It was a few weeks back that I returned from Istanbul, where I’ve spent a bit more than a month as a curatorial resident of SAHA Association, with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Artist Fellowship Program by ARTWORKS. There’re a million things I could write about my time there; in personal and communal, triggering and cleansing, growing but also oppressive ways. And I mean every of these words, as my time there overlapped with the first round of the Greek elections and the second one of the Turkish ones; with discourses on lives and rights at stake, geopolitically and otherwise; with the aftermath of a physical catastrophe like the earthquake in Ankara and with the protests, the demands, the grief and the anger following the migrant shipwreck in Greece, killing hundreds of people.
From the exhibition “Possibilities of Healing”, Sena Başöz, Yapi Kredi Culture Centre, 2023
These turmoils intensified the conversations already taking place (at least within my small circle), on boarders and asylums, on migration and environmental disasters, yet also on unwaged labors, institutional critique and embodied knowledge. Or, better phrased, they again, brought them onto the surface. What can language do or undo? How can it alter the already historically established economies of abandonment, to use E.Povinelli’s words from her homonymous book? How can quotidian narratives affect our ways of being together or feeling torn apart when abandoned, isolated or excluded? And within this vicious circle, how does it all come back to our ways of working, loving, encountering sex, or sleep or food, or just being?
Within these few weeks, everything came to the surface, and not because it was superficial. The never ending, consistent, dynamic, often sorrowful, yet occasionally ecstatic, qualities of these events, triggered the depths of existence, of longing and belonging, or reacting and resisting.
From the exhibition “Exhibition No Further Records: Reşad Ekrem Koçu and Istanbul Encyclopedia Archive”, Salt Galata, 2023
The practices and exhibitions I’ve engaged with, they all come together when thinking across this exact word; the surface, its multifaceted meanings, interpretations and connotations as a means to speak about what we tend to dismiss, undermine or take for granted. From the surface level expressions to borrow the words of Siegfried Krakauer, often regarded as trivial or frivolous due to their ephemeral or popular nature, to the surfaces making a space safe or threatening, an attachment secure or insecure, my time in Istanbul has exposed me to a series of psychosocial, political, personal and professional readings of the surface as a channel. The artists and writers, yet also the spatial cartographies, the architectures, and poetics of interacting I experienced or closely listened to, over the past few months, have shown to me ways of encountering the surface otherwise.
From the exhibition “Starry Heavens Above Me and Within Me”, Lara Ögel, Galerist, 2023
From the installative gestures of Hera Büyüktaşçıyan operating as imaginary reminiscents of what modern cities buried both haptically and symbolically, to the sculptures of Lara Ögel, tracing what it takes to survive political turbulences and along, the existential agony of death, the surface became a metaphor for uttering and expanding on the subjects of migration and urbanism, yet also on the mythic, and the cosmic as subversive ways of living life.
Accordingly, the ornamental patterns of Cansu Çakar, their folklore or uncanny capturing of a history untold, allowed for her painting to turn into another kind of surface pondering on normalizing a queer futurity to quote the words of José Esteban Muñoz. Same goes with the works of Deniz Gul, whose practice explores fiercely the social and political layers of the archive through various media or methodologies, language among them. Her rewriting of the Turkish lexicon, in a way that her auto-ethnography can also be included, allowed for the page to be approached as an alternative way of seeing the world.
From a visit to Hera Büyüktaşcıyan’s studio, 2023
How can the surface be touched as a vessel, that through its static or moving characteristics transcends systemic mechanisms, allowing us to exist within suspended states, to fight against the hideous? These are some of the questions raised in the practices of Sena Başöz, which stubbornly expose the alienation human beings experience when forced to exist within capitalist, accelerationist, exploitative mechanisms, personally and professionally, or in the works of Merve Ünsal, which despite her “image-driven” nature, to use the artist’s words, do transcribe the perplexities of the current, its fragments and blasts, transparencies and opacities, whispers and noises.
Surfaces reveal hidden narratives, reenact memory, trace loss and fears and raptures. And this is exactly how I’ve read so many more practices and gatherings and shows whilst living there. Such as the exhibition No further records: Reşad Ekrem Koçu and Istanbul Encyclopedia Archive at Salt Galata, pondering on how forming a “grand register” can expose the weakness of “serious” historiography; or Sarki’s solo exhibition ENDLESS at Arter, which through a series of oblations, colorful praises and mystic sounds is speaking political and other upheavals.
From the exhibition “Endless”, Sarkis, Arter, 2023
I’m running out of time and space, but what my time in Istanbul taught me is that facets can encourage or disgrace, trace or divide, enlighten or keep in the dark. That surfaces are homes and prisons, give births and grief deaths, track our steps, count our breaths. And that’s why their depths should be praised.
Ioanna Gerakidi
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, poetic and archival studies and schemes. She has collaborated with and curated exhibitions and events for various institutions and galleries and residencies and her texts and poems have appeared in international platforms, magazines and publications. She has lectured or led workshops, seminars and talks for academies and research programs across Europe. Her practice and exhibitions have been awarded by institutions, such as Rupert Residency, Mondriaan Fonds, Outset and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Artist Fellowship by ARTWORKS, amongst others. In 2023 she was selected for a 6-week curatorial residency program at SAHA Association (May-July 2023) with the support of ARTWORKS through its founding donor the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).
Post Notes and Edited Versions is a text co-written by Valinia Svoronou and Eva Vaslamatzi on the occasion of Svoronou’s solo show The moonless mountain curated by Olympia Tzortzi at Callirrhoe in November-December 2022. In the exhibition, Svoronou worked around family narratives related to her Asia Minor origin and referred to Akylas Millas (b.1934, Istanbul), a doctor and writer, whose detailed sketches witness the Rum (Romioi) community’s activity in Istanbul and the Princes’ Islands. As the exhibition was an “endeavor to explore and to give a form to the notion of memory and to the transmission of oral history”¹ Svoronou and Vaslamatzi are extending this direction by merging memories transmitted by their parents and grandparents, related to their common origin, in combination with fictional elements. Deciding to co-narrate a story through the eyes of a female character, they aim to strengthen the potential for a transgenerational exchange.
Valinia Svoronou, Running in the Çarşı Market, 2022 Graphite on Paper 56 x 49.5 cm
Valinia Svoronou, Running in the Çarşı Market, 2022 Graphite on Paper 56 x 49.5 cm
Her house was next to the Hellenic Telecommunication Center. The building was decorated with seven ceramic panels made by Panos Valsamakis. She knew she was approaching home when she saw these panels, featuring Hermes and other figures of Greek mythology together with depictions of telecommunication in modern times.
She was sitting in the living room eating ice cream that she had ordered through a delivery app. She talked to herself about summers she hadn’t experienced, while eating the ice cream in an adult summer of the present. Her flashbacks / their flashbacks, her childhood / their childhood; the veil becomes thinner and time is measured once again via consumption of sweets. Names of treats that felt familiar came to her mind. She didn’t speak Turkish, but was obsessed with some words.
Valinia Svoronou, Fluttering Pamphlets I, 2022. White clay ceramic 17.5 x 27 x 7 cm . Fluttering Pamphlets III, 2022. White clay ceramic 19 x 19.5 x 4 cm . Fluttering Pamphlets IV, 2022. White clay ceramic 26 x 16 x 5 cm
Akide
A kind of traditional hard candy that could be found in an array of flavors. Her favorites were cinnamon, rose and the one with sedefi (pearl in turkish) color.
Topik
The tastiest thing. She thought that you can’t find it anywhere in Istanbul anymore. It was an Armenian recipe. She remembers it as some kind of edible skin that enveloped something she couldn’t remember in terms of substance, only that it was the tastiest thing she had ever found.
*
These delectable pistachio tasting treats that looked like smooth pistachio colored spheres with filling. Almost like a smoothed out, sugar coated and edited version of a pistachio. She doesn’t remember the exact name.
Her story was connected with those of many. Most of them she never met in person. They appeared to her life as characters whose charm was probably based on the fact that she would never meet them. A dark-dressed woman waving from her balcony, an old lady looking suspiciously at the lens, a girl wearing a necklace made of elephant-bone in the shape of small tulips. Girls, women, elders, all of them waving at her from another moment in time and space that she escaped to when needed. Escapist feelings did not always follow her memories; only her connection to this non-place.
“When someone thinks about you long enough you always have a place to come home to, in their memories”, she thought.
He owned a gazoz factory named after his sister. The recipe for this special carbonated sweetened water was his secret.
He was hospitalized. The sun had set and time was fractured. All she was left to safeguard amounted to: a type of ID card stating “alien of Greek descent” -what does it mean to have lived as an alien since the 60s?- and a gold ring with 3 stones. When she and her sister were young he used to say “the small gems on the side represent my kids and grandkids, the large gem in the middle represents my wife”.
Stone setting consisted of tedious labor that was honed with years of experience; senior craftsmen would try and keep the knowledge amongst themselves. He learned the craft from an Armenian friend. Constantly he would perceive a figure passing nervously next to his window in Kapali Carsi. Probably a thief, he would think. He had been working on a precious belt for her. When he finished it, he carved on it: “The world’s most resilient are the ones that never harm themselves”
Valinia Svoronou, The White Rose I, 2022 Ceramic 28 x 66 x 12 cm
He was waiting for Sunday to go to the Princes’ Islands with his family so that they could sit calmly in the shadow of pine trees and drink a refreshing gazoz water all together.
She is in the bathroom. She holds her kids close to her. They are throwing stones at the house, breaking the windows.
The sea of Marmara was hot and welcoming in the summer, their summer house was in Proti. Everyday, they would wait for him to show up from work, in the ‘quai’. The fashionable language at the time was French. Just by the little port the kids would enjoy a palmier from the small island’s patisserie. The long strip of land after the basic shoreline of the port was called Akasia. It is where kids used to cycle and run free, but mostly spy on a big gated house covered in vines. She thought she remembered that they had pet monkeys there and that was what excited the children’s curiosity.
He was drawing in his office. It all came from his memories. He was a football doctor. He remembered every corner of his house, also the plants and, most importantly, the insects.
In the big terrace, at the back of their house, something is slowly steaming in the mangal. The smoke becomes one with the warmth of the afternoon, inside a paper parcel a portion of sard is boiling with vegetables. Children are playing besides the cloud of scent coming from the herbs. A little boy tells his friend: ‘Tell your mum to serve the food this instant or I am leaving’.
She looked outside the window. On the shores of Bosporus young kids were running. They are excited they have put together a contraption to steal figs from fig trees in gardens. They are quietly happy for a moment.
Were they Ottoman Greeks? he asked. She felt ashamed, not knowing such an important detail. She just knew that they had Turkish passports and that they couldn’t get a Greek one for many years and that Athens seemed like a village when they first arrived in the 50s. Nobody ever narrated anything to her. She had to translate the silence. Their story exists in their silence.
Valinia Svoronou (b. 1991 Athens) is an artist based between Athens and London. She graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art (MFA Sculpture 2015) and the Athens School of Fine Arts (BA Painting 2013). In 2016 she had her first solo show, The glow pt 2, gravity regimes, in Berlin’s Frankfurt am Main project space. She co-organised the Ambiguity Symposiums presented at The Showroom Gallery, The Slade School and Enclave in London. In the same year she showed work in the Benaki museum in Athens as part of the show ‘The Equilibrists’ co-organised by the New Museum and the Deste Founda- tion. In 2017 created and launched her first artist publication based at Space Studios, now available at the ICA bookshop London and showed new work at the Showroom Gallery commissioned by the arts council UK. In 2018, showed her work in Prague’s Futura gallery as part of the Group show and publication curated by Lukas Hoffman, in Italy, Foothold projects space as part of a group show curated by Christina Gigliotti, in Lesvos as part of a group show curated by Nikolas Vamvouklis amongst other and her work was also shown in a solo presentation with Hot Wheels Projects as part of Art Athina in
Athens. This year, she participated in the ICA self publisher’s fair in London, was part of the Ephemeral Dinner series with Tjorg Douglas Beer, curated by Yulia Belousova in Berlin’s Haus am Lutzowplatz, and screened new moving image work in Haus N Athen. Recently, she was part of the group show ‘The Same River Twice’, curated by Margot Norton and Natalie Bell organised by the Deste Foundation and the New Museum, and showed one of her films in the screening programme of Art Athina. In 2020 she presented some research as part of the online platform initiated by TBA21 The Ocean archive, launched an augmented reality app as part of her solo exhibition titled ‘Endymion’ at the Theocharakis Foundation in Athens curated by Panos Giannikopoulos and presented a duo exhibition at Pet Projects Athens. Within 2021 she will participate in the Athens Biennale and Mediterranea 19, Young Artist Biennale in San Marino. She has been awarded the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship by ARTWORKS in 2019.
Eva Vaslamatzi (SNF ARTWORKS Fellow 2019) is an independent curator and writer currently based in Athens, Greece.
Evita Tsokanta(ET): How would you define your curatorial practice?
Mare Spanoudaki(MS): In the current times of crisis, supported by a growing dissatisfaction for individualistic and materialistic discourses, the conditions that define my approach as a curator, apart from the care for objects or subjects of art, are interdisciplinarity and reflexivity. I am interested in fostering projects that function as sites of aesthetic engagement, social activation and dialogue, while reflecting on the struggles that need to be addressed in the present landscape, without being infantilising and tendentious. A priority in my practice is to challenge and reimagine structures, which are product of dominant narratives, and have sustained long-standing exclusions based on gender, race, geography, ethnicity and sexuality. My intention is to benefit the affected communities, encourage self-determination and mobilise a feeling of togetherness and care for all, within an attempt to rethink the way we relate to one another and the environment we occupy. My practice and ongoing research are manifested in participatory and collaborative exhibitions and events, interactive digital platforms, social media, and written material. Depending on the project, I have explored and examined current and past political, cultural and social conditions working closely with cultural workers, artists, activists, archival and visual material, oral histories and communities.
Mare Spanoudaki, SNF ARTWORKS Fellow 2019, Photograph by Konstantina Tzakoniati.
ET: Could you describe the structure, trajectory and goals of this is not a feminist project?
MS: This is not a feminist project began as an online interactive documentary, that consists of two narratives: a living ‘archive/timeline’ which narrates the histories of the feminist movement in Greece (since 1980) through texts and digitized archival material and a series of short video portraits which demonstrate the reality of women of different backgrounds, who are currently living in Greece. It eventually took the form of a digital platform, built to encourage associations between previous feminist struggles, practices and claims and the current living conditions of women in Greece. The content is accessible to all and maintains a level of interactivity in the stories section where visitors can share their own voices. Given that the Feminist Movement and female experiences as a part of Greece’s social history were digitised and curated for the very first time and that such discussions in the Greek context are undeniably urgent, the platform’s goal is to change the dynamic of people’s perspectives about femininities, to adequately address such issues, to shed light on collective memory, to give historical continuity to important matters and to empower femininities.
OUT (1980), a publication of the multinational women’s liberation group of Athens, Issue #1. Courtesy of the Women’s Archive ‘Delfys’ and This is not a feminist Project.
We then decided to expand our practices to the public space and inaugurate ‘This is not a feminist project Residency’ believing that the use of visual arts as a tool for dialogue and solidarity should be embedded in the project by increasing opportunities for artists. The 2018/19 Residency drew on the effects of mobility, migration and displacement of women’s lives and on ways that a sense of belonging and self-determination can emerge under such circumstances. By an intimate observation of diverse everyday tasks, rituals and encounters, both mental and physical, the artist-in-residence Jana Koelmel explored the ways with which refugee and migrant women sustain their personalities and well-being, while adapting to a new environment, as individuals and as members of multiple communities. The produced video series ‘The Rhythm of Small Things’ depicts elements of their lives that reflect their personal moments, memories, traditions, dreams and truths and at the same time have become acts of self-care and gestures of emotional balance. The series was presented as an exhibition at the Victoria Square Project’s space in February 2019 and will soon become part of the online platform for more publics to watch.
The Rhythm of Small Things (2019) exhibition view, Victoria Square Project, Athens, Greece. Artist: Jana Koelmel. Courtesy of the artist and This is not a feminist project.
Towards the end of 2018, after continuous incidents of gender-based violence and discrimination in Greece, it became clear that it was time to focus on the feminist and LGBTQIA+ struggles and discourses that were produced in the present day. We concluded that the best manner to support the diversity and activation of the groups and initiatives that engaged with gender issues in Greece was to visualise their constellation on a digital map. The map currently hosts 15 groups accompanied by relevant written and audiovisual material and welcomes any relevant initiatives. The ultimate goal of this map is to ensure the online presence and visibility of each group, to share their personalities and stories, to demonstrate their actions and claims, to emphasize their value and uniqueness without assimilating and altering their character and to offer them the opportunity to share the present challenges and capabilities of the feminist movement as they have experienced them.
Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou in This is not a feminist Project’s Digital Map (2020). Filmmaker: Vasia Ntoulia. Courtesy of This is not a feminist project.
While building the map, we also produced a new series of video portraits, entitled ‘Online Gaze’ by filmmakers Vasia Ntoulia and Nefeli Papaioannou. This series reflected on a specific subject that we felt was necessary to address, since we operate online. In this series four diverse, creative, endearing, and refreshingly sincere femininities share elements of their personality and experiences through the lens of social networking and internet culture. Each one’s online presence and profile carries a distinctive ingenuity and charisma that derives from their daily lives, their trauma, their need for self-identification, acceptance, and love for themselves, as well as the negotiation of their female nature and sexuality. It reveals their longing for a life without hesitation, fear, shame or guilt, their passion for personal expression and their deep desire for liberation from social taboos and stereotypes.
Vassilia Kaga in the Online Gaze series (2019). Filmmaker: Vasia Ntoulia. Courtesy of This is not a feminist project.
Since the day of its creation, we have agreed that the two-folded digital platform of This is not a feminist project will be the start-line of our activities, but also a basis for experimentation and evolvement. As a result, the platform has become a fluid online environment, a constant work in progress, and a collection of collections, where different research methodologies, practices, and non-linear and diverse content coexist, are juxtaposed and mutually reinforce and complete each other. The purpose is to highlight neglected stories and to underline multiple voices in the present and the relationships that connect them, in order to overthrow deep-rooted stereotypes and dominant narratives in the future. We do not offer a singular, fulfilled and definitive view on the theme, but we invite the visitors into an investigative navigation of data and viewpoints which provoke crossovers.
You can explore the platform of This is not a feminist project and find out more about the people behind it here: notafeministproject.gr
Freedom from Fear on the Streets, Freedom from Male Violence, Reclaim the Night poster. Courtesy of the Women’s Archive ‘Delfys’ and This is not a feminist project.
ET: What are the complexities of presenting historiography through social media posts?
MS: Social media platforms host a variety of voices. Although introduced as open and democratic forums, at the same time they encourage specific aesthetics, endorse commodification, superficiality and objectification, and enhance sociopathy, discrimination and narcissism. The unequal distribution of information and communication wealth within it has been spreading manipulation, disinformation and abuse. I use these platforms, in an indirect effort to reverse their utility by systematically sharing miscellaneous, non-linear segments of my research. My activity stands as a counterproposal to normalised media content and canonical forms of production, classification, distribution and presentation of knowledge. I had to adapt the content to the medium’s guidelines (i.e length), I have faced censorship, abusive comments, content reproduction which does not represent the original intentions of the posts, and a dependence on the algorithms that automatically favor what they, consider engaging in an infinite repository of posts. Not to mention that nowadays almost all this activity is gathered by governmental, commercial or covert entities who track and monitor our data. Being active on social media is not only a form of visibility and participation, but also a form of exposure and vulnerability.
ET: What are the different ways the audience is addressed when curating digitally versus curating in a physical space?
MS: The experimentation with various forms of public address can vary according to the nature of the project. An exhibition in a physical space, for instance, is ephemeral and not always accessible, but it can cause a great direct effect on the audience depending on the theme, the immersiveness of the curatorial methodology, the language of the accompanying texts, the atmosphere and specificities of the site itself and the character of the exhibits. There are also myriad opportunities of engagement that can be used to activate deeper interconnections with audiences through discursive, performative, community-building, collaborative and participatory elements.
In a digital context, our experience of time, scale, sensory is quite different. There is free and unrestricted, widespread and intergenerational access to intangible reproductions of content, with the limitation that the visitor has to own the adequate technology. Addressing the audience through digital curating can be determined by the inherent properties of the medium and the level on which the curator is willing to stretch the parameters of a digital environment, to pursue the transformation of the visitors from spectators to participants, with live interaction and connectivity, augmented reality and contextualization of the content with graphics, sound or other media. Again, language is key.
Lauretta Macauley in the Women’s Stories series (2018). Filmmaker: Polymnia Papadopoulou Sardeli. Courtesy of This is not a feminist project.
ET: Has the lockdown period and the explosion of digital presentation of cultural texts affected your opinion on the role of digital culture?
MS: It’s definitely positive and comforting to see institutions grasping the opportunity of infrastractural shift to the digital environment, realising online activities, beginning digitisation processes, enabling unprecedented global access to a vast amount of cultural texts, events, exhibitions, films etc and seeking to promote collectivity and openness towards knowledge, art and culture. As long as this does not become the only manner of experiencing culture and we don’t end up living through a screen.
ET: Your academic background includes communications and media. How has that informed your curatorial practice?
MS: My background has inspired my curiosity to research and study exhibitions primarily as communicational tools that make use of artworks to inform, represent, mediate, interpret, transmit ideas and concepts, and produce certain narratives which affect the publics in different ways according to the contexts in which they operate. Secondly, as a historiographical lens through which to explore inquiries around contemporary art history, the interdisciplinary terrain in which artworks are conceived, produced and made public, and the mediated world of historical memory, art, culture and knoweldge. Other aspects of my practice informed by my background are the eagerness to connect and converse, not only with artists, but also different communities and practitioners that I collaborate with, my motivation to experiment and manifest my interests with various media, not only artworks, and my need to always value and consider the importance of the recipients of any of my endeavours.
ET: Curating as a form of knowledge production has been challenged in recent years. How do you see the role of the curator evolving in the future?
MS: I believe that curators, apart from exploring the potential to form a viable perspective for art and culture through their practices, will be preoccupied with the realisation that our future is interconnected and interdependent. Particularly in reference to questions of survival and growth from what was, towards what we are yet to become in regard to mobility, coexistence, multiplicity, communality, nature and shared belongings instead of taking for granted that unity, continuity and consensus already exist. It is urgent that this conception is inhereted by every discipline and person.
ET: What have been the major issues you have faced working as an independent curator in Athens?
MS: The core issue I have been dealing with as an independent curator is how to sustain and cultivate my stamina and enthusiasm, and continue to be active, productive, passionate and creative in a financially unstable environment and a highly competitive field. Independent curatorial practice is precarious, very often unpaid, dependent on relatively minor and scarce funding, and on constant fundraising applications. With a lot of patience and effort I have found ways to survive and tranform the restraints into opportunities so far, however the need to reform the working conditions of independent curators and reverse the general disregard for the occupations involved in contemporary cultural production is crucial for our future. I hope the collective mobilisation we are witnessing by local practitioners at the moment and the public articulation of our situation and requirements will result into fruitful outcomes and the moulding of a substantial and sustainable framework to support the cultural sector.
ET: What are your professional aspirations as an independent curator?
MS: It might seem utopian or even naive, but the ideal situation for me would be to have the capacity to be a co-worker of artists and others practitioners, and work beyond narrow institutional territories, without hierarchical structures and in a non-homogeneous collective environment that would allow us the freedom to create, interpret and experiment in different ways of knowing and unknowing, and ultimately, different ways of being.
Evita Tsokanta is an art historian based in Athens who works as a writer, educator and an independent exhibition-maker. She lectures on curatorial practices and contemporary Greek art for the Columbia University Athens Curatorial Summer Program and Arcadia University College of Global Studies. She has contributed to several exhibition catalogues and journals and completed a Goethe Institute writing residency in Leipzig, Halle 14.
Dialogue one: when we talked about chance and intuition
It is not often the case that we, as curators, get to reflect on each other’s practice through an open and public conversation. Even less so it happens with someone who, perhaps by mere chance, shares a deep interest (may I dare say love?) for the complex relationship between Greece and Turkey. When I decided to approach Eva Vaslamatsi, emerging curator now based between Athens and Syros after a Parisian experience, maybe I had exactly that idea of chance in mind or rather let’s call it intuition, as this keyword came up multiple times in our dialogue.
Intuition as a method?
Can we go that far? Possibly… Or at least to some extent.
It is certainly a key element of what we do, but what would that actually mean?
Intuition to capture a specific narrative, a tale, written within a space, which needs unearthing? to turn an emotion or a feeling into a complex story? to assemble the thoughts and voices of the artists we encounter into multi-layered discourses?
Each of these elements seem to come together when talking with Eva about her practice.
So, if it’s a method, is it something you learn?
When I ask where this intuition comes from, I am glad to hear that we agree it is not some innate gift but rather a combination of observation skills and attention to details. At this point of our discussion Eva adds that her early passion for photography and moving image, which she developed during her art studies, probably plays a big role as it does train your eye and brain to think through associations, juxtapositions, and synergy or contrast between two images. But what ultimately drew her to pursuing a career in curating is the crucial additional element of the physicality of the works and the ability to respond to a particular space by creating immersive experiences.
Exhibition view “I heard it from the valleys”, curated by Eva Vaslamatzi, Haus N Athen, Athens, 2021, Performance The Wave (choreographer: Evi Souli, dancer: Themis Xatzi), Photo : Alexandra Masmanidi
Dialogue two: when we talked about curatorial research and how projects start
We started this conversation by chatting about our different academic background soon realising how little this matter in the wider picture but, nevertheless it does give some hints as to how we develop our projects. And in this regard, it was fascinating to hear Eva talk about how, every project starts as an instinctive reaction to a stimulus rather than from a deep and long research into something. This can be a book, a particular space, something suggested, or a fortuitous encounter of works like in her project “La nuit juste avant le forête”. The project, which she developed together with three fellow artists and curators¹ while at Doc! in Paris, was a collective exhibition responding to previous shows in which each curator would bring one work which they had developed a relation to or that they felt would synergize with each other’s sensitivities and interests. Eva described this as just one of those occasions in which intuition guides us to create interesting and unforeseen experiences.
Exhibition view “La nuit juste avant les forêts”, 2017, DOC!, Paris, Photo : Paul Nicoué
So what if we think of this curiosity, the openness to the world as an additional piece of the “method” puzzle?
Maybe. maybe that is itself our “deep research” in itself…
While I share the fascination for this kind of projects, I do think that this is not a reaction against research-based practices per se but very much the consequence of an overall institutional system which often demands this kind of readiness to react. As a matter of fact her more recent focus on folklore feels like it might just turn into one of those lengthy, complex and rich researches which influences her projects for years to come.
The passion with which she talks about her experience at Doc!, especially considering the more institutional position she held at the time, as assistant curator at Palais de Tokyo, is really telling of her love for hands on projects and for an understanding and care of an exhibition as a collective effort rather than a task to fulfill, something which we both agree sadly is often missing in projects these days.
Dialogue three: on how we talked about Paris and institutions
The time Eva spent in Paris was a big part of our discussion. Having the experience of a professionalized and institutional space such as Palais de Tokyo on the one side, and Doc!, a squat and art space created in 2016 by a group of artists, activists and craftsmen/women on the other. Without a doubt it was this latter which she felt more stimulated and inspired by. It would be hard to pinpoint whether it was the community aspect of it, the care and mutual respect its internal structured demanded by everyone involved or just the freedom of acting outside predefined institutional frameworks, but certainly listening to her words this feels like one of those deep learning experiences that go beyond what any education or internship can give you.
Lola Gonzalez, Now my hands are bleeding and my knees are raw, HD video, 2017, exhibition “Prec(ar)ious Collectives” (curated by Fabien Danesi), Palais de Tokyo’s residency program and research lab, Pavillon Neuflize OBC, 23, Akadimias Str., Athens
I feel it’s a kind of research that rids itself from academic and institutional burdens.
What matters most is the time we invest, how we perceive and treat the others involved…
It’s a collective effort of us, the artists, the people that help us produce it and the public.
We have an obligation to care for all of these.
But Paris wasn’t all about Doc!. Facing the structures and limitations of a larger institution like Palais de Tokyo is undoubtedly a great training ground to face the reality of our sector. Confronting the expectations and insecurities of artists in the face of institutional responsibility while understanding internal structures of an organization, even when frustrating, can help you manage projects of all sizes and budgets.
Dialogue four: on how we talked about folklore, a larger research, and our shared love for Istanbul
It’s a bright afternoon in May, the sun has just started to find the strength it will need to turn spring into summer. The streets are still unusually empty on the shores of the Bosporus. The few people I see are all still weary of being out after a long winter marked by the virus and its restrictions on our lives. We meet in a square in Besiktas that in my long time in the city I’ve never seen so empty before. We are both foreigners in this land and yet by chance — there it is again — brought Istanbul into our life creating a bond hardly to be broken.
Exhibition view “Fragments of the present”, curated by Eva Vaslamatzi & Danai Giannoglou, 2015, Serifos folklore museum
I had to start knowing the city again, seeing it with fresh new eyes, through the words of the artists I met… learning from Istanbul? Too cliché?
Maybe it’s not that far from reality — we both laugh about it.
When we sit down Eva starts telling me about her research, about her passion for Folklore, at least in part born from that first encounter with the subject in her exhibition in Serifos “Fragments of present”². We meander through memories of folk museums, their display of anonymity behind the makers of the objects on display, through the power of museums to elevate everyday objects to historical heritage and the clash this creates given the daily-use value we still connect many of them with. The discussion slowly shifted to her being here, and how spending time in Istanbul, as part of a curatorial fellowship organized by ARTWORKS and SAHA, has given her the opportunity to rethink the exhibition, “I heard it from the valleys”, which elaborates on this subject exactly. While her research for it started months before even knowing about the residency, this opportunity gave her the chance to include some of the brilliant artists she has gotten to know here. I was particularly curious to hear that she found that when talking about folklore artists in Turkey responded with a much greater attention to immaterial culture, to performative elements of folk culture, to rituals and the imaginary. Which contrasted with her research up to that point, as it was objects and handcrafting itself that occupied the discourses raised by artists she had approached till then. Being here though for Eva was not solely about her artistic research as it was an opportunity to understand the city and its complexities in a more nuanced and profound ways beyond her own family history. It was certainly not the first time I heard the stories of those who had to move away, driven by nationalistic madness and the violence it provoked, the same madness that till this day sadly characterizes many of the discussions between the two countries. And yet in her recounting, the feelings of loss and still palpable grief, mixed with a genuine interest and curiosity about how the heritage of all the minorities still forges large parts of the cultural discourses in Istanbul and Turkey. It’s probably only through these attitudes, on both sides of the Aegean that we will eventually reach a different type of relationship between two neighboring countries that share much but hate to admit it…
Exhibition view “I heard it from the valleys”, curated by Eva Vaslamatzi, Haus N Athen, Athens, 2021 photo : Alexandra Masmanidi
Much like her show currently on display at HausN in Athens, which she described as a part of the research rather than an outcome, this conversation feels open ended and ready to continue across the narrow sea separating us these days.
¹ Corentin Canesson, Lucas Erin and Arthur Fouray.
² Co-curated with Danai Giannoglou at the Folklore Museum of Serifos.
Christian Oxenius is a German-Italian independent curator, author and researcher living between Athens and Istanbul. His academic background in sociology and urban studies led him to pursue a PhD at the University of Liverpool on biennials as institutional model, during the course of which he established collaborations with Athens, Liverpool and Istanbul Biennial; during this period, he developed a particular interest in artists’ communities and storytelling. His research into experimental writing on art has resulted in a number of exhibitions and publications of international relevance.
A conversation with Eirini Fountedaki and Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou on curatorial practice
By Eva Vaslamatzi
Cruising Curators, On Queerness and Ruins with Christopher Weickenmeier, Tracing the Ephemera, series of performative readings, Hopscotch Reading Room, Berlin, 2021
Eva Vaslamatzi
I wanted to have this discussion altogether because I think we share a lot in common in our curatorial practice, even though we deal with different topics and mediums. Something that struck me as I was reviewing the material you both sent me in advance of this conversation is the concept of the expert, which interests me personally.
Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou
The concept of scientific expertise interests me a lot too. With the issues I deal with, which amongst other things concern very technical knowledge about nuclear waste and their storage, the concept of expertise plays a significant role. The uncertainty posed by nuclear waste that remains toxic for millions of years completely challenges the possibility of such expertise completely. Such complex systems with the fundamental uncertainty they entail, somehow force us into a form of interdisciplinarity. I come to the projects I organize from the field of art history and enter into discussion with a biologist or a chemical engineer, and what we have to offer to the discussion is equal. These are the moments when the hierarchy of knowledge is leveled by the uniqueness of the problem.
Eirini Fountedaki
And how do you think about the concept of expertise in relation to curatorial practices?
K.M.
I feel that the concept of expertise is, in this case too, futile. For example, as I prepared for the workshop “Nuclear Polders” I am organizing this May with artist Agnès Villette, for the arts organization Sonic Acts (Amsterdam) on nuclear plant built on reclaimed land, I learned from an activist about what is happening in Gravelines, France: aging nuclear infrastructures are being threatened by imminent water-level rising brought on by climate change. This is also happening on coastlines in the Netherlands (Borssele) and Belgium (Doel). Based on discussions about this, the curatorial idea emerged. Also, I organize tours in nuclear facilities, which I perceive as a form of curatorial practice. I mean, this exchange and interdisciplinarity, or being part of a group, is essential for my practice. And this is the opposite of the curator as expert.
Gravelines nuclear plant amidst the marsh’s vegetation that is specific to the polder landscape. Toxic tour around the Gravelines nuclear power plant with students from the art school of Dunkirk, October 2021 (co-curation with Agnès Villete). photo: Agnès Villette.
E.V.
I think that the notion of the curator as expert does not make sense due to the nature of this job. It is a topic that you can study, but you actually learn it through practice. It also consists of so many things, it’s hard to define it in a sentence. And it is as if there is a gap that curators are often trying to fill by bringing in people from other specialties in the process, accepting their own limitations.
E.F.
I believe that curating can at least promote a different epistemological approach, because the academy has specific methodological tools and a very specific vocabulary. So, I think curating is this “gray zone” where you can invite people who represent a kind of embodied knowledge. Thinking of the film series “Residing in the Borderlands” (2019–2020) that I co-edited with Pia Chakraverti-Würthwein at SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin) I remember that we wanted to get away from the idea of a (film) expert and of who can talk about a film. We wanted to recreate a map of Berlin, talking about the different paths that Berlin communities have taken since the fall of the wall, exploring the stories of different diasporic communities. We felt the guests we invited were experts in their own way, because they had experienced things that academics usually know through books. We had approached, amongst others, a Palestinian who has had a falafel truck near the SAVVY building for thirty years and the Vietnamese-German filmmaker Angelika Nguyen that had grown up in East Berlin and experienced its transition. For me, curating can change the idea we have of who qualifies as an expert, and who has the right to speak on specific issues.
Moment captured during TAKE XII with Esra Karakaya and Nilgün Akıncı, the 12th session of the film series RESIDING IN THE BORDERLANDS at SAVVY Contemporary, 01.07.2020, Photo credits: Bona Bell
K.M.
Let me also say that in the field of art we sometimes have an outdated view of what the academia is. One of the reasons I started thinking about the importance of mainstream knowledge is through the academic work of geographer Shilol Krupar, which is a reference for me. Especially a book she wrote in 2013 called “Hot Spotter’s Report. Military Fables of Toxic Waste” which looks at the chemical and radiotoxic remains of cold war military nuclear production. The narrator constantly switches between different personae, fictional and real, and tells the story of these sites through different positions (as a researcher, as a nuclear scientist, as a drag queen) that activates a queer narrative. There are increasingly links between academia and more curatorial approaches to an issue.
E.V.
Since you mentioned it, as I read the text you co-authored with Agnes Vilette in 2021 titled “Nuclear Polders in Limbo” (Sonic Arts Magazine, forthcoming) I was wondering about the role that narrative plays in your writings. As the subject you are working with is quite specialized and has complex terminology, I guess that you have to find a way to pass the story on to the reader. And this can’t be done in academic terms.
K.M.
For me too, to move on to a theoretical level or to think of terms that express the complexity at work in nuclear landscapes, I need to go through narrative, as a mode of meaning production. The text you mentioned describes the moment we arrived with Agnes at a huge nuclear facility outside Dunkirk, in Gravelines, France and our first impressions and feelings upon arriving. For example, we were walking in the sand and we had this feeling of holidays by the beach and when we turned around we saw six nuclear reactors. To share this experience as an entry point in my subject is much more important than to start with historical information, to the extent that these issues have been monopolized by scientific discourse. Especially in Dunkirk where such issues create emotions and bring communities into conflict, a situation that transcends science and is positioned as a reality inside the community.
E.V.
It is important both for ourselves and the public to make things accessible and understandable; it’s the curator’s responsibility. A film is probably more accessible as a medium than contemporary art, and so are books. You are both working a lot with the medium of publication. Eirini, I had read an excerpt in which you state that you perceive a publication as a continuation of an event.
E.F.
Yes. Take for example the publication “How Does the World Breathe Now? Film as witness, archive, and political tool” (Archive Books, SAVVY Books, 2021). For me, this book went beyond its role to record what has happened and actually took some of the themes that had emerged from the eponymous film series (September 2016-March 2018, co-directed by Elena Agudio, Antonia Alampi and Pia Chakraverti-Würthwein, and initiated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung) and took them one step further. Some of those we invited to participate in the publication were not part of the film series but we felt that they could potentially talk about the topics that had already been raised. So, the publication can in itself be a curatorial work that can continue a theme in another form. I do not understand the publication only as an archive. For me it is a project in itself. Kyveli, were the publications you have edited standalone editions or were they related to a program?
K.M.
I have usually worked on publications as standalone projects, as opposed to using them as continuations of existing ones. Both publications I made, “Nuclear Aesthetics” (2018) and “Hot Pictures” (2021), were openings to something else as it was a way for me to enter into dialogue with a circle of people I’m still talking to today. In our project “Nuclear Polders” with Agnes we have been very concerned with the idea of restitution. We had collected discussions with various people — a fisherman who was involved in a scandal of toxic fish served at a restaurant in Dunkirk, an activist belonging to groups formed in post-Chernobyl France, a former worker and students from the School of Fine Arts of Dunkirk — along with photographs and sound recordings. As an artist, Agnes suggested that we do an installation but I too had difficulty in projecting all this information into something three-dimensional. It was much easier for me to imagine making a publication.
Nuclear waste and/as heritage, toxic tour at Covra, Central Organisation for Radioactive Waste, Vlissingen, Netherlands, 2019, (co-curation with Ruby de Vos), photo: Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou
E.V.
Since you mention this relationship with Agnes, I would like to hear more about the collaborations you both have in your practices with other curators or artists. You have both been very involved with this, as well as with collective writing and participating in reading groups, etc.
E.F.
Personally, I do not enjoy the process of doing things on my own because I usually learn a lot less that way. But in my case I think it has to do with the fact that I am also allergic to the idea of the figure of the curator who wants to get all the attention. I mostly see us as intermediaries. I like to learn to let things take shape with influences from many different practices and backgrounds, and I also like when responsibilities are shared based on everyone’s strengths. For example, I’m part of the Berlin-based Cruising Curators collective, in which each of us has a different expertise. When we write a text collectively it takes a form after so many back and forths that I could not have imagined had I written it myself. We started as a reading group, and became friends. During the pandemic we wanted to read and think together and later we decided to make this private experience public.
K.M.
I have also had regular companions, two or three people that I met at the beginning of my doctorate and the dialogue that took different forms emerged effortlessly. Through this collaboration, I believe that something very different emerges in terms of quality. Concerning collective writing we invent ways and working methodologies. For example, in our text “Nuclear Polders in Limbo” with Agnes we started by sending word lists to each other and little by little the text was formed. It was very interesting because although a list categorizes, it is not a closed system and is never really complete. However,I must say that the labor market and system are still organized around this romantic idea of the artist as an individual, the aching hero that creates on their own.
E.F.
However, this idea of the curator working alone is very false. That is, if you look even in institutions, sometimes a large part of the work is done by the assistant curator, the one who does curatorial research, those who literally set up the exhibition (art handling), and many other people-mediators in the process, but hierarchically most credits are taken by the curator. I find it useful for someone to try to resist this logic, and to record as equal partners all the people who helped to shape both the idea itself and its implementation.
Cruising Curators, On Queerness and Ruins with Christopher Weickenmeier, Tracing the Ephemera, series of performative readings, Hopscotch Reading Room, Berlin, 2021
E.V.
It’s interesting to see that what we discuss so far is somehow linked to this question of the “right” credits and the labor system. The impossibility of the expert in our field, the importance of interdisciplinarity and collaborations, as well as the exploration of different forms for curatorial practice outside the traditional exhibition format that promote the figure of the successful curator. Before the end of the discussion, I would like each of you to tell me in two words how you perceive your curatorial practice.
E.F.
It has a lot to do with the background with which one enters into curating. I come from a musical background and I think first through the sound and then visually, so the term “curator of visual art” seems very restrictive to me. Even when I make an exhibition it has to do with media that evolve over time, like videos or an audio project that is more “Intangible” and addresses different senses beyond sight. Curating has to do for me with how we perceive time. But also, I believe that we should be aware that we are building a narrative through our practice. It’s like a playground for politics.
K.M.
I see curating as a form of research that gives me different tools to pursue what I do as an academic researcher. Also, it opens up another audience, beyond what I usually address and it activates connections. Curating gives us the opportunity to open up to other fields and people that we would not otherwise do, on freer terms.
Eirini Fountedaki (SNF ARTWORKS Curatorial Fellow 2020) is an independent curator and writer based in Athens and Berlin.
Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou (SNF ARTWORKS Curatorial Fellow 2020) is art historian, critic, and curator.
Eva Vaslamatzi (SNF ARTWORKS Curatorial Fellow 2019) is an independent curator and writer currently based in Athens, Greece.
Η Ιωάννα Ζούλη είναι ερευνήτρια και επιμελήτρια. Η δουλειά της εστιάζει στην ψηφιακή κουλτούρα, στις πολιτικές, κοινωνικές και πολιτισμικές διαστάσεις του διαδικτύου, καθώς και στον σύγχρονο οπτικό πολιτισμό. Oλοκλήρωσε το διδακτορικό της σε συνεργασία με την Tate Modern στο Λονδίνο με θέμα τη σχέση του μουσείου σύγχρονης τέχνης με την ψηφιακή και διαδικτυακή κουλτούρα. Για τη διδακτορική της έρευνα έλαβε υποτροφίες από το Arts and Humanities Research Council, το Ίδρυμα Κρατικών Υποτροφιών (ΙΚΥ) και το Ίδρυμα Λεβέντη. Κατέχει μεταπτυχιακό τίτλο στην Ψηφιακή Κουλτούρα και Τεχνολογία από το King’s College London, ενώ ολοκλήρωσε τις προπτυχιακές της σπουδές στο τμήμα Επικοινωνίας και Μέσων Μαζικής Ενημέρωσης του Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου της Αθήνας. Έχει εργαστεί σε πολιτιστικούς και εκπαιδευτικούς οργανισμούς στο Λονδίνο, όπως οι The Photographers’ Gallery, Royal National Theatre, London South Bank University και Royal College of Art, καθώς και στη Μπιενάλε της Αθήνας. Ήταν μέλος της επιμελητικής ομάδας Connectiva. Αυτή την περίοδο εργάζεται ως ανεξάρτητη επιμελήτρια και ως ερευνήτρια στο Κέντρο Νέων Μέσων και Φεμινιστικών Πρακτικών στο Δημόσιο Χώρο στο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλίας. Είναι, επίσης, η συντάκτρια και επιμελήτρια της διαδικτυακής πλατφόρμας unthinking.photography (ενότητα του ψηφιακού προγράμματος της The Photographers’ Gallery) και ερευνητική συνεργάτης στο Centre for the Study of the Networked Image που στεγάζεται στο Πανεπιστήμιο South Bank του Λονδίνου.
Η Βασιλεία Κάγκα είναι κουήρ, φεμινίστρια επιμελήτρια τέχνης, παραγωγός και περφόρμερ. Μέσω της πολυδιάστατης δουλειάς της αποπειράται να θέσει υπό αμφισβήτηση τους ετεροκανονικούς, κανονιστικούς, λευκούς, κυρίαρχους τρόπους σκέψης και δράσης που έχουν ενσωματωθεί στις σχέσεις τέχνης και δημόσιας σφαίρας. Μετά την αποφοίτησή της από το τμήμα Επικοινωνίας, Μέσων και Πολιτισμού στο Πάντειο Πανεπιστήμιο, κατά τη διάρκεια του οποίου εξειδικεύτηκε στην Πολιτιστική Διαχείριση, εργάστηκε σε διάφορα αυτο-οργανωμένα, στην πλειοψηφία τους, καλλιτεχνικά projects σε Ελλάδα, Γερμανία και Σουηδία, βασικός στόχος των οποίων ήταν να αναδείξουν παραγκωνισμένες καλλιτεχνικές οπτικές. To 2017 ξεκίνησε να επιμελείται τη σειρά εκθέσεων Αye Mari, μια προσπάθεια εξερεύνησης της κουήρ επιμέλειας ως μια πρακτική που μπορεί να δώσει φωνή σε όσες/ους/@ έχουν παραλειφθεί από τις κύριες αφηγήσεις της τέχνης. Είναι ένα από τα ιδρυτικά μέλη της ομάδας Failing Femmes που αποσκοπεί στη δημιουργία ενός αυτόνομου δικτύου υποστήριξης LGBTQI+ δημιουργών. Η ανάγκη της Βασιλείας Κάγκα να επιμελείται εκθέσεις πηγάζει από μια ουτοπική επιθυμία, συνυφασμένη με την κουήρ ταυτότητα. Oυτοπία, εδώ, δε σημαίνει τίποτα άλλο παρά μια ανάγκη συλλογικής επούλωσης πληγών που έχουν προκληθεί από ένα κατ’ επίφαση λειτουργικό σύστημα.
Η Κλέα Χαρίτου σπούδασε Ελληνική Φιλολογία στο Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών και στη συνέχεια πραγματοποίησε μεταπτυχιακές σπουδές Ιστορίας της Τέχνης και Επιμέλειας Εκθέσεων στο Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης και στο Πανεπιστήμιο Rennes 2 (Haute Bretagne) της Γαλλίας αντίστοιχα. Είναι υποψήφια διδάκτορας της Ιστορίας της Τέχνης στην ΑΣΚΤ με τίτλο «Η σχέση μεταξύ Λόγου και Έργου Τέχνης στην Ελλάδα τη δεκαετία του 1970». Έχει εργαστεί ως βοηθός επιμέλειας για την documenta 14 και υπάρξει μέλος της ομάδας επιμέλειας της Kunsthalle Athena. Έχει συνεργαστεί σε διάφορα projects, με διεθνείς και Έλληνες καλλιτέχνες τόσο για την παραγωγή νέων έργων όσο και τη θεωρητική και ιστορική τεκμηρίωση της δουλειάς τους. Ταυτόχρονα, ανά τα χρόνια έχει επιμεληθεί περιοδικές και μη εκδόσεις και καταλόγους εκθέσεων, ενώ είναι συντάκτρια σε περιοδικά τέχνης, όπως το Artforum International. Επιλεγμένα πρότζεκτ στα οποία έχει συμμετάσχει: «South as a State of Mind», περιοδική έκδοση τέχνης και πολιτισμού· σειρά περφόρμανς με τίτλο «Political Speeches», στο πλαίσιο της έκθεσης «This is Not My Beautiful House» (Kunsthalle Athena)· «Cady Noland» (Πανεπιστήμιο Rennes 2 και FRAC Bretagne), «Pawnshop» και «e-flux project» (3η Μπιενάλε Σύγχρονης Τέχνης Θεσσαλονίκης), «Demo #2, Architecture, Theory, Visual Arts, Design, Performance (Dynamo project-space). Επίσης, έχει παραβρεθεί σε προγράμματα καλλιτεχνικής φιλοξενίας στην Ευρώπη. Από το 2019 είναι συνιδρύτρια της επιμελητικής πρωτοβουλίας «miss dialectic».
H Ειρήνη Φουντεδάκη (Αθήνα, 1991) είναι ανεξάρτητη επιμελήτρια και συγγραφέας με έδρα την Αθήνα και το Βερολίνο. Αυτήν την περίοδο, συμμετέχει στο επιμελητικό εργαστήριο«How now to gather»που διοργανώνεται στο πλαίσιο της 11ης Μπιενάλε του Βερολίνου και το Νοέμβριο του 2020 θα συνεπιμεληθεί το πρόγραμμα ταινιών «Critical Conditions»που θα προβληθεί στον χώρο Sinema Transtopia στο Βερολίνο. Από τον Απρίλιο του 2019 μέχρι τον Ιούλιο του 2020, ήταν συνεπιμελήτρια της σειράς προβολών-συναντήσεων «Residing in the Borderlands» πουπραγματοποιήθηκαν στονχώροτέχνης SAVVY Contemporary —The Laboratory of Form-Ideas, στοΒερολίνο. Συνεπιμελήθηκε την έκδοση του βιβλίου «How does the world breathe now?» σεσυνεργασίαμετονχώροτέχνης SAVVY Contemporary —The Laboratory of Form-Ideas Books καιτιςεκδόσεις Archive Books, καθώςκαι την έκθεση «Letter from a Guarani Woman in Search of the Land Without Evil» στο πλαίσιο του 15ου Forum Expanded της Μπερλινάλε (Φεβρουάριος 2020). Το 2020, επιμελήθηκε το πρόγραμμα «Black Audio-Visions: Transforming the Gaze through Sound» πουπαρουσιάστηκεστο ΦεστιβάλΤαινιώνΜικρούΜήκουςτουΛονδίνου (LSFF) το 2020. Σπούδασε μουσικολογία στο Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης και θεωρία σύγχρονης τέχνης στο Κολλέγιο Goldsmiths τουΠανεπιστημίουτουΛονδίνου (ΜΑ, Visual Cultures Department). Παράλληλα, έχει ολοκληρώσει σπουδές στο βιολί στο Κρατικό Ωδείο Θεσσαλονίκης. Το 2018 συμμετείχε στο πρόγραμμα ανταλλαγής επιμελητών που διοργανώθηκε από τον Οργανισμό Πολιτισμού και Ανάπτυξης ΝΕΟΝ σε συνεργασία με την Whitechappel Gallery (Λονδίνο).
Η Κέλυ Τσιπνή-Κολαζά είναι ανεξάρτητη επιμελήτρια και ερευνήτρια με έδρα την Αθήνα. Μεταξύ 2012 και 15 κατείχε επιμελητικές θέσεις σε δημόσιους θεσμούς τέχνης στο Λονδίνο, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των Serpentine Galleries, The Architecture Foundation και Contemporary Art Society. Την περίοδο 2016-17, εργάστηκε ως βοηθός επιμέλειας στην documenta14 στην Αθήνα και στο Κάσελ. Στα επιμελητικά της πρότζεκτ περιλαμβάνονται τα: «Orange Trees that Talk», περφόρμανς των Cooking Sections που έλαβε χώρα στο Botkyrka Konsthall, Στοκχόλμη (2015)· «Sonic Revolutions: Vibrations from the Levant», στο Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Βερολίνο (2016)· «Litany for Amplified Voices», στο πλαίσιο του φεστιβάλ SKG Bridges Festival, Θεσσαλονίκη (2019). Το 2018 συνίδρυσε τη «miss dialectic», έναν φορέα τέχνης που στοχεύει να υποστηρίξει την καλλιτεχνική και επιμελητική έρευνα με έντονη έμφαση στην εκπαίδευση και στην παραγωγή νέων έργων μέσω διεπιστημονικών συνεργασιών. Το 2015 τιμήθηκε με το Forecast Platform Curatorial Award.
Η Κυβέλη Μαυροκορδοπούλου είναι ιστορικός τέχνης, κριτικός και επιμελήτρια. Αυτή την περίοδο ολοκληρώνει τη διδακτορική της διατριβή στην École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris (EHESS), η οποία καταπιάνεται με σύγχρονες καλλιτεχνικές πρακτικές που πραγματεύονται ζητήματα πυρηνικής ενέργειας. Πρόσφατες εκθέσεις της περιλαμβάνουν: «Scarred Land», μία σειρά ταινιών με θέμα τη σύνδεση αποικιακών τακτικών με την παραγωγή πυρηνικής ενέργειας από τους, μεταξύ άλλων, Susan Schuppli και Inas Halabi, οι οποίες προβλήθηκαν στο πλαίσιο της πολιτιστικής εβδομάδας «After Hiroshima» στο Groningen · η ατομική έκθεση «Canopy Canopy» της Susanne Kriemann στο Framer Framed στο Άμστερνταμ (σε συνεργασία με την Ruby de Vos)· καθώς και η ομαδική έκθεση «The Opposing Shore», στο πλαίσιο του παράλληλου προγράμματος της 7ης Μπιενάλε της Μόσχας. To 2018 συνεπιμελήθηκε το ειδικό τεύχος του ακαδημαϊκού περιοδικού Kunstlicht με τίτλο «Nuclear Aesthetics», ενώ το 2017, οργάνωσε το πρόγραμμα Nuclear Waste Weeks, μια σειρά προβολών, εργαστηρίων και επισκέψεων σε χώρους που συνδέονται με πυρηνική ενέργεια στην Ολλανδία και το Βέλγιο. Ήταν επισκέπτρια ερευνήτρια στο Πανεπιστήμιο Carleton στην Οτάβα και στο Environmental Humanities Center του Πανεπιστημίου VU στο Άμστερνταμ. Το έργο της έχει υποστηριχθεί από το Ίδρυμα Ωνάση, το Ίδρυμα Γουλανδρή και το Εθνικό Συμβούλιο Έρευνας του Καναδά. Έχει διδάξει στο Πανεπιστήμιο Carleton και στη Βασιλική Ακαδημία Τεχνών στη Χάγη.
Ο Νικόλας Βαμβουκλής είναι επιμελητής και ερευνητής. Είναι απόφοιτος της Φιλοσοφικής Σχολής του Πανεπιστήμιου Κρήτης και της Σχολής Χορού της Εθνικής Λυρικής Σκηνής, με μεταπτυχιακές σπουδές στο Τμήμα Εικαστικών Τεχνών & Επιμελητικών Σπουδών της Νέας Ακαδημίας Καλών Τεχνών του Μιλάνου. Είναι υποψήφιος διδάκτορας Πολιτισμικής Τεχνολογίας και Επικοινωνίας στο Πανεπιστήμιο Αιγαίου με ερευνητικό ενδιαφέρον τον καλλιτέχνη ως επιμελητή στο πλαίσιο συλλογών μουσείων τέχνης. Είναι ο καλλιτεχνικός διευθυντής της K-Gold Temporary Gallery στη Λέσβο, ενώ επιμελήθηκε εκθέσεις στην Mπιενάλε Νέων Δημιουργών – MEDITERRANEA 19 School of Waters, την 7η Μπιενάλε Σύγχρονης Τέχνης Θεσσαλονίκης και το Ίδρυμα Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. Από το 2016 συνεργάζεται με το Ίδρυμα Benetton, όπου διετέλεσε senior curator. Συνεργάστηκε, επίσης, ανεξάρτητα με τα Μπαλέτα Μπεζάρ της Λωζάνης, το Ινστιτούτο Marina Abramović, τη Διεθνή Έκθεση Σκηνογραφίας και Θεατρικής Αρχιτεκτονικής της Πράγας (PQ)και την Τριενάλε του Μιλάνου. Συμμετείχε στο Πρόγραμμα Ανταλλαγής Επιμελητών NEON 2015 στη Γκαλερί Whitechapel του Λονδίνου και στο εργαστήριο Viafarini Academy Awards του οργανισμού Viafarini το 2016. Το 2018-2019 ήταν επισκέπτης εισηγητής στο Πανεπιστήμιο Ca’ Foscari της Βενετίας και στην αίθουσα τέχνης Kristiansand Kunsthall (Νορβηγία) για το πρόγραμμα Platform Nord. Συμμετείχε πρόσφατα στο ερευνητικό πρόγραμμα A Natural Oasis? με δράσεις στη Manifesta 12, τη γκαλερί Nottingham Contemporary, τη Στέγη Χορού Λεμεσός και τη Galleria Nazionale di San Marino. Έχει βραβευτεί από την ARTWORKS (2021) και είναι Fellow του Προγράμματος Υποστήριξης Καλλιτεχνών Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος.
Η Ιωάννα Γερακίδη εργάζεται ως ανεξάρτητη επιμελήτρια, writer και εκπαιδευτικός με έδρα την Αθήνα. Τα ερευνητικά της ενδιαφέροντα περιστρέφονται γύρω από τις θεματικές της γλώσσας και της διαταραχής μέσα από φεμινιστικές, εκπαιδευτικές και αντι-αποικιοκρατικές σπουδές. Τόσο η ποίηση όσο και άλλα ημερολογιακά και αρχειακά σχήματα ορίζουν συχνά την πρακτική της. Έχει συνεργαστεί και επιμεληθεί ομαδικές και ατομικές εκθέσεις και δρώμενα για τους ακόλουθους χώρους τέχνης και οργανισμούς: Athens Digital Arts Festival, Μπιενάλε της Αθήνας, State of Concept (Αθήνα), Haus N (Αθήνα), Hot Wheels Athens, πρόγραμμα Studium Generale Gerrit Rietveld Academie (Μουσείο Stedelijk, Άμστερνταμ), κ.ά. Τα κείμενά της έχουν παρουσιαστεί στους ακόλουθους χώρους και μέσα: Kunstverein Amsterdam (Ολλανδία), Stroom den Haag (Ολλανδία), Künstlerhaus Stuttgart (Γερμανία), Κέντρο Σύγχρονης Τέχνης του Βίλνιους (CAC, Λιθουανία), Montez Press Radio (Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο) και το φεστιβάλ Transmissions 2021 (Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο). Επίσης, η δουλειά της έχει δημοσιευτεί σε έντυπα και πλατφόρμες όπως το περιοδικό Collecteurs Magazine, τη μπιενάλε τέχνης Biennale Interstellaire des espaces d’art de Genève (BIG) της Γενεύης και το διαδικτυακό ερευνητικό πρόγραμμα «Schemas of Uncertainty». Έχει διδάξει και επιμεληθεί εργαστήρια και ομιλίες για ακαδημίες και φορείς όπως η Gerrit Rietveld, η Ανώτατη Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών, το πρόγραμμα διεθνούς καλλιτεχνικής έρευνας και φιλοξενίας Onassis Air, το πρόγραμμα DSRE (Document & Art PhD Program), η Σχολή Τέχνης και Design St. Joost (Oλλανδία) και το Δημοτικό Κέντρο Τεχνών Λευκωσίας (NiMAC). Έχει βραβευτεί από την ARTWORKS (2021) και είναι Fellow του Προγράμματος Υποστήριξης Καλλιτεχνών Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος. Έχει συμμετάσχει σε προγράμματα φιλοξενίας όπως το Rupert’s Residency (Λιθουανία) και το Πρόγραμμα Ανταλλαγής Επιμελητών NEON 2015. Διδάσκει θεωρία στην Ακαδημία Design του Αϊντχόφεν.
Η Χριστίνα Τζέκου (Θεσσαλονίκη, 1987) είναι αρχιτέκτονας, ανεξάρτητη επιμελήτρια, ερευνήτρια και συγγραφέας με έδρα τη Θεσσαλονίκη, όπου σπούδασε αρχιτεκτονική και αποφοίτησε από το Διαπενεπιστημιακό Πρόγραμμα Μεταπτυχιακών Σπουδών Μουσειολογία – Διαχείριση Πολιτισμού που προσφέρουν από κοινού το Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης και το Πανεπιστήμιο Δυτικής Μακεδονίας. Είναι συνιδρύτρια κι επιμελήτρια του Kottage, μίας ανεξάρτητης πλατφόρμας που λειτουργεί από το 2020 στη Θεσσαλονίκη, στοχεύοντας στην εξερεύνηση του ενδιάμεσου χώρου μεταξύ των καλλιτεχνικών πρακτικών, μέσω κοινωνικά και πολιτικά εμπλεκόμενης έρευνας. Η Χριστίνα Τζέκου έχει επιμεληθεί διαμεσικές, κοινοτικές δράσεις κι εκθέσεις σύγχρονης τέχνης με έμφαση στην κοινωνική εμπλοκή και στη συμμετοχή, τόσο στην Ελλάδα όσο και στο εξωτερικό, ενώ ταυτόχρονα έχει συνεργαστεί σε διάφορα projects με Έλληνες και διεθνείς καλλιτέχνες για την παραγωγή νέων έργων. Υπήρξε υπότροφος του προγράμματος «START – Create Cultural Change» (2019). Έχει βραβευτεί από την ARTWORKS (2021) και είναι Fellow του Προγράμματος Υποστήριξης Καλλιτεχνών Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος.
Η Αγγελική Τζωρτζακάκη (γενν. Ηράκλειο Κρήτης) είναι επιμελήτρια, συντάκτρια και ερευνήτρια, που εργάζεται μεταξύ Αθήνας, Μιλάνου και Άμστερνταμ. Η έρευνά της εστιάζει στις οικολογίες αυτοργάνωσης, τη φιλοξενία, την αυτενέργεια, και τις φεμινιστικές οικονομίες μέσα από τις συλλογικές πρακτικές και τα κοινά. Είναι μέλος της συλλογικότητας «bi-» που διοργανώνει το ομώνυμο πρόγραμμα φιλοξενίας καλλιτεχνών από το 2018 σε απομακρυσμένες και υπαίθριες περιοχές προωθώντας την τεμπελιά και τη βραδύτητα ως μέσο αντίστασης της εξουθένωσης από την (καλλιτεχνική) εργασία. Από το 2019 συμμετέχει στην διεπιστημονική ομάδα μελέτης «Scores for Gardens», που δρα μέσα από παιχνίδια χρησιμοποιώντας την περφόρμανς, τη δημιουργική γραφή και τον φωνητικό και ακουστικό πειραματισμό. Συνεργάζεται στενά με την καλλιτέχνιδα Mercedes Azpilicueta για τον συντονισμό, παραγωγή και έρευνα της δουλειάς της. Συνδιοργανώνει, επίσης, ανεπίσημες συγκεντρώσεις συλλογικών αναγνώσεων φεμινιστικού περιεχομένου, υπό τον τίτλο Readings with Friends (of friends). Έχει σπουδάσει στην Ακαδημία Καλών Τεχνών της Μπρέρα στο Μιλάνο (2018) και στο Οικονομικό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών (2013), ενώ πρόσφατα υπήρξε ερευνητική συνεργάτιδα στο νομαδικό εκπαιδευτικό πρόγραμμα «A Natural Oasis?» (2018 – 2020). Από το 2019 συμμετέχει στην επιμελητική ομάδα της Mπιενάλε Νέων Δημιουργών – MEDITERRANEA 19 School of Waters στο Σαν Μαρίνο (2021). Έχει βραβευτεί από την ARTWORKS (2021) και είναι Fellow του Προγράμματος Υποστήριξης Καλλιτεχνών Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος.
Ο Πάνος Φουρτουλάκης είναι επιμελητής και παραγωγός. Εργάζεται ως επιμελητής στο courtyard, ένα online project space που δημιουργήθηκε με την υποστήριξη της γκαλερί Rodeo. Τα πρότζεκτ του συνήθως διερευνούν τις συναισθηματικές, απρόοπτες και επιδραστικές δυνατοτήτες των time-based media.Το 2020 συνεπιμελήθηκε το Sets and Scenarios για το Nottingham Contemporary, ένα διαδικτυακό πρόγραμμα κινούμενων εικόνων, κειμένων και performance που εξέταζε την εγγύτητά μας στις κινούμενες εικόνες, καθώς και την επιρροή τους στις ζωές μας. Για αυτό το πρότζεκτ ανέθεσε την δημιουργία νέων έργων στους Adam Christensen, Eva Gold, Thuy-Han Nguyen-Chi και Aaron Ratajczyk. Επίσης, έχει επιμεληθεί μία σειρά από εκδηλώσεις για καλλιτεχνικά ιδρύματα αλλά και μη καλλιτεχνικούς χώρους στο Λονδίνο, όπως το Κέντρο Barbican, το Κέντρο Σύγχρονης Τέχνης (CCA) Goldsmiths, τη γκαλερί Cubitt Artists, και το The Queen Adelaide, στο πλαίσιο των οποίων συνεργάστηκε, μεταξύ άλλων, με τους AA Bronson, Pauline Boudry/ Renate Lorenz, ChristianFriedrich, Sidsel Meineche Hansen, Prem Sahib και James Richards. Είναι κάτοχος μεταπτυχιακού επιμέλειας σύγχρονης τέχνης από το Royal College of Art, σπούδασε ιστορία της τέχνης και θεωρία σύγχρονης τέχνης στο Goldsmiths και Media and Cultural Studies στο London College of Communication. Παράλληλα, έχει συνεργατική πρακτική με τον Titus Nouwens. Eπιμελήθηκαν το «It’s a lot like life», μία ολονύχτια έκθεση σε θέατρο διαλέξεων για το Βασιλικό Κολέγιο Τέχνης (RCA, 2019) και αυτή την περίοδο αναπτύσσουν μία σειρά από πρότζεκτ που θα πραγματοποιηθούν το 2022 στην Αθήνα και στο Άμστερνταμ. Έχει βραβευτεί από την ARTWORKS (2021) και είναι Fellow του Προγράμματος Υποστήριξης Καλλιτεχνών Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος.
Η Κατερίνα Στάμου είναι απόφοιτη του τμήματος Επικοινωνίας, Μέσων και Πολιτισμού του Παντείου Πανεπιστημίου Κοινωνικών και Πολιτικών Επιστημών, καθώς και του ευρωπαϊκού διιδρυματικού μεταπτυχιακού προγράμματος Joint Master’s Degree in English and American Studies, το οποίο της απένειμαν από κοινού τα Πανεπιστήμια Paris Diderot στη Γαλλία και Ca’ Foscari στην Ιταλία. Έχει εργαστεί σε διάφορους πολιτιστικούς οργανισμούς στην Αγγλία, τη Γαλλία, την Ιταλία και την Ελλάδα, και έχει συμμετάσχει σε προγράμματα εκπαίδευσης και φιλοξενίας στη Βουλγαρία, την Ιταλία και τις ΗΠΑ. Μέσω της επιμελητικής της δουλειάς ενδιαφέρεται να αναδείξει πώς η τέχνη αλληλεπιδρά με διάφορες μορφές σχηματισμού κοινότητας και πολιτικής δράσης, δημιουργώντας έναν ανοιχτό χώρο αναδιαπραγμάτευσης της σχέσης μας με τη γλώσσα, την ιστορία, τη συνύπαρξη και την κοινωνία. Είναι υποψήφια διδάκτωρ στο Τμήμα Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Πολιτισμού του Εθνικού και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών. Αντικείμενο της έρευνάς της αποτελούν οι επανορθωτικές πρακτικές στη διασταύρωση τέχνης, κοινότητας και κοινωνικής αλλαγής. Αυτό το διάστημα είναι μέλος της ομάδας του Athens Art Book Fair. Έχει βραβευτεί από την ARTWORKS (2022) και είναι Fellow του Προγράμματος Υποστήριξης Καλλιτεχνών Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος (ΙΣΝ).
Η Αριάνα Καλλιγά είναι επιμελήτρια και ερευνήτρια και εργάζεται μεταξύ Αθήνας και Νέας Υόρκης. Η έρευνά της εστιάζει στις σύγχρονες πρακτικές που συνδυάζουν την θεωρία, την αρχιτεκτονική και τη σύγχρονη τέχνη. Έχει σπουδάσει ιστορία τέχνης στο Πανεπιστήμιο της Οξφόρδης και έχει εργαστεί σε οργανισμούς όπως το Τμήμα Αρχιτεκτονικής και Design του Μουσείου Μοντέρνας Τέχνης της Νέας Υόρκης (ΜοΜΑ), το Ίδρυμα Norman Foster (Μαδρίτη) και το Μουσείο Μοντέρνας Τέχνης του Ντουμπρόβνικ (MOMAD), μεταξύ άλλων πολιτιστικών οργανισμών. Έχει επιμεληθεί προγράμματα, συζητήσεις και εκθέσεις σε μουσεία και ανεξάρτητους χώρους στην Ελλάδα και το εξωτερικό, όπως την έκθεση «Never Cross the Same River Twice» που επιμελήθηκε το 2021 μαζί με τον Kisito Assangni με την υποστήριξη του Οργανισμού ΝΕΟΝ και του οργανισμού Polygreen Culture and Art Initiative (PCAI). Πρόσφατα επιμελήθηκε την έκδοση «Artist-Run Dialogues», που εκδόθηκε από το space52 στην Αθήνα (2022) που εξερευνά νέες μορφές διεθνικής αλληλεγγύης μεταξύ των ανεξάρτητων καλλιτεχνικών και μη κερδοσκοπικών χώρων. Έχει επίσης συμμετάσχει σε προγράμματα φιλοξενίας και επιμελητικά προγράμματα όπως το πρόγραμμα «Curatorial Intensive» του ινστιτούτου SixtyEight Art Institute (Κοπεγχάγη), το επιμελητικό πρόγραμμα της πλατφόρμας WCSCD (Σερβία) και το Πρόγραμμα Καλλιτεχνικής Έρευνας και Φιλοξενίας του Ιδρύματος Γ. & Α. Μαμιδάκη (Κρήτη). Έχει βραβευτεί από την ARTWORKS και είναι Fellow του Προγράμματος Υποστήριξης Καλλιτεχνών Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος (ΙΣΝ) το 2022.
Ο Άκης Κόκκινος είναι ένας ανεξάρτητος επιμελητής και λέκτορας, που διαμένει στο Λονδίνο και στη Χίο. Είναι, επίσης, ιδρυτής και διευθυντής της DEO projects- ενός εναλλακτικού οργανισμού σύγχρονης τέχνης με έδρα τη Χίο που στόχο έχει την ενίσχυση του διεθνικού διαλόγου και της πολιτιστικής υποδομής του νησιού. Τα τελευταία δέκα χρόνια, ο Άκης έχει συνεργαστεί με σημαντικά πολιτισμικά ιδρύματα τόσο στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο όσο και στην Ελλάδα, καθώς και με ιδιωτικές συλλογές, ενώ, επίσης, έχει συμμετάσχει σε διάφορες ανεξάρτητες καλλιτεχνικές πρωτοβουλίες. Έλαβε το μεταπτυχιακό του στην Επιμέλεια Σύγχρονης Τέχνης από το Βασιλικό Κολέγιο Τέχνης στο Λονδίνο (RCA, 2018-2020), με διπλή υποτροφία από το ίδρυμα NEON και με την υποστήριξη του Ιδρύματος Schilizzi και του προγράμματος RCA Continuation Fund. Το 2021 βραβεύτηκε με το «Developing Your Creative Practice» του Συμβουλίου Τεχνών της Αγγλίας (Arts Council England) και συμμετείχε στο πρόγραμμα φιλοξενίας «Young Curators Residency Programme» του Ιδρύματος Sandretto Re Rebaudengo στη Μαδρίτη της Ισπανίας. Το 2022, επιμελήθηκε την ομαδική έκθεση Μοιραίοι Σύντροφοι, Ανυπόστατοι ίσκιοι στην Ελληνική Κατοικία στο Λονδίνο, μια ανάθεση από τον οργανισμό ΝΕΟΝ. Η έκθεση παρουσίασε 18 έργα ελληνόφωνων καλλιτεχνών της διασποράς, με κάποια από αυτά να αποτελούν μέρος της Δωρεάς της Συλλογής Δ. Δασκαλόπουλου. Το έργο του έχει προβληθεί σε διάφορα διεθνή περιοδικά τέχνης και μέσα, μεταξύ άλλων στο Frieze magazine, Artforum, Damn Magazine, Art Basel Stories, ESTADÃO και την El Pais. Η πρακτική του, εστιάζει στους τρόπους με τους οποίους διαταράσσεται το «αντικειμενικό» και το θεσμικό εισάγοντας ή ενισχύοντας άλλες, λιγότερο αξιοσημείωτες και αναγνωρισμένες μορφές γνώσης. Μέσα από πολυθεματικές αναγνώσεις, τον οικοφεμινισμό, τις μη δυτικότροπες προσεγγίσεις και άλλους μη ορθολογικούς στοχασμούς και φιλοσοφίες, το έργο του εστιάζει στο λιγότερο διαδεδομένο, στο αόρατο ή στο μεταιχμιακό. Έχει βραβευτεί από την ARTWORKS (2022) και είναι Fellow του Προγράμματος Υποστήριξης Καλλιτεχνών Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος (ΙΣΝ).
H Αλεξία Αλεξανδροπούλου είναι επιμελήτρια και παραγωγός με έδρα την Αθήνα και τη Λισαβόνα. Από το 2021 συντονίζει μια ομάδα 20 νέων επιμελητών από χώρες της Βόρειας Αφρικής και της Ευρώπης στο πλαίσιο του «ΤASAWAR Curatorial Studios», σε συνεργασία με το Goethe-Institut της Τυνησίας. Από το 2020 είναι συνεπιμελήτρια και μέλος της συντακτικής ομάδας του διαδικτυακού προγράμματος «TASAWORAT», μιας ερευνητικής πλατφόρμας που εστιάζει στην επιμελητική πρακτική σε χώρες της Βόρειας Αφρικής και της Μέσης Ανατολής. Είναι μέλος της πορτογαλικής συλλογικότητας Μais uno +1 με την οποία, αυτή την περίοδο, συνεπιμελείται και αναπτύσσει μια σειρά από δράσεις σε διάφορους χώρους της πόλης. Παράλληλα, ολοκληρώνει τις σπουδές της στην Ακαδημία Καλών Τεχνών και Design HDK-Valand του Πανεπιστημίου Γκέτεμποργκ της Σουηδίας, στο μεταπτυχιακό πρόγραμμα Commissioning and Curating Contemporary Public Art. Η πρακτική και η τρέχουσα έρευνα της εκδηλώνονται σε συμμετοχικές και συνεργατικές εκφράσεις στη σύγχρονη τέχνη. Στο παρελθόν έχει εργαστεί σε πολιτιστικά ιδρύματα και χώρους τέχνης σε χώρες όπως η Ιταλία, η Τσεχία, το Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο, η Τυνησία και η Πορτογαλία. Έχει διατελέσει βοηθός επιμέλειας σε διοργανώσεις όπως η Μπιενάλε Matter of Art της Πράγας και στην οργανισμό tranzit, ένα δίκτυο αυτόνομων πρωτοβουλιών σύγχρονης τέχνης από την Αυστρία, την Τσεχία, την Ουγγαρία, τη Σλοβακία και τη Ρουμανία. Είναι απόφοιτος του Παντείου Πανεπιστημίου Κοινωνικών και Πολιτικών Επιστημών (2013) και κάτοχος μεταπτυχιακού τίτλου (ΜΑ Αrts Policy and Management) από το Koλέγιο Birkbeck του Πανεπιστήμιο του Λονδίνου (2017). Έχει υπάρξει υπότροφος του Goethe-Institut της Τυνησίας (ΤΑSAWAR Curatorial studios Fellow 2020), ενώ έχει βραβευτεί από την ARTWORKS (2022) και είναι Fellow του Προγράμματος Υποστήριξης Καλλιτεχνών Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος (ΙΣΝ).
