ACTION FIELD KODRA 2005
Annual Visual Arts Festival
[festival] [exhibitions] [publication] [residency]
About Action Field Kodra
Action Field Kodra is an annual visual arts festival that takes place in a former military camp in the area of Kalamaria in Thessaloniki. Between 2004-2008 Christos Savvidis undertook the festival's Artistic Direction and ArtBOX was in charge of the General Coordination. During those years, the festival underwent major transformation and became one of the most important and vibrant visual arts events of international acclaim in Greece, having as main focus the communication between the local and the international arts scene. more

Introduction


In 2005, the festival programme follows the success of 2004, putting more emphasis on the young and emerging artists exhibitions and focusing on local and international networking and improving the facilities and infrastructure.

An attempt was made to keep last year’s structure while planning the events. The centre of attention still is the exhibition of young artists - students and graduates of Fine Arts Schools up to the age of 30. A new element is introduced into the program, the Forum Artists-in-Residence Program (F.A.R.), implemented in collaboration with Forum European Cultural Exchanges, Thessaloniki. 
Emphasis is given on the improvement of the facilities, in order to make sure that professional standards are offered to the participants. Particular consideration is also given to the involvement of important organizations and individuals related to the contemporary Greek and international arts scene. The response is warm. Action Field Kodra is steadily turning into a meeting place for dialogue.

Christos Savvidis
Artistic Director   

Former Military Camp Kodra
27 August - 18 September 2005
Thessaloniki, Greece

Production:
Cultural Organization
of the Municipality of Kalamaria (COMK)

Organisation:
Maria Kenanidou (COMK)

Artistic Director:
Christos Savvidis (ArtBOX)

Coordination:
Lydia Chatziiakovou (ArtBOX)

Assistants:
Christina Mavini, Haris Pallas

Catalogue Editor & Coordinator:
Lydia Chatziiakovou (ArtBOX)

Collaborating Institutions:
Athens Fine Arts School
Drama Department - Fine Arts School - Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Goethe Institut - Thessaloniki
Forum European Cultural Exchanges (Thessaloniki, Greece)
Apollonia (Strasbourg, France)

RoomsToLet
[exhibition] [young artists]

Exhibition of young artists, students and graduates of fine arts schools up to 30 years old. Following an open call, participants are selected by a committee of specialists – fine arts school professors, museum representatives, curators and art theorists.

The true value of this action is found in the dialogue and creative discussion between artists, namely in the coexistence, communication, conversation and artistic exchange between the country's two major Fine Arts Schools. This action serves as a platform for coincidental cooperation schemes and unexpected comparison of meanings and emotions; an area where images and views are exchanged.

In addition, this action helps young artists to redefine their approach to artistic practice and their influences, giving them the chance to incorporate those in their works, reexamine attitudes, reformulate questions and opinions, contributing thus, even within boundaries, in the perpetual quest of an artist that constantly molds himself…

During the exhibition, general public and members of the art world have the opportunity to further explore the work of the exhibition participants, whose portfolios are presented in a space specially designed by COR3design team.

Members of the 2005 Selection Committee
Sotirios Bahtsetzis (art historian-curator), Xanthippi Heupel (Director of the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art of Thessaloniki, Greece, Dr. Architect, Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece), Vangelis Ioakeimidis (Artistic Director of the Photography Centre of Skopelos, Greece), Maria Kagiadaki (art historian-museologist, Hellenic Culture Organisation), Teta Makri (visual artist, Professor at the School of Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece), Sania Papa (art theoretician, curator), Rena Papaspyrou (visual artist, Professor at the School of Fine Arts of Athens), Matoula Scaltsa (Art History and Museology Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece), Thalea Stefanidou (art historian, critic, Professor at the School of Fine Arts of Saint-Etienne), Maria Tsantsanoglou (Curator at the State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece), Lina Tsikouta (art historian, Curator at the National Gallery, Athens, Greece)       

Former Military Camp Kodra
Thessaloniki, Greece
27 August - 18 September 2005

Curated by:
Efie Halivopoulou

Selection Committee:
Sotirios Bahtsetzis, Xanthippi Heupel, Vangelis Ioakeimidis, Maria Kagiadaki, Teta Makri, Sania Papa, Rena Papaspyrou, Matoula Scaltsa, Thaleia Stefanidou, Maria Tsantsanoglou, Lina Tsikouta

Artists:
Hrysi Amanatiadou, Lydia Andrioti, Sofia Arfanaki, Nikos Aslanidis, Yannis Bekiaris, Rania Bellou, Voichita-Christina Bucur-Grigoriadi, Elena Efeoglou, Panayotis Famelis, Katerina Gagaki, Simis Gatenio, Yeoryios Grekas, Stavroula Hantzi, Roxani Harangue, Efthimia Hristopoulou, Marianna Ignataki, Lia Kazakou, Stelios Karamanolis, Akis Karanos, Ragnar-Andreas Kasapis, Elena Kasimati, Maria Kassotaki, Katerina Katodritou, Yanna Kemane, Xanthi Kostorrizou, Savvas Laboudis, Vasia Leontopoulou, Anastasia Mamouri, Thomas Manolis, Christina Mitrentse, Dimitris Mihalaros, Alexandros Nikolaidis, Haris Pallas, Sofia Papadopoulou, Yorgos Papalexandrou, Yeoryia Papanikou, Konstantinos Papastamatiou, Maria Paryannou, Andriana Patsalou, Konstantina Ploumi, Dimitris Protopapas, Eleni Riga, Egratia Roumbou, Nana Sahini, Ira Spagadorou-Beveratou & Kostas Beveratos, Yiorgos Tansarlis, Nikos Triantafilou, Yiorgos Tsalamanis, Nikos Varitimiadis, Dimitra Υannakakou-Razelou, Υeoryios Υannopoulos, Nikolaos Υannoulis, Dimitra Zerva

Protaseis
[group exhibition] [mid-career artists]

Exhibition of emerging and mid-career artists curated by Augustine Zenakos and Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, in an attempt to identify the existence of an evolving contemporary Greek art scene. This is one of the first exhibitions curated by the later founders and directors of the Athens Biennale. 

The exhibition ProTaseis – Version IV: 935m² is an attempt to establish a space of investigation. Perhaps its most fundamental feature is the decision not to use an a priori description, but to try to offer a chance to detect a certain phenomenon – that of a contemporary Greek arts scene. Even though it is true that Greek artists have distinguished themselves at one time or another, in various contexts, the position of this exhibition is that the activity of a broad and non-uniform group of young artists, in the last few years, is rather extraordinary. The artists that have been selected here constitute a sample of this group – without the term ‘group’ designating necessarily anything more than just a number of people. Therefore, if the exhibition has a clear goal, that is to pose the following question: Could the activity of young artists offer fertile ground in order to describe coherently a phenomenon with particular –albeit non-uniform– characteristics? Is there a contemporary Greek arts scene under formation? 

Former Military Camp Kodra
Thessaloniki, Greece
27 August - 18 September 2005

Curated by:
Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, Augustine Zenakos

Artists:
Athanasios Argianas, Antonis Christodoulou, Dora Economou, Dimitris Foutris, Dionissis Kavallieratos, Eleni Kamma, Nikos Kanarelis, Nikos Papadimitriou, Evaggelia Roussou, Georgia Sagri, Yorgos Sapountzis, Poka-Yio, Yiannis Theodoropoulos, Vassilis Vassilakakis, Kostis Velonis

Contemporary Greek Art Scene   
[panel discussion]

On the day after the opening, as part of the action ProTaseis Version IV: 935m², art professionals discuss the possibility of the existence of a Contemporary Greek Arts Scene, aiming to strengthen the space of investigation articulated by the show. After several artists have addressed the issue through their works, and the manner in which they perceive their position in the market, art professionals (curators, art theoreticians, directors of institutions, gallery owners, publishers) are invited to express their views and to discuss with the artists and the public whether a contemporary Greek arts scene does exist, as well as to elaborate on issues that possibly might aid the investigation, such as comparisons with the past, the importance of producing a critical discourse, the way in which galleries operate, related publications, the attitude of collectors, the relation between regional institutions and the institutions in the capital, the cultural policies of public and private Greek institutions, etc.

Theater Melina Merkouri
Kalamaria, Thessaloniki, Greece
28 August 2005

Curated by:
Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, Augustine Zenakos

Coordinated by:
George Tzirtzilakis (architect, art theorist, professora at the University of Thessaly)

Speakers:
Loraine Alimantiri (Gazon Rouge Gallery), Maria- Thalia Karra (Locus Athens), Dimitris Konstantinidis (Director of Apollonia, co-organizer of Forum), Ilias Mykoniatis (Director of the Contemporary Art Centre of Thessaloniki), Michalis Paparounis (Publisher, editions Futura & GAP magazine), Efi Strousa (art critic, curator, President of AICA Hellas), Denys Zacharopoulos (art theorist)

Transit
[exhibition]

Action Field Kodra attempts to function as a platform of communication and dialogue, emphasizing on the issue of artistic mobility and exchanges in the framework of contemporary art. The curator of this action presents works by young Spanish artists that can be transferred in just one suitcase.

Life is a journey during which, day in, day out, suitcases lighten until they contain nothing but our identity forged by memories, loves and desires, an identity made of experiences with the others in the Common House. 

To travel with the art of others is to travel with the best in us, it is to do without the useful in order to make space for the necessary, and it makes us carriers of dreams. In this trip to Action Field Kodra, five artists came with me in a small suitcase. I brought the city of Julio Jara, in which the angelical is nourished by the aesthetic of the periphery. I brought the borderless Mediterranean of Lì Romanì, in which the four elements are twinned. From Belén Uriel came the fire that creates while it destroys, from Jose Luis Vicario came the sensual beauty of a concept, the silk and the iron, and from N&T the memories of winding roads. 

Five artists travel in the light of summer accompanied by the sound of the grasshoppers. Not everything is in Transit all the time. When I close my suitcase coming back, Art remains, it will howl at night, it will forever become the ghost of this house.

Maria Moriarty
Curator, owner and director of Vacio 9, Madrid

Former Military Camp Kodra
Thessaloniki, Greece
31 August - 12 September 2004

Curated by:
Marta Moriarty

Assistant:
Marina Garcia Rodriguez

Artists:
Julio Jara, N&T, Li Romani, Belen Uriel, Jose Luis Vicario

Architectural supervision:
Tono Arean

Video Art Projections
[video art]

Projection of video art works (digitally processed or not) by students of the Athens Fine Arts School originally presented in April 2005, at the “Five days of Artistic video” event, at the "Plant" of the Athens Fine Arts School.

This event took place with the objective to show the same form, namely the special form and characteristic writing of artistic video, unique in the manner in which it is approached and totally diversified from any other use of video not only as a meaning but also as a template. Students deal with the meaning of time on multiple levels of forms and concepts with a sense of responsibility and in an innovative, direct, humorous manner.

The event was organized by professors Giorgos Chouliaras, vice-chancellor, and Rena Papaspyrou, the lecturer Zafos Xagoraris, Giannis Melanitis, partner in the sector of sculpture, and the students’ representative Giorgos Koumanids.

Former Military Camp Kodra
Thessaloniki, Greece
31 August - 12 September 2004

Organised by:
Giorgos Chouliaras, Giannis Melanitis, Giorgos Koumanids, Rena Papaspyrou, Zafos Xagoraris

A4 Project I
[project-in-progress]

In an era characterized by the use of various vehicles and complicated installations and constructions, “A4” makes an effort to become a project that could also play the role of an artistic statement that is essential and comprehensive. Artists are called to confine themselves to using only one vehicle to express their artistic work and not the different vehicles they usually choose (painting, installations, constructions, video art, multimedia etc.). 
In this project, they are invited to use one of the most common, every-day and easily accessible object of modern culture, that is, an A4 size paper. The artistic message is transferred simply, with the use of handy tools of work and thus the impassable boundaries of art are rammed and annulled; new, alternative ways are found in presenting a work of art while emphasis is laid on the essence of the artistic message and not on its shape. We invite artists to express themselves freely under only one condition: the work must be in the size of an A4 paper. It can be a sketch, a painting, a photograph etc and can be sent by post, fax or email abolishing thus difficulties and restrictions found in transferring a work of art. As a result, this project-exhibition easily conveys its message in multiple places.
Starting point and first work of the “A4” project is the work Joseph Kosuth, father of semantic art.
Artemis Potamianou
Artist, curator 

Former Military Camp Kodra
Thessaloniki, Greece
31 August - 12 September 2004

Curated by:
Artemis Potamianou

Artist:
Joseph Kosuth

Scenography workshop 
[workshop]

An installation by the students specializing in Stage Design at the the Drama Department of the School of Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, during the spring semester 2004-2005, within the course “Stage design workshop I: design of theatrical scenery-technology of theatrical space”.

Students were called to work on Italo Calvino’s short story “Un Re in Ascolto” (1984). It is a kaleidoscopic–multiform text, presenting the image of a king nailed to his throne, trying to recompose the life of his palace and kingdom from the sounds that surround him, and doing so, he expands and contracts, while posing profound questions about the essence of Time and Power. 

On this occasion, students experimented on the laws of theatrical scenery design, as well as on the fundamental rules of the mechanical operation of theatrical scenes with the objective to compose a mise-en-scene that would take advantage of all possibilities offered by modern theatrical technology. 

Former Military Camp Kodra
Thessaloniki, Greece
31 August - 12 September 2004

Organized by:
Drama Department of the School of Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Tutors:
Olga Chatziakovou, Apostolos Vettas

Participating students:
Eliza Alexandropoulou, Dimitra Aloutzanidou, Konstantina Evangellou, Kelly Efremidou, Danae Krystallidou, Haris Papadopoulos

Coordination:
Lydia Chatziiakovou

COR3
[design]

The industrial design team COR3 designed the bookcase that showcases the portfolios of students participating in the exhibition Rooms To Let, the furniture for the residency studio space, and the signs that will help the audience find their way in the large former camp area.  

COR3, Athanassios Babalis, Tommy Papaioannou and Athena Peletidou, started collaborating in May 2003, in order to generate innovative ideas and modern design. All three of them studied Industrial Design in higher schools abroad and have wide experience in the design and manufacture of objects. They believe that creation is based on research, experience, teamwork and innovative ideas. 

Former Military Camp Kodra
Thessaloniki, Greece
31 August - 12 September 2004

Designers:
Athanassios Babalis, Tommy Papaioannou and Athena Peletidou

Forum Artist-in-Residency (F.A.R.) 2005
[residency program]

F.A.R. was initiated in 2005 in collaboration with Forum European Cultural Exchanges and run every year until 2008. This is one of the few serious attempts to establish a permanent residency program in Greece. 
F.A.R. collaborated with established Greek and international curators and with interesting emerging artists from Greece and abroad. In 2006, F.A.R. was presented by the Periphery of Alsace (France) as a model for cultural development. For more information follow the link on the right. 

BOUTARIS NOUVEAU 2005 CONTEST
[competition]

For eight years now, the Boutaris Winery, avid supporter of the Arts, adorns the bottle of Boutari Nouveau, the wine known for its exceptional character, with a label specially designed by distinguished Greek and foreign artists, inspired by this extraordinary wine. 
In 2004, the company established the Boutari Nouveau Contest, in the framework of which selected works by young artists participating in the exhibition Rooms To Let were created specially for the occasion. In 2005, all artists participating in the exhibition are invited to be inspired from the “heady, full-bodied aromas” of Boutari Nouveau, and to create an art work for this year’s label. A committee of company representatives and known graphic designers and artists, will see works and will choose three of those, the ones that best convey the essence of Boutari Nouveau 2005. The final winner will have a chance to make a brand start in his/her career!

Former Military Camp Kodra
Thessaloniki, Greece
September 2004

Organized in Collaboration with:
Boutaris Nouveau 2005

Action Field KODRA Catalogue #2
[publications] [exhibition catalogue]

Design
Proline adv.
Coordination - Supervision:
Lydia Chatziiakovou
Editing:
Maria Kenanidou
Yannis Tsolakidis
Translations:
Dimitra Mitka

Colour, Greek & English, 24x7 cm, 170 pages