IntroductionOPEN presents art works installed in public spaces in various locations around Lido. Over the years, the list of participants has come to include a series of established international artists and curators such as, Lois Weinberger, Louise Bourgeois, Niki De Saint Phalle, Richard Long, Marc Quinn, Marisa Merz, Sandro Chia, Yoko Ono, Keith Haring, Pierre Restany, Achille Bonito Oliva, Lorand Hegyi, Beral Madra, Alanna Heiss, as well as Greek artists whose work is also known internationally such as Theodoros, Costas Varotsos and Danae Stratou.
Open is organised by Arte Communications and curated by Paolo de Grandis. Since 2009, Christos Savvidis is the commissioner of the Greek participations. Open 15: A note from the CommissionerArt and creativity can play a major role in overcoming the widespread crisis –not only financial but deeply social and political– and in forging an alternative scenario for the future. So, in spite of all, the Greek participation in this year’s OPEN is dynamic and generous, with seven artists in the main program and six Schools of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the exhibition’s special section.
Some of the featured projects are launching two of our latest initiatives that use creativity to interpret, reflect upon and fight against the crisis. Artemis Potamianou creates the first work to be featured on the online platform GRenter.org – a new initiative of ours in collaboration with curator and theorist Sotirios Bahtsetzis, that will function as an archive of creativity, an accumulator of ideas, an accelerator of creative dissemination, ultimately a creative “bankruptcy lab” opening up new possibilities and changes. The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki’ participates -as a special guest in San Servolo- with the project Rethinking Crisis. (go) Finally, the list of participating artists in the main program of OPEN includes 6 Greeks and 1 Italian based in the United Arab Emirates, as a result of our growing interest in the Middle East, which stems from our belief that a true and valuable exchange with the area can be possible, especially following our recent experience through the project “Roaming Images. Crossroads of Greek and Arab cultures through the eyes of contemporary artists” (2011, in the context of the 3rd Thessaloniki Biennial of Contemporary Art). The participating artists have created strong images, taking advantage of the exhibition format, in order to communicate messages to the public. Their images engage with a variety of timely issues related to the way of life dictated by capitalism – from the current circumstances in Greece and Europe (Venia Bechrakis, Artemis Potamianou), to modern man’s addiction to material goods (Maria Kompatsiari) and contemporary art’s commercialization (Aspa Savvidi); from technology’s abuse of the human body (Effie Halivopoulou), to the precarious state of freedom in contemporary –digital– societies (Fotini Kariotaki) and to the stereotypical divisions of the world based on ethnic or religious classifications (Yousef Moscatello). Christos Savvidis Director, ArtBOX.gr Commissioner of the Greek participation |
Lido, Venice, Italy |
Effie Halivopoulou: "Liquid Network" (2007)Discovering the body is not enough; its exposure, its apotheosis, the enjoyment of its existence, the extension of its limits. The body needs to be re-invented continuously, to be transformed: we need to participate in this process. Esse est percipi. By participating, everything is allowed. Interventions to the genetic material, in vitro fertilizations, discard of flawed or still born embryos, transplants. Transmutations, alterations, dislocations, repairs. If Gregor Samsa could re-transform himself, if a series of surgical tools or miraculous rays would deprive him of the shape of a cockroach, he would get rid of all his misfortunes. The body is structured, de-structured, altered, repaired, and recombined just as the personality. Nature is extremely slow, progress is not easily perceived. Nobody can wait; there is lack of time, lack of patience. It is imperative to see now, here, a draft of the post-human, the dusk of the era of monsters.
Soti Triantafyllou Excerpt from text “Body Stories, Soti Triantafyllou, Artworks by Effie Halivopoulou, Athens Voice publications, Athens, Greece, 2006. Soti Triantafyllou is a writer based in Paris |
Lido, Venice, Italy |
Venia Bechrakis: "Floating" (2012)Venia Bechrakis often uses pop culture aesthetics and borrows elements from the mythology of superheroes, as constructed by cinema, music videos, advertising and video games, in order to subvert the many stereotypes imposed on women by western lifestyle. In her photos, she poses as housewife, warrior, career woman, femme fatale, super hero… depicting, often in the same image, the multiple possibilities that become intermingled and mutually eliminated through exaggeration and ambiguity. Her attitude is positive, humoristic, glossy. Central in her work, the feminist battle against cliché female roles is transformed into play, in which the deceivingly fragile female characters transform, in the quest against stereotypes and towards the conquest of their own identity.
Her recent work, ‘Floating’ is similarly ambiguous. A naked female body in the water – is she floating, is she sinking? A Greek flag and a few shrinking banknotes have already sunk a bit deeper... Were those the elements that she had to get rid of in order to stay afloat? In the midst of the Greek summer, disappointed by the inability of the political world to rise above the circumstances, Greeks are doing their best to forget about the crisis and enjoy their beautiful country... Who knows what September has in store for us? Under this light, the image becomes a fantasy towards liberation from the restrictions and demands –financial and national, inflicted on us by the current circumstances. Lydia Chatziiakovou |
Lido, Venice, Italy 
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Fotini Kariotaki: "Obey" (2012)Thinking of my life and the people around me the past twenty years: a kind of life full of hope, expectations and the sense of a strange freedom. Strange because it was probably not conscious but made up. If it would be conscious, there would be a way of defending it, there would be enough words or actions that would keep its meanings continuous. The concept of hope is destructive or else catastrophic, since it is so abstract and has usually nothing to stand on. As much as we hope, things are not and will never be what they seem.
Fotini Kariotaki |
Lido, Venice, Italy |
Maria Kompatsiari: "Kite" (2012)The work carries a twofold, conflicting meaning. The kite itself can be seen as a symbol of freedom, independency, optimism, a means of realizing man’s craziest dream – flying. Every kite reveals a potential Icarus. On the other hand, the specific kite carries an earth-bound, materialistic ambition (home-security, car-prestige), images of modern consumerism and fragile certainty. On its perimeter, the scattered symbols of writing, references of eternal knowledge, have been marginalized and supplanted. Modern man, far from wise, cannot be rid of the role of a wind-up toy in the hands of biblical snakes. Even so, a kite always stands for the impossible. Everything moves towards the light, becomes light, is light.
Maria Kompatsiari |
Lido, Venice, Italy |
Aspa Savvidi: "I am Consumed" (2012)Aspa Savvidi uses collage, color, ink and other materials to transform product barcodes into abstract shapes and colors. The resulting image is installed in public space, becoming available for the world –potentially a massive number of people who can access it in physical and digital space. An image that can be as free and public as an art work (can art works ever be truly free and public?) and as identifiable, marketable and private as a commodity (acquired and administered by institutions or collections).
The work does not only reference the nature of art as commodity (a product of human endeavor and intellect that can be sold and bought). Seen under the light of the current critical financial and social circumstances, it also poses a series of questions on the ramifications of the consumption of art and culture. Alongside the consumption and overconsumption of commodities as a symbol of power and prestige, could one also refer to an overconsumption, hence waste, of artistic-activist practices aiming at proposing alternative scenarios of living? Such initiatives –anarchist, collective, non-commercial, artistic, activist– have not been left unaffected by the much frowned upon institutionalization and commercialization of art. Passing through the canning appropriation by the advertising and corporate world, their format (and not their essence) becomes incorporated into mainstream, mass culture. When confronted against such models of consumption, can those practices still empower us to imagine a new reality? Lydia Chatziiakovou |
Lido, Venice, Italy |
Artemis Potamianou: "We Will Be Victorious II" (2012)Artemis Potamianou’s "We will be victorious II" (2012) is inspired by the lyrics of the English alternative rock band Muse, whose songs’ concepts deal with themes related to a worldwide revolution (“They will not force us, and they will stop degrading us, and they will not control us, we will be victorious”). In the work of Potamianou, popular conspiracy theories about a New World Order based on the assumption for the emergence of a totalitarian one-world-government and slogans about a continuous revolutionary resistance meet stereotypes about ancient Greek history as perceived by millions of tourists in Athenian souvenir shops.
During the recent social uprisings that have been provoked by the 2007-2012 global financial crisis (indignados, occupy movement, etc.), Athens emerged to an icon. Through the extended media coverage of these events, the Greek capital and its people became both the imaginary commonplace and the actual place of action for a fundamental socio-political change. Systemic political failures of a globalized system of administration, the ineffectiveness of fiscal and monetary policies, undisclosed conflicts of interest within an unregulated market and the dismantling of social welfare policies have affected with an enormous impact societies in the southern countries of the Eurozone. Potamianou is one of many artists, theoreticians, activists of the creative community in Greece, who respond critically to the situation while making out of the dangerous impact of such a crisis a creative ‘bankruptcy’ lab. Sotirios Bahtsetzis Art theorist, curator Artemis Potamianou’s WE WILL BE VICTORIOUS II (2012) is a project of GRenter – a new online platform of art and culture, which uses creativity to open up a window to the ‘bankruptcy lab’ that Greece is today, aiming to give answers, suggest solutions and offer critique. GRenter is an archive of creativity, an accumulator of ideas of significant impact, an accelerator of creative dissemination. www.grenter.net |
Lido, Venice, Italy |
Yousef Moscatello: "Map of Faith / Don't Confuse Culture With Religion" (2012)Map of faith is a personal representation of the map of the world in a different more positive perspective, shedding light on stereotypical viewpoints, offering a diverse perspective. Hence, a map of the world based on divisions by various religious groups. In today's world, we, the global human community, recognize ourselves, our homelands, countries, within political maps that describe the world in a more negative viewpoint, something we have been used to in the past, as history repeats itself. Embroidery has been used in this piece to unite regions, countries and civilizations. Fabric and thread create a sense of interconnectedness, joining through the stitches religions and peoples. The thread and fabric are delicate materials, creating a fine line, just as religion and civilizations, connecting one another.
"Don't confuse culture with religion" is a statement that nowadays is very commonly used. Most of the time, people confuse religion with cultural traditions, there are misconceptions due to ignorance and a lack of awareness. Most of the cultural symbols or icons that derive from certain regions in the world become stereotypes. These symbols are seen representing certain peoples, creating hostility, animosity and fear, therefore creating barriers and bridges in the global spectrum. The media is playing an important negative role in aiding to further enhance and encourage a more biased point of view in associating cultural symbols with religion. Shayma Almadfa |
Lido, Venice, Italy |
