ArtBOX
  • Home
  • About
  • Projects
  • Common Lab
  • Labattoir Project
  • Contact

Symbiosis? 
XV Biennale de la Méditerranée
Thessaloniki - Rome

[biennial] [catalogue] [artistic direction] [coordination]
PROJECTS
Picture

500 artists and creators from 27 countries; 11.000 square meters spread over 12 exhibition spaces - many of which used for the first time, including old port warehouses; 20 parallel projects and exhibitions; 6 main organising institutions in collaboration with over 35 partner institutions; 200 volunteers; 100+ technicians; 280 pages’ colour catalogue; 33 curators; 20.000 visitors. 

Picture

Intro: The International Association for the Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean (BJCEM)

Why, after 26 years, does BJCEM still promote the Biennale de la Méditerranée? Because of the confidence in the importance of the idea that we all share one fundamental common value: we are all Mediterraneans. Certainly, religions, countries, political ideas, social values, personal behaviors are not the same, but all those differences and their coexistence in a relatively small area, in which live hundreds of millions of people for thousands of years, have created something unique. Thus, the title "Symbiosis?", proposed by a pool of experts and curators from Thessaloniki, was adopted by BJCEM as the title for the overall event in 2011, as a clear and straightforward indication of the urgency of responding to a very relevant question: how can we live together now?

In the Mediterranean area, our roots are deep and tangled, whenever you cross the Mediterranean Sea, from one shore to another, you’ll find it like watching yourself in a mirror. In the faces and bodies of others, in the natural landscapes as in the urban development, in the food as in the language, in the way of dressing as in the way of thinking, you will find another you. But nowadays we feel the space in which we live becoming tighter and tighter: economical crisis, local wars, poverty, fundamentalism, illegal migrations, ruins and pollution are creating a strong isolation of our Mediterranean that doesn't seem to be a wide crossroads anymore. Our caravanserais are in decline and we need to see new horizons, cross new borders, feel like we are an ocean and not a dead sea. That’s why BJCEM, through the Biennale de la Méditerranée, encourages and promotes new generations of emerging artists, in order to contribute to raising questions, showing new directions and chasing away fears.

This year, the choice of including two cities, Thessaloniki and Rome, is born from the necessity to create an articulated path through the different countries which are part of the BJCEM network. The realization of such a series of events is not fragmentary but on the contrary makes it possible to take a long journey through the unedited views of young artists from the Euro-Mediterranean area. Starting in early October and for a whole month, Thessaloniki will host the sectors of Visual and Applied Arts, as well as Gastronomy.

Back in 1986, the 2nd edition of the Biennale, which later became a landmark in the history of the event, had taken place in the city, promoted by the then Minister of Culture Melina Merkouri as an outsanding cultural event. In the current local reality, which of course is bound to the international conditions, the meaning of culture does not concern only the aesthetic pleasure of artistic creation, but it entails more dimensions, such as social and economic ones. In times of crisis, culture minimizes the differences, offers a wide range of communication, exchange of ideas and views, and supports social cohesion. As a contemporary practice, culture also demands a relevant political management. It demands a cultural policy which will meet today’s needs but will also include the vision of tomorrow, something that young people today need more than ever. In this cultural policy, the city itself, Thessaloniki is a valuable ally!   

In Rome, the sectors of Music, Cinema and Literature will be presented at the end of November. Loyal to the motto “Beauty will save the World”, the local organizers consider the Biennale an opportunity to promote many of the values that Rome is already working on, in order to become a “youth friendly” capital: sharing, fantasy and hope, thanks to concrete enterprises that have a real effect on the urban territory.

All the institutions involved in this year’s organization have joined forces in order to make this Biennale successful and useful, trying to invest energy, time and money in the wiser possible way to create this great momentum. Special thanks are owed to all the institutions and professionals who worked on the organization of the events in the two cities, Thessaloniki and Rome, and also to all the people from the BJCEM network, the BJCEM partners, donors and everyone who has contributed to make this event possible. We do hope that people will enjoy it and that we will, even slightly, offer a contribution towards a truly symbiotic Mediterranean.

The Presidium & The Organising Committee

Symbiosis?
The concept of the XV Biennale de la Méditerranée

The title and concept “Symbiosis?”, which was adopted by BJCEM as the subject for this year’s biennial as a whole, was developed in a series of brainstorming meetings that took place in Thessaloniki in Spring 2011 with the participation of local institutions, independent curators, professors, architects and artists. The following text was drafted by four of the curators present  as a means of conveying the thoughts and proposals that were discussed therein. 

The XV Biennale de la Mediterranée, which will take place in Thessaloniki in the fall of 2011, articulates its subject in the form of a question: “Symbiosis?”. This choice reflects an awareness of the complexity involved in engaging with the urgent notion of ‘togetherness' within the context of a biennial. It also stems from a will to provoke multiple answers, and to give voice to conflicting positions, within the framework of this temporary event. 

Rather than reformulate the moral imperative at the heart of the notion of “living together” (symbiosis), this project aims to raise a series of questions, including:
How might we live together given our different political modes of existence?
How does the recent march of political events in parts of the Mediterranean re-orientate the conditions of living together in the Mediterranean basin?
Can informal means and channels allow individuals to act outside of regulated spaces and formatted encounters?
Does symbiosis promote human self-fulfillment?
Can expanded artistic practices reorganize our shared reality?
What needs and promises do technology and the new means of social networking fulfill?
Are the doubts and ambiguities associated with contemporary artistic practices a means of generating a critical reflection on current distributions of roles and capacities, or are they simply a means of normalizing our schizophrenic engagement with the world?

Within this conceptual framework, the notion of Symbiosis embodies the will for a renewed relationship with the ‘other’, recognized as an unknown parameter: the ‘other’ might stand for nature and the rhetorics of sustainable development, or culture and the indefinite boundaries of art; it might suggest the materiality of the city in constant flux, or the contemporary digital world in a process of radical transformation; it might also refer to the new economic and social crises that we perceive around us but have yet to name. 

In this respect, the XV Biennale de la Mediterranée aims to renegotiate the notion of Symbiosis and highlight a decisive moment in the history of the institution, as well as the city and the Mediterranean territory, by bringing together a host of differing artistic practices.

Sotirios Bahtsetzis, Stephanie Bertrand, Maria Kenanidou, Thouli Misirloglou
Curators

”SYMBIOSIS?"
XV Biennale de la Mediterranee

Thessaloniki, Greece
6 October - 6 November 2011
Rome, Italy
16 & 17 December 2011


GREECE
Organized by:
BJCEM aisbl – Association Internationale pour la Biennale des Jeunes Créateurs de l’ Europe et de la Méditerranée
General Secretariat for Youth (GGNG)
Municipality of Thessaloniki – Department of Culture, Education and Youth – 46th Dimitria
Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art (MMCA)
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh)

Presidium:
Luigi Ratclif (President of BJCEM)
Yiannos Livanos (Secretary General for Youth)
Yiannis Boutaris (Mayor of Thessaloniki)
Xanthippe Skarpia-Heupel (President of the Board of Directors, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art)
Yiannis Mylopoulos (Rector of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
Stelios Aggeloudis (President, Thessaloniki Port Authority SA)

Organizing Committee:
Spyros Pengas (Deputy Mayor of Culture, Education and Youth)
Tania Dimitriadi (Special Advisor on Culture & Social Policy to the Secretary General for Youth, Artist)
Emiliano Paoletti (Secretary General, BJCEM)
George Papakostas (President of the School of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
Matoula Scaltsa (Member of the Board of Directors, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art)
Maria Loukou (Administrative Officer, Department of Culture, General Secretariat for Youth, Artist)

Artistic & Organizing Director:
Christos Savvidis (ArtBOX.gr)

Director - Architect:
George Papakostas (AUTh)

Assistants to the Directors:
Lydia Chatziiakovou (ArtBOX.gr)
Ioanna Tokmakidou

Curators (Visual Arts - Main Program):
Stephanie Bertrand
Effie Halivopoulou
Christos Savvidis

Curator (Applied Arts - Main Program):
Maria Triantaphyllidou

Curator (Gastronomy - Main Program):
Maria Netsika

Visual Communication:
Designed by: Ambigram & PAD
Creative team: Melina Maltsidou, Leoni Sion, Niki Tambaki, Yiannis Valtis
Architects:
POLIS: George Papakostas, Κostas Proios, Yiannis Vlahos, Sofia Voulgaraki
Lighting and Installation of
Audiovisual Works:

Giorgos Kosmidis – DIAPASON
Constructions:
Dinos Makedos
Art Works Mounting:
Periklis Galanos
Insurance:
Y. Karavias & Associates LTD
Volunteers Program Coordinator:
Makis Ananiadis
Volunteers Program Coordinator:
Makis Ananiadis

Artists:
More than 500 artists, from 27 countries; half of them part of the official program, and the other half part of the parallel program (see below)

Partner Institutions National Bank of Greece; Cultural Foundation – Thessaloniki Centre (Villa Kapandji & Bookshop); Piraeus Bank Conference Centre; Institut Français de Thessalonique; Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki; American Embassy in Greece; University of Western Macedonia, Florina; School of Architecture - Istanbul Technical University; Technical and Professional Chamber of Greece – Section of Central Macedonia; School of Architecture – National Technical University of Athens; School of Architecture – Faculty of Engineering, Demokritos University of Thrace; School of Architecture – Faculty of Engineering, University of Patras; School of Architecture – Faculty of Engineering, University of Thessaly; School of Architecture – Faculty of Engineering, University of Crete; Interuniversity Postgraduate Program Museology, School of Architecture – Faculty of Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; Thessaloniki Photography Museum; Thessaloniki Film Festival

CATALOGUE:
Coordination:
Federica Candelarsi, Lydia Chatziiakovou, Ioanna Tokmakidou
Editing:
Olga Chatziiakovou
Proofreading:
Marcus O’ Connor
Designed by:
Ambigram & PAD
Creative team:
Melina Maltsidou, Leoni Sion, Niki Tambaki
Yiannis Valtis
Colour, English, 280 pages

Parallel events:
More than 20 parallel events in different venues and public sites around the city (see below)


Main Program


Visual Arts

Picture
When we first accepted the invitation to curate the XV Biennale de la Mediterranée, it was immediately clear that the project would present an unusual host of possibilities, freedoms and limitations. The artists and their works were selected by local organizations in each of the participating countries through an open call. And the conceptual framework for the biennial, Symbiosis?, was determined by a group of local curators, architects, professors, artists and museum directors, following a roundtable that occurred in Thessaloniki months prior to the arrival of the material. This particular set of conditions meant that our work would primarily be aimed at developing display strategies that would accommodate and support these pre-existing parameters within the context of a large-scale exhibition.

As we set ourselves to the task, it soon emerged that although broad in its implications and laden with ethical conundrums, the idea of “symbiosis” –or “living together”, as the Greek word suggests– perhaps best synthesizes the biennale’s structure. Indeed, the latter’s particular mode of operation is bound up in a process that gathers a heteroclite collection of artworks and practices, quite at odds with more conventionally curated shows that assemble along a given line. If the biennial allows these artworks and practices to coexist in a single exhibition, it is unable to make them reflect a unified vision, always suggesting a plurality of conflicting voices and approaches that stem from often-incommensurate concerns and contextual realities.

With this in mind, rather than try to isolate the works of the participating artists according to nationality, our first instinct was to embrace the biennale’s eclectic nature by assembling nearly all of the works together in a display that would emphasize the formal, symbolic and conceptual affinities and disparities that exist between them. The unconventional spaces that were fortuitously chosen to host the biennale provided the ideal context to develop such an installation. These weathered and rarely visited warehouses at the heart of Thessaloniki’s commercial port presented us with enormous open spaces that naturally suggest public gathering, albeit indoor. 

Against all pre-conceived expectations, we avoided any attempts at transforming and dividing up these warehouses into a series of proper white cube galleries. We chose instead to play on the sublime lure of the large weathered open spaces –at the risk of potential chaos– over the urge to compartmentalize, even out and isolate. Thus, we developed an open-plan installation using individually tailored supports to allow much of the works to become freestanding, or more accurately free-floating, in space. 

The desired effect is one of clusters of works coming into contact more or less willingly, like individuals wandering through a large open space and being drawn together in the absence of physical dividers by unexpected attractions and tensions. Or to borrow a metaphor inspired by symbiosis’ biological connotations: using an open structure to compel relationships through proximity that might perhaps inspire mutual growth, co-evolution, metabolism, the genesis of hybrid ideas, deep connections that inspire awe, and the creation of new forms as with symbiogenesis. In this way, we have tried to rely on the particular architectural features of the space and the temporary nature of the event to suggest the question at the heart of the biennale: symbiosis?

Stephanie Bertrand, Effie Halivopoulou, Christos Savvidis
Curators

Visual Arts
Warehouses 9 & 15, Thessaloniki Port, Greece
6 October - 6 November 2011

Curators:
Stephanie Bertrand
Effie Halivopoulou
Christos Savvidis

Participants:
Ahmed Abulnasr (EG), Madonna Adib (SY), Laila Ait Bouchtba (MA), Mohamed Alaa (EG), Muhammad Ali (SY), Jocelyn Allen (UK), Muayad A. F. Amleh (PS), Arbit City Group (GR), Belma Arnautović (BA), Artereazione (IT), Younes Baba-Ali (FR), Amna Badawy (EG), Salma Badawy (EG), Alpin Arda Bağcik (TR), Alma Bakiaj (GR), Ami Elisabeth Barnes (UK), Vincent Betbeze (FR), Giulia Bonora (IT), Christoph Brehme (IT), BRISCIU! (IT), Karmil Cardone (IT), André Catarino (PT), Spyros Charalampopoulos (GR), Constantinos Chondros (GR), Tomasso Cocchi (IT), Diego Corbalan Hernandez (ES), Rita Correddu (IT), Fabrizio Cotognini (IT), Gemma Rebecca Coyle (UK), Ctrlfreaks (GR), Qendrese Deda (KO), Sinem Değer (TR), Ioannis Delagrammatikas (GR), Jeremie Delhome (FR), Marko Dješka (HR), Sebastian Durante (FR), Eleni Economou (CY), Alexandros Efstathiadis (GR), Samar El Barawy (EG), Amine El Gotaibi (MA), Naim El Hajj (LB), Ala Abd El Hamid (EG), Didem Erk (TR), Rami Farah (SY), Simohammed Fettaka (MA), Gianluca Floris (IT), Dimitris Fragakis (GR), Tonći Gaćina (HR), Mito Gegič (SI), Gonzalogonzilla (ES), Tijana Gordic & Adin Rastoder (CS), Christina Gousia (GR), Antonio Guerra (ES), Sophie Guerrive (FR), Eman Hamdy (EG), Marc Michel Antoune Henine (EG), Sarah Mei Herman (UK), I+G Stop Motion (ES), Mathias Isouard (FR), Dušica Ivetić (CS), JRM (FR), Yanna Kali (GR), Kled Kapexhiu (AL), Janine Khawand (LB), Alex Koschier & Belen Rodriguez (AT), Jelena Koštica (CS), Iva Kovač (HR), Elvis Krstulović (HR), Dimitrios Lamprou (GR), Philipp Leissing (AT), Giovanni Vincenzi Lens (SM), Victoria Leonidou (CY), Pablo Lopez Garcia del Moral (ES), Sandra Lorenzi (FR), MaMan (IT), Lina Mantikou (GR), Isabella Mara (IT), Marko Markovic & Marko Markovic (HR), Andreina Marquez (ES), Audrey Martin (FR), Me and the Machine (UK), Laura Mergoni (IT), Hady Moustafa (EG), Nacho Ballesteros "twinsFactory" (ES), Vicente Navarro (ES), Abderrahim Nidalha (MA), Maria Niki Niraki (GR), NYSU (ES), o-Ceti (IT), Jose Oliveira (PT), Katherina Olschbaur (AT), Nikolaos Pachis (GR), Paola Palavidi & Ioannis Koliopoulos (GR), Renata Papišta (BA), Andreas Pashias (GR), Marijana Pazin-Ivesic (BA), Sophie Pellegrino (FR), Cristina Peralta Martin (ES), Birgit Petri (AT), Konstantinos Pettas (GR), Michele Pierpaoli (IT), Alja Piry (SI), Periklis Pravitas (GR), Sejma Prodanovic (CS), Ilija Prokopiev (FYROM), Mirjana Radovanovic (CS), Said Rais (MA), Bita Razavi & Jaako Juhani Karhunen (FI), Realtympanica (UK), Linus Riepler (AT), Antonino Rizzo (IT), Martin Romeo (IT), Dina Rončević (HR), Giannis Rouvas (GR), Carmen Rubio Ortells (ES), Paco Ruiz (ES), Olivia Sanchez Arnau (ES), Calvin Sangster (UK), Abdeljalil Saouli (MA), Moussa Sarr (FR), Despina Schina (GR), Sergio M. Moreno Dominguez (ES), Chiara Sgaramella (IT), Aldo Soligno (IT), Samuel Spreckley (UK), Simha Talalaevsky (IL), Darren Tanti (MT), Stratis Tavlaridis (GR), Txema Ballesteros "twinsFactory" (ES), Umaiah (PS), Hande Varsat (TR), Mihailo Vasiljevic (CS), Ana Teresa Vicente (PT), Nicol Vizioli (IT), Maja Vodanović (HR), Borko Vukosav (HR), Wafaa Yehia (EG), Antonios Yiannopoulos (GR), Angie Yousry (EG), Mohamed Ziada (EG), Michael Zupraner (IL)


Applied Arts

Warehouse 7; a building, an old one, scheduled being; a warehouse, for stock materials was used for the port once upon a time. The wooden roof, elegantly crafted captures the gaze which doesn’t stop on the wall that is flaking off… The idea -sudden flash- needs company, silent even… mannequins -dual sense- introduce the new to the old, to everyone of us… The ideas of the young who philosophise, who provoke, who subvert, who mock, who ridicule themselves, who plan, however, who propose; fashion, design, architecture; roads-bridges of communication; strings of re-connection; humanitarian relations… this is the World of the Young who live together! in art…

Maria Triantaphyllidou
Curator 

Applied Arts
Warehouse 7, Thessaloniki Port, Greece
6 October - 6 November 2011

Curator:
Maria Triantaphyllidou

Participants:
2Objectrepair (GR), Georgina Antrei (GR), Biguorno (FR), Foteini Chandra (GR), Alexandros Charidis (GR), CTRLZAK (IT), Deeja (EG), Christoforos Dimitriou, Lia Moris & Stella Marie Tselepi (GR), Evangelia Goula & Konstantia Koulidou (GR), Bashar Hassuneh (PS), Industrial Design Lab (GR), Aimilia Karapostoli (GR), Constantinos Kelpis (GR), Tjaša Kermavnar (SI), Paraskevi Kokolaki (GR), Angeliki Kotroni (GR), Sofoklis Kotsopoulos (GR), Aly Mohamed Ahmed & Mohamed El-Sheik (EG), Fani Mouka (GR), Kadër Muzaqi (KO), Dionysia Mylonaki (GR), Panagiotis Ntalianis (GR), Vasileios Ntovros (GR), Okhotsk-Gore (ES), Nikolaos Petridis (CY), Mrs. Pineapple (ES), Victor Manuel Sanchez Valero (ES), Rebecca Louise Wilson (UK)


Gastronomy

The world of gastronomy is magical and enchanting. As magical as the world of music, poetry, the arts. As enchanting as the experience of meeting and getting to know new people.

Acknowledging the fact that a set table may function as a lesson in economy, geography, aesthetics, history, as well as tradition, gastronomy is included in the Biennale’s field of activities. And what a wonderful opportunity this is! Gastronomy, as a creative expression of the young, in a great feast of young people that is going to be realized in Thessaloniki with  “Symbiosis?” as its main theme. In the city that for two and a half millenia has been a landmark for people and cultures and that was inhabited by foreigners of different nationalities, religions, habits, manners and customs. Their cohabitation (symbiosis?) ended up in the adoption of new ideas in their everyday lives. The famous nation-wide gastronomy of Thessaloniki serves as an excellent example. A cultural creation, beyond doubt, mirroring the beliefs concerning life and enjoyment, human relations and communication. Thessaloniki’s restaurants, tavernas and ouzeri combine the local cooking tradition with the refugees’ inventiveness, the exoticism of the East with the manners of the West.

In the context of the XV Biennale de la Mediterranée, nine young people have taken a “futuristic” look at the national dishes of their countries (Lebanon, Italy, Spain, Palestine, Kosovo, Republic of San Marino). Cooking workshops, demos and open discussions will give Gastronomy – Symbiosis? its form. And most importantly: Gastronomy - Symbiosis? is opening the Thessaloniki Food Festival. A new insitution of the city, which is determined to win its place on the contemporary universal culinary map.

Maria Netsika
Curator of the presentation in Thessaloniki

Gastronomy
Warehouse 13, Thessaloniki Port, Greece
4 - 6 November 2011

Curator:
Maria Netsika

Participants:
Tarek Al Kawas (LB), Giacomo Amicucci (SM), Elias Bassous (PS), Issa Salman (PS), Capa Y Quilis Asociats (ES), Fork & Knife Catering Co (SY), Alessia Galletta (IT), Lorena (ES), Nurhan Quehaja Nimani (KO)


PARALLEL PROGRAM

The parallel program of the XV Biennale de la Méditerranée in Thessaloniki was intentionally shaped through a flexible, open process, in order to incorporate a variety of different projects and exhibitions. Among our first thoughts when we accepted the proposal to build a program for the Biennale in Thessaloniki, was to involve as many institutions and art professionals from the local arts scene as possible. We organized meetings and discussions, inviting the city’s creative forces to contribute to the shaping of an event faced with a great challenge (greater even than the challenges faced by any contemporary art event). First, the XV Biennale de la Méditerranée had to live up to the expectations of the local community and of the BJCEM network, that still remember the 1986 edition of the event in Thessaloniki as a landmark in the history of the Biennale. Of course, since then, Thessaloniki has developed and the local audience has become much more familiar with contemporary art and large-scale events, so the standards have been raised. On top of that, we had the obligation to organize such an event without disregarding the current financial situation and given the budgetary restrictions (again, greater than the given budgetary restrictions of any contemporary art event).
Many curators and artists responded to our call by bringing in interesting ideas for exhibitions and projects that provide a variety of answers and viewpoints to the theme of Symbiosis? Institutions brought in their proposals of planned exhibitions and activities that could be incorporated into the program. We tried to accept all proposals and to satisfy all demands, through a process of discussions and negotiations on various levels. In collaboration and with the approval of the Organizing Committee, we built a rich, intriguing parallel program that is a valuable addition to the Biennale and to the cultural life of the city. I would like to thank all the artists, curators and other practitioners from the creative fields, as well as all the institutions, who embraced the initiative and contributed their ideas and resources. 
During the first working sessions that were organized, a large number of art professionals participated. I would like to mention them here, in alphabetical order, as a generic method of listing names of people whose personality and contribution are equally admired and valued. They are: Sotirios Bahtsetzis (Curator), Stephanie Bertrand (Curator), Christina Biermann (Goethe-Institut, Thessaloniki), Eli Chrysidou (representing the Municipality of Thessaloniki and the Municipality of Stavroupolis), Yiannis Epaminondas (from the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation – Thessaloniki Centre), Fotis Gaitanis (stundent), Antonis Galanopoulos (student), Apostolos Kalfopoulos (architect, curator, Dynamo Project Space), Maria Kenanidou (Curator), Areti Leopoulou (Curator, Contemporary Art Centre of Thessaloniki), Theodore Markoglou (Curator, State Museum of Contemporary Art of Thessaloniki), Andreas Mavrodis (student), Thouli Misirloglou (Curator, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art), Peter Panes (Director, Goethe-Institut of Thessaloniki), Xenis Sachinis (President, School of Visual and Applied Arts of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Maria Triantaphyllidou (architect, museologist, Administrative Director, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art), Maria Tsantsanoglou (Director, State Museum of Contemporary Art of Thessaloniki), Syrago Tsiara (Director, Contemporary Art Centre of Thessaloniki), Nikos Tsinikas (President, School of Film Studies, Faculty of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Apostolos Vettas (President, School of Drama, Faculty of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki). Of course, the representatives of all the organizing bodies have also contributed immensely to the shaping of the Biennale’s program, concept and scope.
I would also like to thank the members of the committees who selected the Greek participations and the visual communication.
Finally, all the artists participating in the main and parallel program, the curators and the great team of architects and technicians that worked to install the exhibitions.

Christos Savvidis
Director, ArtBOX.gr
Artistic Director, XV Biennale de la Méditerranée in Thessaloniki

Graduates’ Exhibition
School of Visual and Applied Arts

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 

The XV Biennale de la Méditerranée collaborates with the School of Visual and Applied Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki's Faculty of Fine Arts for "Symbiosis?". This is an attempt to exchange, distribute and disseminate the visual language and relevant knowledge. The main purpose is to approach and communicate systematically with local communities and also to provide information on the teaching and research work of both teachers and students.

A new era of inquiries and reformation arises; an era that calls for redefinition and renegotiation of all public activities; an era that calls for reorientation of the cultural practice in an attempt to detect the complex cultural relations that form it. Starting from the creatively rude territory of the lab, students, with an urge for adventure, manage to artistically form the juvenile cultural, poetic, religious, philosophical, moral, psychological, emotional and social reflection of the uncertain and changeable era. These students are real descendents of this era. They choose artistic methods and tools in order to comprehend the social conditions and conventions; they attempt to imprint and decode their works within a new reality; each one using the available expressive means, their quests, fears, insecurities, agonies, dreams and nightmares in an effort to rationalize the dispute and the comprehension of social reality.

Maria Kenanidou

Curator

Graduates’ Exhibition
School of Visual and Applied Arts
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Warehouse 9, Thessaloniki Port, Greece
6 October - 6 November 2011

Curators:
Maria Kenanidou, Xenis Sachinis,
Charis Savvopoulos

Participanting students:
Eutixia Aggelidou, Maria Aloneutou, Giota Andriakena, Nikoletta Antonakou, Antigoni Antonopoulou, Olga Archontou, Christos Arfanis, Maria Arni, Despoina Athanasiadou, Sofia Bakirtzi, Andreas Balaouras, Afroditi Boutou, Sofia Brataki, Chrysoula Chalemi, Eleni Chantzi, Rozita Gatzoulis, Soultana Gioura, Miltiadis Despoudis, Afroditi Dimoviti, Foteini Divanoglou, Alexandros Efstathiadis, Anastasia Euaggelopoulou, Anna Fanaelidou, Nikolaos Fotiadis, Kyriaki Fotiadou, Panagiotis Kalogiannis, Charalambos Kampanopoulos, Athanassios Karamitas, Vasiliki Kartselou, Anila Katsani, Kali Katsouri, Ioannis Katsouris, Marianna Keramida, Panagiotis Kerefiadis, Aineas Klemes, Paraskeui Kostopoulou, Christina Kouvoukliotou, Dimitris Kristits, Demetra Liakopoulou, Chrysanthi-Sofia Lipara, Leonidas Makridis, Panagiotis Margaritis, Virginia Mastrogiannaki, Vanta Mavroidi, Andreas Melissanides, Karolina Messia, Evangelia Moustaklidou, Panagiotis Paloglou, Poulcheria-Foteini Papachristou, Christina Papadimitriou, Anastasia Papageorgiou, Chariklea Papapostolou, Eudoxia Papavassiliou, Konstantina Paraskeuopoulou, Alexandra Paulidou, Ioanna Paulopoulou, Georgia Petridou, Anastassia Sachtaridou, Zoe Servou, Vassiliki Spyrou, Maria Stamoglou, Lydia Statiri, Stefanos Syras, Georgios Teflioudis, Liouba Theodoridou, Maria Thoukididou, Vassilea Vakirtzi, Afroditi Vargiamidou, Elektra Varnava, Christina Zaimaki, Maria Zisi, Nikoleta Zoufilda


Diploma Thesis Projects’ Exhibition 2010-2011
School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
School of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University 

This Diploma Thesis Projects’ exhibition is the first to be jointly organised by the School of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the School of Architecture of the Istanbul Technical University. The exhibition presents a total of 100 projects, 50 from each School, submitted during the academic year 2010-2011. It is the fruit of an ongoing collaboration between those two major Schools, which have trained successive generations of young architects in both counties. The intention is to portray and highlight in a comparative way the multifaceted aspects related to the teaching and research of architectural design in the broader sense of the term, which encompasses all established fields and approaches included in the study of architecture.

The 100 projects exhibited have been selected among the entire number of diploma projects submitted by the students of both institutions in the recent academic year by a joint committee of Greek and Turkish colleagues from both Schools. The selection process was based on a composite series of criteria, such as the representation of all thematic fields included in the curricula of each school, ranging from industrial objects, architectural design, urban design and planning, landscape architecture, restoration of historic buildings and sites etc.; the quality of the project in terms of its completion level and its adequate graphic design; the originality of the approach; the relevance to current issues of sustainability and ecological concern; and its awareness of present-day social problems in cities.

The exhibition is expected to contribute to a valuable understanding of the teaching and research carried out in both Schools and provides solid foundations for a productive and meaningful reflection concerning architectural education in particular and the study of architecture in general. 


The Organizing Committee

Diploma Thesis Projects 2010-2011
School of Architecture
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
School of Architecture
Istanbul Technical University

Warehouse 7, Thessaloniki Port, Greece
6 October - 6 November 2011

Organazing Committee:
AUTH, School of Architecture:
George Papakostas, Professor & Head of the School, Vilma Hastaoglou-Martinidis, Professor, Titi Papadopoulou, Professor, Fani Vavili, Professor
ITU, School of Architecture:
Orhan Hacihasanoğlu, Professor & Dean of the School, Gülsün Sağlamer, Professor, Nuran Zeren Gülersoy, Professor, Fatma Erkök, Assistant professor

Curators:
Anastasia Papadopoulou, Vanessa Tsakalidou

Participating Students:
AUTH: Marietta Andreou, Evangelos Arvanitis, Niki Asimi, Danae Athanasopoulou, Dimitris Avramidis, Sofia Avramopoulou, Magdalini Barba, Eleni Beza, Alexis Bolarakis, Heleni Bouki, Eliana Chadjiantoniou, Eleni Chalati, Marianna Charitonidou, Georgia Chatziangelidou, Paraskevi Chatzidimitriou, Sofia Chatzigeorgiou, Thomai-Paraskevi Chatziioannidou, Dinora Chatzisava, Maria Chiou, Anna Christou, Yasemin-Isik Celik, Elisavet Derdelakou, Iphigenia Dimitrakou, Paraskevi Fanou, Vasiliki Filou, Anthi Gallou, Evelina Garantzioti, E. Georgiadou, Olympia Georgoudaki, Vasileios Giannakis, Anna Giata, A. Goumas, Anastasios Kaparis, Lefteris Karageorgiou, Zoë Karagiozi, Sandy Karagouni, Irene Karaveli, Maria-Ioanna Kazakou, Georgia Kissa, Giorgos Kokolakis, Dimitra Koroni, Konstantina Kouli, Nikolaos Leventis, K. Louizis, Penelopi Mamoura, Spyros Margetis, Konstantinos Maroulas, Ilias Michopoulos, Michael Nevradakis,Ioannis-Athineos Nikitakos, Nikos Nikolis, Myrsini Ntai, Antonios Palierakis, Evangelos Pantazis, Despoina Papadopoulou, Aigli Papakyriakou, Christina Papalexandri, Georgios Papanikolaou, Stella Papazoglou, Ioannis Perisotaris, Nikolas Petridis, Stylianos Psaltis, Konstantinos Psomas, Anastasios Roidis, Chrysavgi Sarlani, Penny Semertzidou, Giannis Siopidis, Anastasios Siropoulos, Anthi Skoupra, Andreas Skraparlis, Maria-Eleni Spyropoulou, Sonia Theodosiadi, Fani Tsiolaki, Panagiotis Tsoukanas, Chryssa Varna, Paraskevi Vasilopoulou, Konstantinos Vouros, Michalis Vrentzos
ITU: Türker Acartürk, Derya Aguday, Melek Akçadoğan, Simge Akın, Idil Akyol, Şeyma Alpaslan, Melike Atici, Bahar Avanoğlu, Betül Aydin, Ülgen Ayrancı, Anıl Badanoz, Başak Bakkaloğlu, Sevda Caliskan, Lâle Ceylan, Deniz Gezgin, Irem Gizem AK, Seda Nehir Gümüşlü, Merve Güngördü, Hatice Cansu Curgen, Zeynep Dündar, Lisa Hagemann, Ilteris Ilbasan, Emine Duygu Kahraman, Bariş Kalyoncuoğlu, Ayşe Karagülle, Pelin Kaydan, Meltem Kaymakoğlu, Pelin Kenez, Gökhan Kiyici, Mustafa Küstür, Dinemis Kusuluoğlu, Bianca Mohr, Emre Mutlu, Gizem Mutlugeldi, Zümra Okursay, Gamze Başak Orhan, Sina Özbudun, Erman Ozdemir, Deniz Özdeniz, Dilan Özkan, Sıdıka Gőzde Özuğur, Cansu Sağirkaya, Ali Seifloo, Cagin Sergin, Mehmet Mert Sezer, Olivia Sidey, Damla Turan, Melis Uysal, Derya Uzal, Eda Yeyman


Symbiosis?: Hotel Ariston 
[project] [exhibition] [workshop] [concerts] [projections]

The main focal point of the extended artistic project entitled "Symbiosis? Hotel Ariston" (Ariston could mean we can live together) is the location where the project takes place. Hotel Ariston is a building from the 1950s, located at a central point at Vardaris Square (5 Diikitiriou Str.), very close to the railway station and at the point from which the kilometres start to be calculated for the axis of Thessaloniki. It was, up until five years ago, running as a hotel and probably will do so again in the near future. In its current intermediate phase, after its operation and before its renovation, almost 80 creators from different artistic fields (visual arts, music, theatre, scenography, architecture) are called to animate, to inhabit again this phantasmic building, which does not have any characteristics of ruin, only those of an abandoned space.

The hotel will host the artists not as possible clients but as real occupants: it is them who will decide how long they are staying, the conditions of their stay, their interventions and the feasibility of the interventions, they will create in situ, sometimes even using objects from the hotel itself. At the same time it’s them who decide about what we see, as temporal visitors and “users” of the new space that’s being created. In that sense, with large-scale interventions or very simple gestures, the artists will almost reconstruct the place and the space of the hotel itself and they will activate its potential as a space for ideas, debate and invention. In other words, they are going to collectively propose a model of creative (co)habitation (Symbiosis?) in an abandoned space and in an urban area that’s almost marginal and underdeveloped. The sense of a-topos that characterises each hotel is being reconsidered and in part capsized.

The result cannot be controlled, nor directed, but only in part sketched or mapped through the invitation of particular artists (or artistic groups). If one calls to mind that some of them –maybe most of them– are being selected because of their ability to overturn and subvert any plan, then the final result cannot but be expected and experienced. Please, have a look at the program and make your bookings. There is no telephone number, no reception, but we are sure that you will find the way. We are expecting you.

The project includes the use of the ground floor, five floors and their rooms, the terrace of the hotel, its external facets, and a mid-floor for workshops. Starting from the rooms: mainly visual artists are going to inhabit the hotel’s rooms, bringing the hotel back to life. They bring their work, they make in situ installations, they make up mechanisms, they reconstruct themselves in the phantasmic place and they invite us to live within it. They do not make comments. They fulfill an artistic (co)habitation, they peacefully seize he space. The hotel, a kind of heterotopia, for once in its life, is being inhabited exclusively by artists.

Apart from the visual artists who are going to reside in the rooms, "The Hunt" is an extended performative project taking place on the fourth floor, while on the mid-floor two workshops are going to be realized. On the ground floor quite a varied program of performances, concerts, theater, dance, screenings, presentations and a Pecha-Kucha Night are taking place.

In its whole, the program of the Hotel Ariston is a big project of inhabitation of a former and a future hotel. What is generated for both the artists and the visitors cannot really be described but only experienced. The phantasmic hotel becomes a space of celebration or scandals, memory and oblivion, mysteries or surprises, loneliness and companionship, revelations and concealments, play or work, and at the same time it is a real space and an imaginary one. With most of its doors open, the sense of non-topos becomes even more ambivalent. In this regard, the perspectives of the hotel’s future proliferate and get strengthened. 

Thouli Misirloglou
Curator

Symbiosis?: Hotel Ariston
Abandoned hotel Ariston, Thessaloniki, Greece
6 October - 6 November 2011

Curator:
Thouli Misirloglou

Performances’ Coordinator:
Lela ramoglou

Artists:
Ryan Gerber & Ioanna Souroudi, Christine Mitrentse, Stefanos Agalianos, Sofia Argyrou, Nikolas Arvanitis, Vasilis Botoulas, Zoe Giabouldaki, Adele Han Li, Nicole Hoesli, Maki Ichikawa, Infrared Architects, Andreas Karaoulanis, Artemis Katsampani & Lela Ramoglou, Pat Ku, Theofanis Nouskas, Harris Pallas, Sotiris Panousakis, The Rabbit and the Turtle, Nana Sachini, Kostas Sahpazis, Vassiliea Stylianidou, Stratis Tavlaridis, Filippos Tsitsopoulos, Kalliopi-Georgia Vamvakousi-Christina Zavlanou-Irineos Vamvakousis, Mary Zygouri


Teenage Angst 
[workshop] [exhibition]

"Teenage Angst" is a project that is compiled of a series of 3 weekly exhibitions, with the participation of 30-40 young artists aged 15-18 years old. The young creators participate with works of visual or applied arts (painting, collage, drawing, video, animation, zines, street art, illustration, graphic design, fashion etc). 

These exhibitions aim to create an entire environment presenting and communicating, through creation and art, the special characteristics of this particular age group, mainly the intense emotions of dispute, insecurity, mental tension, internal anxiety, agony and emotional sensitivity as well as hope, excitement, audacity, enthusiasm and impulse.

Emotions of special tension that have no particular direction but signal and signify this transitional age and are represented in teenage and post-teenage creative works, in symbolic systems (language, appearance, objects, young sub-cultures), as well as in the borders of schoolbooks, in diaries and numerous blogs, tumblr etc.

In the context of these three exhibitions, the material gathered is being presented at DYNAMO in an effort to map this unshaped creative landscape that precedes in age and time specialized art studies.

The project "Teenage Angst" deals with the generation of young artists to come. It engages with an age category that, by nature and by position, is in conflict with the rest of the society. Moreover, the exhibition makes an attempt to discuss, in terms inherent to art and creation, the possibility of understanding difference, bridging gaps and –why not– active symbiosis.  

Dynamo project-space  

Teenage Angst
Dynamo project-space, Thessaloniki, Greece
28 October - 18 November 2011

Organization, Production, Curator:
Dynamo project-space

Picture

Still Life… is still alive
[exhibition]

In the context of the XV Biennale de la Méditerranée, the group exhibition "Still Life… Is Still Alive" steps forward to present a new relationship between man and his personal objects, developing at the same time a fertile dialogue with the art of the past. Starting out from the iconographic tradition of still life, eight contemporary Greek artists create narrative environments that combine the artistic work with the real object and invite the spectator to interact with an unfamiliar "Symbiosis".

The iconographic subject of still life, a theme with rich artistic tradition and multiple interpretations and connotations for the effect of time and space on the symbiosis of man with material culture, constitutes the “focus” for the artists and the curators. Still life works, that traditionally related only to the art of painting, in the exhibition "Still Life… Is Still Alive" escape the restricted limits of the canvas and expand in space to create ephemeral situations that give room for new forms of relationships. This way, a different version of symbiosis is presented.

The objects presented through these works lose their material substance and are turned into bearers of messages, they carry memories, they come alive. The exhibition does not work in a static way, but almost scenographically, it demands interaction with the spectator-visitor, providing the possibility for multiple readings, while at the same time the modes with which man coexists, converses with and is in symbiosis with others are revealed. This way, still life acquires a new “live” character and the works which comprise the exhibition reveal insights into their creators, and also take on symbolic dimensions for themselves, as much as for their potential users.

Extending the use and symbolism that the iconographic theme of still life previously embodied, we propose a communal symbiosis of varying persons and objects that form an interactive environment within the bounds of a house, a home, the Villa Kapandji (which houses the MIET venue). In every room of the Villa –a building with rich history– works of painting, sculpture, video art, kinetic art in the form of an installation, all coexist in space and narrate the different stories of people, starting from the basis of material objects.

The works themselves, through the intervention of the creators, produce relationships open to all kinds of reading and interpretation. The fact that we are dealing with works whose focal point is man himself creates an oxymoron between the illusory stillness of still life and the work in progress. Inverting the relationship between the object and the user, we turn our interest towards the variable meanings and connotations that this relationship can acquire for the artists themselves –tenants of the house– as much as for the spectators-visitors. The concept of symbiosis acquires a “living” character since in the same space people, objects, memories, visitors, symbolisms and interpretations all coexist. The game works on multiple levels and the goal is to creatively challenge limits, which are even set by the title of the exhibition: "Still Life… Is Still Alive"!

Stela Anastasaki, Iraklis Goudaras, Maro Psyrra
Curators

Still Life… is still alive
National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation - Thessaloniki Centre (MIET)
Thessaloniki, Greece
1 - 30 October 2011

Curators:
Stella Anastasaki, Iraklis Goudaras, Maro Psyra

Artists:
Giorgos Chloros, Vasilis Hatzopoulos, Markos Karellas, Eliza Moschopoulou, Kostas Paschalidis, Emilia Serdaki, Giorgos Stefanou, Eva Theodoridou


Exhibition: Photography Workshop Diavlos
[workshop] [exhibition]

Up to now, the world of immigrants has been internationally recorded in photographs by “native” photographers, media professionals and state documentation programs. What is characteristically absent from this kind of documentation is the way the immigrants view themselves, their life conditions and the wider social environment of their new homeland. In spring 2011, in the context of Action 09/1.2., the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art realized the program "Art as a Channel for Immigrants’ Integration. Painting, Photography and Theatre Workshop" which was included in the 2009 annual program of the European Integration Fund.

Ιn this context, the Photography Workshop functioned, for the three months it lasted, as the meeting point of almost 30 people from various parts of the world, neighbouring or far away places, for whom Thessaloniki now embodies a second homeland. Leaving aside, for a while, the compelling difficulties posed by immigration and the struggle for survival, the participants attempted, in the environment of a contemporary art museum, to trace a new path, completely new to some of them, adopting the universal language of photography in order to express their thoughts, their emotions and their experiences with photographic works. A selection of these works was exhibited at the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art in July 2011.

For those responsible for leading the workshop, the photography seminar was, first and foremost, a beautiful experience on a human level. But also, it was an attempt to open in each one of the participants, in minimum time, a window, however small, to the fascinating world of art, as well as, the exploration of personal skills and interests. Given that the seminar obviously entailed a series of language and cultural issues, the “classic” teaching methods had to undergo partial revision: everybody had to function, in some sense, as students; and, at the same time everybody had, maybe, to function as teachers.

It was a challenge of symbiosis – even if it was just for small number of hours per week. Now, this symbiosis takes the form of a group within which an attempt at creating more personal photographic work is going to be made. At the same time, the terms and conditions of this symbiosis, in the greater sense, will widen.

Ingo Dünnebier, Stergios Karavatos, Hercules Papaioannou, 
Evdoxia Radi, Stefanos Tsakiris
Photographers - Workshop instructors

Exhibition: Photography Workshop Diavlos
Piraeus Bank Conference Centre
Thessaloniki, Greece
7 October - 6 November 2011

Workshop instructors:
Ingo Dünnebier, Stergios Karavatos, Hercules Papaioannou, Evdoxia Radi, Stefanos Tsakiris

Workshop participants:
Hemen Ali-Ali, Yaghoub Ali Zadeh Zahmatkesh, Besnik Allko, Lora Baniowda, Valerian Baramitze, Khatuna Baravi, Svetlana Bartzoka, Branka Drezgic, Julieta Gotvatze, Shushanik Grigoryan, Iris Hajdinaj, Leonard Hajdinaj, Arben Jane, Lia Kalandadze, Maria-Florencia Lessa-Torterolo, Lusine Margaryan, Damianos Maximov, Jorgo Mihali, Issa Mushahwar, Refik Ndreu, Klodjan Paloka, Vasil Parizi, Elena Pchelintseva, Konstantin Popov, Mikhail Popov, Germain Sango, Yulia Savchenko, Maria-Albanina Serres-Quinteiro, Natia Singardelasvili, Diana Tavadova, Zarina Tsuhisvili


Disconnect
[installation] [performance]

When does an architectural model become a sculpture? How could one experience a gallery space as a white cube or as a spatial installation in itself? How to shape space only when people interact with it? A white membrane disconnects and ungrounds the floor of the gallery. The membrane becomes an interface of the physical relation between the two sides of space, an interface of the virtual relation between the projected lines and the moving figures. A constantly changing form. An ephemeral sculpture that is never the same. A dynamic bodyscape.

Alexandros Tsolakis, Bastian Wibranek, Sebastian Kriegsmann
Artists

"Disconnect", a full-scale installation by Alexandros Tsolakis, Bastian Wibranek and Sebastian Kriegsmann, starts from a simple proposition: more often than not, public space is communally occupied. Despite the immutable forms of architecture, space transforms the moment it is inhabited; what we do, and what we don’t is spatially inscribed by the simple fact of our engagement. By installing a stretchable membrane, "Disconnect" allows visitors to physically register the movements of their co-habitants. As people move over and under the surface, the fabric’s stretch manifests the influence of other bodies as a sensible force. Projected beams of light mark contour lines on the fabric as it shifts by movement. Continuing a line of projects initiated by PROGRAM -an interdisciplinary platform for projects examining architecture, the arts and their disciplinary boundaries founded by Carson Chan and Fotini Lazaridou-Hatzigoga- that aim to instil spatial sensitivity, "Disconnect" similarly seeks to address a wider range of visitors, including the youngest ones.

Carson Chan, Fotini Lazaridou-Hatzigoga
Curators

Disconnect
Thessaloniki Town Hall
Thessaloniki, Greece
6 October - 6 November 2011

Opening performance:
6 October 2011

Curator:
Maria Oikonomidou

Artists:
Sebastian Kriegsmann, Alexandros Tsolakis, Bastian Wibranek

Supported by:
Municipality of Thessaloniki
Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki


Duet
[photography exhibition]

Action and reaction. Feelings and expressions. Binary relation. 
In black and white two bodies interact in Symbiosis. Dancing. 
The photographer’s eye can only capture the moment, not the movement. Cut. Simple and deeply human.    

Aris Rammos
Photographer

Duet
National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation - Thessaloniki Bookstore (MIET)
Thessaloniki, Greece
6 October - 6 November 2011

Artist:
Aris Rammos


Action Field Kodra's Stalking Horses
[project]

In the context of exploring the issue of “order” (a concept which may carry both a positive and a negative, historically, meaning), the process of creating a depository towards the composition of a proposition of artistic development in positions around the “square” has been initiated. Two by-products have also been produced: a) lever / mob (the concept of the mass, the liquidation of identity); b) life in the square (the concept of superfluity of words, of regurgitating political thought, the ventriloquist voices of political intuition, the subtraction of action, the division and preference of labour).      
Such an imaginary locus of long-windedness are the canteens: small units of food production that parasitically linger on the extremities of organized urban life and that function as landmarks for those moments. Scattered around, they can function as Trojan Horses in almost all the mob events (Summer 2011), as a spontaneous parallel activity that penetrates, like ceasefire, into the vacuums of urban space.   
For the first interventions in the “canteens of biopolitical mob” that will take place in Thessaloniki, the participants, artists and poets, will exhaust their capacities towards the modification, abolishing the innocence of the canteen (+food). Therefore, the landscape of canteens will be presented as a stage in terms of the paradox of the imaginary.

Harris Kondosphyris
Assistant Proffessor, Department of Visual and Applied Arts, University of Western Macedonia

Stalking Horses
Action Field Kodra

Thessaloniki, Greece
6-8 October 2011

Curators:
Maria Kenanidou, Dimitris Michalaros,
Theofilos Trampoulis

Artists:
Nikolas Antoniou, Petroula Dalla, Leonidas Gelos, Yesthimani Hatzi, Hristos Ioannidis, Yorgos Korpakis, Penny Korre, Electra Maipa, Thomas Makinatzis, Maria Papalexiou, Nikos Pasalimaniotis, Kiki Stoumpou, Ahilleas Zazos

Poets:
Panagiotis Arvanitis, Magda Christopoulou,
Lena Kallergi, Natalia Katsou, Anestis Melidonis, Thodoris Papaioannou

In colloboration with:
The Department of Visual & Applied Arts of the University of Western Macedonia in Florina


Walking 4 ART

Among the plethora of visual information, artists offer to the public the stimulus to re-discover the city they live in, through artistic sensitivity, spotting various locations and forming different links between the everyday and the historic environment. As art’s extension and re-introduction in public space constitutes common artistic demand and desire, our city could be considered as a natural reception space of contemporary art.

Art in public space, as an ephemeral site-specific event, consists a dynamic local intervention, that is constantly re-defined, swinging between the site-specific and the community-specific. Public art, through languages and activities that enable it to penetrate the social fabric of the city, balancing between the everyday and the aesthetic experience, is capable -through its permanent or ephemeral presence- to provide an alternative conception of space and offer the impetus for a friendly relationship with the natural environment. The attempt is a reminder of how contemporary public opinion manipulation stems from mental rigidity and proposes ways to cover knowledge gaps due to the lack of audiences’ cultural education. It is an expression of disapproval, a comment and a reaction against the cultural environmental failure of our city and an attempt to constitute a “social vacuum” aiming to artistically implement a new communication utopia.

Maria Kenanidou
Curator

Walking 4 Art
White Tower Area
Thessaloniki, Greece
6 October - 6 November 2011

Curator:
Maria Kenanidou

Artists:
Christina Aggelou, Aristotelis Deligiannidis, Panos Famelis, Phoebus Koukopoulos, Alexandra Marati, Chris Vagiatas


W13
[platform] [networking] [forum] [performances]

Platform, network, forum, exchange…

Overused words, very much loved by the art world everywhere. We ourselves have used them so many times to demonstrate and highlight our aspiration to create the circumstances that will enable a substantial dialogue between artists, curators, institutions…

This time, we decided to liberate ourselves avoiding the terms altogether.

Rather, we adopt the term Warehouse, literally the space that will host a variety of different projects and events aiming to enhance the possibilities of communication and dialogue that the Biennale offers. The program includes visual arts projects, presentations and discussions, a radio and a TV station. It remains open, in order to incorporate more activities and proposals.

Warehouse 13 functions as a depository of different intellectual products, a meeting point of cultural agents, a space of expression of ideas and trends. It also functions as an antenna, a point of collection and dissemination of information; a point of materialization and transmission of the Biennale’s message for cultural exchange.  

Lydia Chatziiakovou, Christos Savvidis
ArtBOX.gr, curators

For details of the actions, performances, conferences in W13 please refer to the catalogue.

Warehouse 13
Port of Thessaloniki
6 October - 6 November 2011

Concept:
Lydia Chatziiakovou, Christos Savvidis

Picture

For details of the rest of the parallel program  please refer to the catalogue.
Picture
Picture
Picture

ArtBOX | Creative Arts Management | 120 Tsimiski street | Thessaloniki | Greece | tel: +30.2310.224626 | info@artbox.gr