DESMOS: A Dinner Study is a project by the A-DASH platform, curated by Christina Petkopoulou. It explores themes of closeness, sharing, and empowerment within the artistic community through the study and the reenactment of historical gatherings organized by the Desmos gallery, known in Greek art history as the “Desmos’ Mondays.” The group show hosted at EIGHT/TO OXTΩ, Critical Institute for Arts and Politics (8 Polytechniou St., Athens), will feature artistic and curatorial work shared at a series of thematic dinners, along with archival material. The opening event will take place on Saturday, December 7, from 18:00 onward and a performance program is soon to be announced.
Since spring 2024, A-DASH has been organizing a series of dinners at the independent exhibition space Work In Progress Studios in central Athens. These were five simple pasta dinners, each with a different curated group of guest artists and curators, held in five unique temporal and spatial settings. The gatherings prioritized relationships and practice, resulting in five distinct actions, whose traces form the material for this group exhibition. Among the displayed works, material from the curator’s research is exhibited, archival documents, and personal records from the Desmos Gallery archives (part of the National Museum of Contemporary Art and the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum Archive – ISET).
DESMOS: A Dinner Study exhibition serves as a contemporary curatorial interpretation of the historical “Desmos’ Mondays,” a series of events organized by the Desmos gallery starting in 1972. During this time, gallery founders Epi Protonotariou and Manos Pavlidis hosted gatherings where they offered pasta to artists in a private setting within the gallery, accompanied by avant-garde music selected by contemporary composers. This exhibition reflects on the relationships, bold choices, and unconventional practices that historically shaped artistic communities. It considers environments of care, safe spaces, and settings that support and empower the artistic community, fostering critical internal relationships essential to creativity. The focus here is on practice and sharing, beyond the art market’s competitive pressures and production demands. Artists and theorists will present artworks, installations, notes, texts, archival material, and performances inspired by the thematic dinners, attempting to identify conditions that foster connection and empowerment within the creative community, both in the past and present times.
With the financial support and under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture. Special thanks to Kava Oinotypo for providing wine for the dinners and opening event, and to KOPRIA for their floral decorations.
DESMOS: A Dinner Study
Opening: Saturday, 7.12.2024, 18:00
ΤΟ ΟΧΤΩ/ΕΙGHT, 8 Polytechniou str., Athens
Visiting Hours: 7.12.2024-11.01.2025, Thursday-Saturday 18:00-21:00 and by appointment
Curated by: Christina Petkopoulou
Participating: Nadja Aryropoulou, Eloise Fornieles, Ioanna Gerakidi, Panos Giannikopoulos, Marina Velisioti, Nikolas Ventourakis, Olga Vlassi, Sylvia Sachini, Christina Kotsilelou, Dimitra Kondylatou, Konstantinos Kotsis, Kosmas Nikolaou, Rena Papaspyrou, Phantom Investigations (Ino Varvariti, Giannis Delagrammatikas), Theo Prodromidis, Nana Seferli, Stefania Strouza, Mare Spanoudaki, Marianna Stefanitsi, Stamatis Schizakis, Christoforos Marinos, Myrto Xanthopoulou, Zoe Hatziyannaki, Yiannis Hadjiaslanis, Konstantinos Hatzinikolaou, Vera Chotzoglou, VASKOS (Vassilis Noulas, Kostas Tzimoulis)
*Christina Petkopoulou, Ioanna Gerakidi, Marina Velisioti, Nikolas Ventourakis, Olga Vlassi, Dimitra Kondylatou, Konstantinos Kotsis, Kosmas Nikolaou, Giannis Delagrammatikas, Theo Prodromidis, Nana Seferli, Stefania Strouza, Mare Spanoudaki, Myrto Xanthopoulou, Vera Chotzoglou are SNF ARTWORKS Fellows