Europe Exists
30 artists from the 15 countries of the EU
[group exhibition]
Organised by the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, with the support of the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, the exhibition is part of the official events intended to celebrate the Greek Presidency of the European Union. 

Spanish curator Rosa Martínez (Venice Biennale, Istanbul Biennale etc.) is the curator responsible for the exhibition, with the special support of the “Agency of Spiritual Guidance” of the Swiss curator Harald Szeemann (Venice Biennale, Documenta V etc). This is the first exhibition that the two curators design together, despite their long acquaintance and previous collaboration on various projects.  

The exhibition presents works by 30 artists from the 15 European Union member states. The selected pieces draw a fragmented panorama of the aesthetic diversity and ideological concerns of contemporary art. The ideals of the Enlightenment are reviewed through the perspective of postcolonial, class and gender analysis, while irony and pleasure are intended as tools to reflect upon the time and place we live in.

Exhibition views

Preparation & installation

Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
Thessaloniki, Greece
6 June - 17 August 2003

Organised by:
Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art

Curators:
Harald Szeemann, Rosa Martinez

Project Manager & Assistant Curator:
Christos Savvidis

Artists:
Simone Aaberg-Kaern (Denmark), Pilar Albarracín (Spain), Helena Almeida (Portugal), Vasco Araújo (Portugal), Meta Isaeus Berlin (Sweden), Pierre Bismuth (France), Christian Boltanski (France), Maurizio Cattelan (Italy), Berlinde De Bruyckere (Belgium), Simone Decker (Luxembourg), Doris Drescher (Luxembourg), Tracey Emin (United Kingdom), Johan Grimonprez (Belgium), Mona Hatoum (United Kingdom), Christian Jankowski (Germany), Peter Land (Denmark), Tuomo Manninen (Finland), Caroline McCarthy (Ireland), Marisa Merz (Italy), Aernout Mik (Holland), Juan Munñoz (Spain), Aemilia Papaphilippou (Greece), Neo Rauch (Germany), Andreas Savva (Greece), Sean Taylor (Ireland), Magnus Wallin (Sweden), Maaria Wirkkala (Finland), Women On Waves (Holland), Otto Zitko (Austria), Heimo Zobernig (Austria)

Architect:
Giannis Epaminondas (ArtBOX)

Catalogue:
colour, bilingual (Greek & English), 250 pp.
concept: Rosa Martinez
design: Giannis Epaminondas (ArtBOX)
cover: based on the work "EU Flag" by OMA - Rem Koolhaas
Texts: Haarald Szeemann, Rosa Martinez, Antonio Tabucchi
Editing, coordination: ArtBOX.gr

Supported by:
Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The exhibition catalogue (colour, bilingual), designed by Giannis Epaminondas, includes texts by Rosa Martínez, Harald Szeemann and the Italian writer Antonio Tabucchi. The cover features  a version for the European flag designed by Rem Koolhaas and Reiner de Graaf (© ΟΜΑ). will also be included. 

The title of the exhibition, "© Europe Exists", given by H. Szeemann, comes from one of the ironic stickers that Szeemann produced a while before the exhibition, as a comment to the idea of Europe having a cultural and political identity of its own in this era of globalised imperialism. 


Puppet Conference, 2003, Christian Jankowski, © Christian Jankowski (click image to see the video)
Simone Aaberg Kaern