Kunsthalle Athena
Founded by Marina Fokidis in 2010, Kunsthalle Athena is
one of the most vibrant cultural institutions in Athens. Geographies
and identity are at the base of its programme, and such is the case of
the last experimental exhibition "This must be the place".
Art / Filipa Ramos
One cannot stop wondering if it is irony of fatalism that lead one of
the most vibrant cultural institutions in Athens to choose to bear a
German definition to shape its identity.
But the fact that the Kunsthalle term marries a Greek expression,
Athena, is equally intriguing, as it locates this initiative halfway
between the international stereotyped model of the Kunsthalle – mostly
associated with Northern-European – and a deeply local experience
provided by the Greek naming of its capital.
This desire to reside in such unstable boundary between the foreigner
and the regional, and to develop its programme and initiatives according
to such binomial condition, is perhaps one of the most significant
aspects of Kunsthalle Athena.
Founded by Marina Fokidis (former curator of the Greek Pavilion in the
51st Venice Biennale, of the 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale and of the 1st
Tirana Biennale) in 2010, Kunsthalle Athena makes full use of the
available communication platforms and devices to expand itself beyond
its geographical position and to reach larger audience.
Such strategy allows it to develop a programme that is deeply rooted in
the local scene, and that explores and questions its nature and
problematics. A good example of such balance is the magazine South, the
winter manifestation of KA, which closes its physical the doors in the
colder months and is turned into a theme-based publication that reflects
on the concept of the South.
Geographies and identity are always at the base of KA’s programme, and
such is the case of This must be the place, a large exhibition project
with a strong experimental side, as it attempts to combine the solo
shows of three Athens-based artists, Katerina Kana, Thanos Kyriakides
(BLIND ADAM) and Petros Touloudis with a series of other projects.
Such proposal consciously dialogues with the many layers that are
constantly present within the stunning, immense, rundown site of
Kunsthalle Athena, not only because the building bears the traces of its
past functions and occupations, but also because there is a deliberate
choice to preserve an artwork from each exhibition and to turn it into a
constituent of a sort of permanent display that gradually grows and
occupies the space.
And so it is that Petros Touloudis’ video, which documents a dead-end
urban labyrinth from where one is unable to leaving is superimposed on
Matthieu Laurette’s wall writing Let’s Make Lots of Money, thus
acquiring a whole new sense. Or that Katherina Kana displays her
meticulous, almost obsessive gesture of covering the many wholes of the
walls of the rooms she occupies with strong-coloured plasticine.
Situated on the opposite extreme of the artist’s relation to the space
is the large, glam-futuristic sculpture of a large, razor-edged,
stretched, diamond-like form. Made entirely of large mirror shavings
that are connected to each other as to create a pentagonal form, XXX
simultaneously reflects and absorbs the surrounding space, which is
turned into a set of kaleidoscopic visions.
Thanos Kyriakides operates an equally transformative operation of the
site of Kunsthalle Athena, but one which is distinguished by its
subtleness. Working exclusively with very soft, black wool threads,
Kyriakides defines architectures and embodiments of invisible presences,
which are not perceived but not seen.
Situated on the opposite extreme of the artist’s relation to the space
is the large, glam-futuristic sculpture of a large, razor-edged,
stretched, diamond-like form. Made entirely of large mirror shavings
that are connected to each other as to create a pentagonal form, XXX
simultaneously reflects and absorbs the surrounding space, which is
turned into a set of kaleidoscopic visions.
Thanos Kyriakides operates an equally transformative operation of the
site of Kunsthalle Athena, but one which is distinguished by its
subtleness. Working exclusively with very soft, black wool threads,
Kyriakides defines architectures and embodiments of invisible presences,
which are not perceived but not seen.
Until 2 August 2013
This must be the place
Three solo shows by Katerina Kana, Thanos Kyriakides (BLIND ADAM) and Petros Touloudis
Works by Sotiris Bakagiannis (online commission 2013), Angelo Plessas, Socratis Socratous, Maria Tzanakou
28, Kerameikou str., Kerameikos - Metaxourgeio, Athens
http://www.domusweb.it/en/art/2013/06/18/kunsthalle_athena.html |
