Fellows 2022. Entitled “Articulating the personal, forming the collective”, the workshop thinks through and aims to work with diverse methodologies of researching, engaging with and producing a work. How can verbalizing, writing, or sharing processes of thinking through or making a work can be used as means to situate a practice, to find our words, to learn how to individually and collectively become otherwise.

Ioanna Gerakidi is a writer, curator and educator based in Athens. Her research interests think through the subjects of language and disorder, drawing on feminist, educational and anti-colonial studies. Poetry and other diaristic and archival schemes are often embedded in her practice.

On Thursday, February 16th, we visit the group exhibition “This Current Beteween Us” at the first steam-electric power station in Greece. Panos Yiannikopoulos, the exhibition’s co-curator and member of ARTWORKS team, guided our Fellows through the exhibition spaces and works and talked about the curatorial rational. He presented all 42 works exhibited in the show, 12 of which have been created by SNF ARTWORKS Fellows.

The exhibition examines the factory as a centre for the production of both power and materials, and moreover views it as a social model, a system for the organisation of space and human – and nonhuman – life, an architectural management of existing relationships and a generator of new ones.

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This Current Between Us
PPC Historic Electric Steam Power Station of Neo Faliro
Solomou 1 & Dimitriou Falireos, 185 47 Piraeus, Greece

Thursday–Sunday: 4pm–8pm
Exhibition duration: Friday, December 16, 2022 – Sunday, March 12, 2023

Participating artists: Nikos Alexiou, Micol Assaël, Eleni Bagaki, Eleni Christodoulou, Kostas Christopoulos, Anastasia Douka, Panayotis Evangelidis, Hypercomf, Konstantinos Giotis, Eleni Kalara & Valia Papachristou & Evaggeli Fili, Dimitris Kamarotos, Mikhail Karikis, Ali Kazma, Athina Koumparouli, Anna Lascari, Virginia Mastrogiannaki, Marina Miliou-Theocharaki & Marianne Tuckman, Petros Moris, Bill Morrison, Olga Migliaressi-Phoca, Paola Palavidi, Natasha Papadopoulou, Dimitris Papaioannou, Kostas Sahpazis, Louis-Philippe Scoufaras, Maria Sideri, Miriam Simun & Daria Kaufman, Iris Touliatou, Alexandros Tzannis, Theodore Tzannetakis, Jeph Vanger, Zafos Xagoraris, Marina Xenofontos

Participants from the Athens School of Fine Arts Lab: Alexandra Apsokardou, Despina Vaxevanidi, Anna Mastromichali, Katerina Messini, Olga Souvermezoglou

Curated by Panos Giannikopoulos & Georgia Liapi

Concept, research, coordination: Eleni Kalara

The exhibition “This Current Between Us” takes place within the framework of the project “The Other Body”, in collaboration with Blow-Up, Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA) and the PPC, with the support of the Hellenic Republic Ministry of Culture & Sports . Powered by PPC.

*Eleni Bagaki, Anastasia Douka, Konstantinos Giotis, Athina Koumparouli, Virginia Mastrogiannaki, Petros Moris, Paola Palavidi & Ioannis Kolliopoulos (Hypercomf), Maria Sideri, Iris Touliatou, Alexandros Tzannis and Jephn Vanger are SNF ARTWORKS Fellows

Galini Notti, curator and member of our curatorial selection committee for the 5th SNF Artist Fellowship Program, gave an extensive talk about the exhibition “Nikos Velmos (1890-1930) Drawings” that she recently curated and which is currently on view at Radio Athènes. Prior to her talk, we visited the exhibition space where Helena Papadopoulos guided us through the artworks and also spoke about the artist’s archive and the curatorial approach behind the show.

Galini Notti (b. 1980) is a curator who lives and works in Athens, Greece. In 2020, she curated the show Statues that don’t move, don’t speak, don’t laugh in three public squares in Athens. She has also curated one of the “Top Tens” for the project Shadow Libraries: UbuWeb in Athens at Onassis Cultural Centre, the exhibition Survey in the context of Art-Athina 2017, co-curated the show (Im)material Gestures as part of the project PIIGS_An Alternative Geography of Curating at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, curated the exhibition Overseas at The American College of Greece in Athens and the show Fireworks out of Season – Riviera at the Riviera open-air cinema in the Exarcheia neighborhood of Athens. She has participated in the curatorial team of the 4th Athens Biennale – Agora as well as curated and co-curated exhibitions at independent, artist-run, municipal and commercial spaces. In addition, she often writes about artists and exhibitions. In 2013 she was the recipient of the NEON Curatorial Award. She holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Ioannina, Greece and MAs in Aesthetics from Paris 1 University and in Museology from the Ecole du Louvre, Paris, France. She has worked in museums and galleries in Paris, New York and Athens. For many years she was in charge of the Art Collection of the American College of Greece and is currently assistant curator at NEON.

NIKOS VELMOS (1890-1930) DRAWINGS
Curated by Galini Notti
29 January – 12 March 2023
RADIO ATHÈNES

The current exhibition’s work is comprised of many people and places – taverns, graveyards, the house of Rodakis in Aegina, Panormos in Tinos where he went to meet Chalepas, Athens, and Mount Athos. It approaches the drawings of Nikos Velmos as contemporary work. It is presented at Radio Athènes in Plaka, which is very near Nikodimou street, where Asylon Technis used to be.

More info here.

The art and labor of making a film.

Director and filmmaker Ektoras Lygizos and film producer Konstantina Stavrianou, both members of our moving image selection committee for the 5th SNF Artist Fellowship Program, gave yesterday at Romantso a joint talk, where they discussed with our Fellows important aspects of filmmaking: from the conception of an idea to script development and eventually the production of a film.

Thank you both for sharing your experience and personal input.

Born in Athens in 1976. He studied Greek Literature, Linguistics and Film Directing. His feature film BOY EATING THE BIRD’S FOOD (2012) premiered at Karlovy Vary Film Festival, won several awards and was in Competition at the International Film Festivals of Toronto, London, Montreal, Seville, Reykjavic, Hong Kong, Linz, Brussels, Leeds, Goa, Haifa, Thessaloniki, Bergen and Tallinn among others. It has also won the Best Feature Film, Best Leading Actor and Best Newcomer Director Awards from the Greek Film Academy (2013). His short film PURE YOUTH was premiered at Venice Film Festival 2004 – Official Competition. He has directed for the stage plays by Aeschulus, Euripides, Shakespeare, Moliere, Ibsen, Beckett, Verdi, Checkov, Jarry, Frayn, Boretz and Murray, Koumendakis, Walsh, Minyana, Owen and Klaus at the National Theatre of Greece, the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, the Onassis Culture Centre, the Greek National Opera among others.

Konstantina Stavrianou co-founded Graal, a production company and a post-production facility, based in Athens, Greece. She oversees the production & co-production sectors for both Greek and international productions and is Graal’s co-managing director. The company has co-produced 65 films to date and has a portfolio of approximately 430 titles. In 2012 & 2013 she has been in the Hellenic Film’s Academy organizing committee of the two-day conference “Riding the Greek Wave” in Athens. Its first instalment focused on project development and festival strategies, while in 2013 on international co-production & distribution. Since 2014, attends workshops as post-production tutor collaborating with FOCAL Digital Production Challenge, Doha Film Institute, Red Sea Lodge and others. She is a member of the preselection / selection committee at the Berlinale co-pro series, Torino Film Lab, Locarno Open Doors consultances and Biennale College Cinema. She is a MEDIA programme expert, a Berlinale talents alumna and member of the EAVE network. Since 2021, she is an awarded member of the Hellenic Film Academy.

Within the framework of the 5th SNF Artist Fellowship Program, visual artist Kostas Sahpazis designed a workshop on art and social engaged practices.

During the the workshop, Kostas Sahpazis talked about the boundaries between personal practice and collective action, about the social role of art and the consequences of its aestheticization. The aim of the workshop is to establish the theoritical framework for the social role of art through the experience of Kostas Sahpazis’ collaboration with KE.TH.E.A. THERAPY CENTER FOR DEPENDENT INDIVIDUALS

Workshop duration: February – April 2023

Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, independent curator and member of our visual arts selection committee, presented her work through a lecture performance she put together for our current cohort of Fellows. Moving between informal historiography and anecdotal storytelling, she demonstrated bits and pieces from past talks, feedback from peers and shared considerable information about her overall professional experience in the art world.

A heartfelt thank you to Xenia for taking the time to prepare such a stimulating lecture and to everyone who attended.

Xenia Kalpaktsoglou (1974) is a curator and a founding member of the Athens-based collective Laboratory for the Urban Commons (Neo Cosmos). Her curatorial practice is rooted in collaboration, the creation of (trans-)local projects and initiatives, and in the reconsideration of the protocols of exchange and production between cultural producers and institutions/organizations. She co-founded the Athens Biennale and co-directed it from 2005–2016; during those years she was primarily active with the curatorial team XYZ. Between 2006-2008 she was the director of the DESTE Foundation. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Artistic Research department at the Zurich University of the Arts / Linz University of the Arts.

www.neocosmos.gr