kostis velonis: The Promise of Happiness

kostis velonis: The Promise of Happiness: There is something promising, something desirable about the Swedish model, especially in times of global economic crisis when the swedish...

VERNISSAGE BUREAUX D'ETUDE #1

Description
“BUREAUX D’ETUDE #1" l'esquisse en suspens

Dans le cadre de la biennale d’art contemporain de Lyon et de la nuit Résonance le jeudi 24 novembre 2011, la Mire présente l’exposition collective “BUREAUX D’ETUDE #1 - l’esquisse en suspens”.

L’esquisse se situe là, au coeur de ce nuage vaporeux dans lequel les premières lignes structurelles d’un projet peuvent apparaître. En italien on la nomme “macchia” - tache. Comment cette tache se diffuse t-elle sur papier, quelle structure les artistes mettent-ils en forme pour l’épandre?

Pour donner une existence à l’informel, schémas surlignage amas et autres trames vibrantes sont autant d’esquisse en suspens que les artistes bâtissent pour une potentielle suite.

L’exposition présentera une série de dessins sous forme de collection. Avec les oeuvres de Cyril Aboucaya, Carine Bazin, Zoé Benoit, Juliano Caldeira, Laurence Cathala, Matt Coco, Malik Deshors, Ende Wieder, Elfi Exertier, Cédric Fénéon, Anne-Sophie Gousset, Thomas Klimoski, Tamara Malenic, Nicolas Manenti, Magali Seghetto, Mathilde du Sordet, Laure Vigna.

Vernissage le jeudi 24 novembre 2011 de 18h à 23h avec la participation de Julien Grosjean (proposition sonore in situ).

Exposition du 25 novembre au 27 novembre 2011 de 12h à 19h.



La Mire
6 rue Lemot
69001 Lyon
0469702145
http://atelierdelamire.com/

OCC one (Original Certified Copy one)

WhenSaturday, December 3, 2011
Time8:00pm until 11:30pm
Where
50 πλην 1 Gallery - TinT Gallery
Description
OCC one (Original Certified Copy one)

Λένα Αθανασοπούλου, Νίκος Αλεξίου, Κλίτσα Αντωνίου, Βάσω Γκαβαϊσέ, Φίλιππος Θεοδωρίδης, Ελίνα Ιωάννου, Στέλιος Καλλινίκου, Απόστολος Καραστεργίου, Στέλιος Καραμανώλης, Ζωή Κεραμέα, Θάνος Κλωνάρης, Τέτα Μακρή, Κατερίνα Μανωλέσου, Δημήτρης Μπάμπουλης, Ιωάννα Ξημέρη, Νίκος Παπαδημητρίου, Μαρία Οικονομοπούλου, Ντόρα Οικονόμου, Μιχάλης Παπαμιχαήλ, Τούλα Πλουμή, Βασιλεία Στυλιανίδου, Λευτέρης Τάπας, Δημήρης Τάταρης, Σοφία Τούμπουρα, Νίκος Τριανταφύλλου, Χρυσή Τσιώτα, Versaweiss

Η γκαλερί 50 πλην 1 σε συνεργασία με την γκαλερί Tint θα παρουσιάσει από τις 3 Δεκεμβρίου 2011 μέχρι τις 7 Ιανουαρίου 2012 την ομαδική έκθεση με τίτλο OCC one (Original Certified Copy one) η οποία βασίζεται σε ιδέα του εικαστικού / μουσειολόγου Νίκου Τριανταφύλλου και πραγματοποιείται με την επιμέλεια της εικαστικού / μουσειολόγου Ελένης Ρήγα.

Πιστοποιημένο αντίγραφο (Certified Copy) είναι ένα πιστό αντίγραφο ενός πρωτεύοντος εγγράφου / αντικειμένου / έργου τέχνης, υπογεγραμμένο από τον δημιουργό του ή από πρόσωπο που ορίζεται κατά περίσταση.
Πρόθεση της έκθεσης OCC one (Original Certified Copy one) είναι να δείξει ότι το αντίγραφο έχει τη δική του αξία έναντι του πρωτότυπου έργου και ότι επιπλέον αυτό επιτυγχάνει να μεταφέρει πολλαπλά την ιδέα και τα μηνύματα του αρχικού. Υπό αυτή τη συνθήκη, το έργο τέχνης δεν αναπαράγεται απλώς αλλά «κυκλοφορεί», «διαδίδεται» και «διανέμεται».
Έργα φωτογραφικά, μεταξοτυπίες, βίντεο, εφαρμογή για iphone και ipad, γλυπτά, κατασκευές, ψηφιακές εκτυπώσεις, χαρτοκοπτική, ανατυπώσεις (reproductions) και έργα σε μορφή αφίσας, όλα αριθμημένα και με την πιστοποίηση γνησιότητας της υπογραφής του καλλιτέχνη που τα δημιούργησε, σχολιάζουν την «σημαντικότητα» της ιδιότητας του «μοναδικού έργου τέχνης» και να το πλησιάσουν στο κοινό. …Εξάλλου μοιάζει σαν να έχουμε περάσει σε μια εποχή που αυτό που κάνουμε δεν μας ανήκει…

Η έκθεση θα πραγματοποιηθεί και θα εγκαινιαστεί ταυτόχρονα στην γκαλερί 50 πλην 1 στη Λεμεσό και στην γκαλερί Tint στη Θεσσαλονίκη, παρουσιάζοντας αντίτυπα των ίδιων έργων από τους συμμετέχοντες καλλιτέχνες. Με αυτό τον τρόπο, η τοποθέτηση της έκθεσης αναφορικά με τα πολλαπλά έργα, ότι δηλαδή αυτά μπορούν να βρίσκονται ταυτόχρονα σε διαφορετικά μέρη, γίνεται πράξη και η κάθε μία από τις δύο εκθέσεις θα αποτελεί «πιστό αντίγραφο» της άλλης.

Επιμέλεια έκθεσης : Ελένη Ρήγα



Nikos Alexiou, Klitsa Antoniou, Lena Athanasopoulou, Dimitris Baboulis, Vasso Gavaisse, Maria Ikonomopoulou, Elina Ioannou, Stelios Kallinikou, Stelios Karamanolis, Apostolos Karastergiou, Zoe Keramea, Thanos Klonaris, Teta Makri, Nikos Papadimitriou, Michalis Papamichael, Vassilis Paspalis, Toula Ploumi, Vassiliea Stylianidou, Lefteris Tapas, Dimitris Tataris, Philippos Theodorides, Sofia Touboura, Nikos Triantaphyllou, Chryse Tsiota, Versaweiss, Ioanna Ximeri

29th November 2011 to 7th January 2012, 50 plin 1 Gallery in collaboration with TinT gallery will display the group exhibition OCC one (Original Certified Copy one), a concept by artist / museologist Nikos Triantaphyllou, realised and curated by artist / museologist Eleni Riga.

A Certified Copy is the exact copy of an original document / object / work of art, undersigned by its creator or an authorized person.
OCC one (Original Certified Copy one) exhibition intends to show that copies and multiple works hold their own value against the original artworks and also achieve to communicate the original’s concept and interpretations even more. In this case, not only is an artwork reproduced as it is further spread and distributed as well.
Photography, silkscreen works, videos, iphone and ipad applications, digital prints, paper cutouts, reproductions and posters, each one numbered and originally certified with their own creator’s signature, comment on the “importance” of the “unique work of art” along with it bringing it closer to people. After all it feels like we run a period where what we make does not belong to us…

OCC one group show will take place in parallel at TinT gallery, Thessaloniki, and 50-1 gallery, Limassol, both presenting the exact same works. Thus, the concept of multiple works and their ability to exist in different places at the same time is realised, and each of the two exhibitions will be an original copy of the other one.

Curated: Eleni Riga



Opening: 3 December 2011, 8:00

Duration: 3 December 2011 - 14 January 2012

Opening hours: Tue-Fri: 4:00pm-8:00pm
Sat: 11:00am-2:00pm

Α.Ζενάκος:"Έχουμε πόλεμο; Ο πολιτισμός υπό το Κράτος Έκτακτης Ανάγκης"

Friday
Time7:00pm until 10:00pm
Where
Διπλάρειος Σχολή Πλατεία Θεάτρου 3, Ψυρρή Μετρό: Μοναστηράκι / Ομόνοια
Description
(For English please scroll down)

MONODROME Debate -Ομιλία & ανοιχτή συζήτηση
Τι είναι το «Κράτος Έκτακτης Ανάγκης»; Αποτελεί μια σκληρή αλλά πραγματιστική αντιμετώπιση της Κρίσης ή σηματοδοτεί μια σύγκρουση που σείει τα θεμέλια των κοινωνικών συμβάσεων; Και αν ισχύει το δεύτερο, τι σημαίνει αυτό για τον πολιτισμό, την παραγωγή και τη διαχείρισή του;

Ο Αυγουστίνος Ζενάκος, δημοσιογράφος, κριτικός τέχνης, επιμελητής και συνδιευθυντής της Μπιενάλε της Αθήνας, εξετάζει ζητήματα της πολιτιστικής διαχείρισης, τα οποία πίσω από την τεχνική τους όψη κρύβουν το αμείλικτο ερώτημα «με ποια πλευρά είσαι;» και καλεί όποιον το επιθυμεί σε μια ανοικτή συζήτηση για τη θέση των τεχνών στην πολιτική και για τη θέση της πολιτικής στις τέχνες.

Μπορείτε να ενημερωθείτε για τις εκδηλώσεις της 3ης Μπιενάλε της Αθήνας 2011 ΜΟΝΟΔΡΟΜΟΣ εδώ:
http://www.athensbiennial.org/AB/monodrome/MDprojects.htm

------

MONODROME Debate

Talk & Open Discussion: Augustine Zenakos, "Are We at War? Culture under the State of Emergency"
Friday 18 November, 19:00
Diplareios School Auditorium, 1st Floor

.
What is the “State of Emergency”? Is it a tough but pragmatic way to face the Crisis or does it indicate a conflict that shakes the foundations of social conventions? And if the latter is true, what does it mean for the production and administration of culture?

Augustine Zenakos, journalist, art critic, curator and Athens Biennale Co-director, examines cultural management issues that, beneath their methodological appearance, hide a relentless question: which side are you on? He also invites everyone who so wishes to an open discussion on the position of the arts in politics and the position of politics in the arts.

You may find the MONODROME programme of events & talks here: http://www.athensbiennial.org/AB/en/monodrome/EN_MDprojects.htm

Performa 11 · Event · Boris Groys

Performa 11 · Event · Boris Groys

MONODROME Events Programme 8 – 13 November

 
 
MONODROME Events Programme 8 – 13 November
 
Diplareios School, Theatre Square 3, Psyrri
Metro: Monastiraki/Omonia








Guided Tours

Diplareios School:
Thursday 10 November, 19:30
Friday 11 November, 17:00, 19:00
Saturday 12 & Sunday 13 November, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 19:00

Eleftherias Park: Arts Centre
Every Saturday and Sunday a visitor assistant will provide information from 17:00 to 20:00



 






The Public School in Athens @ MONODROME & XYZ Outlet
Alternative exchange systems and social economy initiatives: a practical introduction
Co-ordination: Giorgos Papadopoulos

Α cycle of four talks moderated by Giorgos Papadopoulos, examining the subject of social economy and alternative exchange systems (Local Exchange Trading Systems – LETS) both as viable alternatives of goods and services distribution and as political actions of resistance to the logic of the 'free' market and monetary relationships. The first talk involves the presentation of Giorgos Papadopoulos’ first book "Notes Towards A Critique of Money" and it will take place at XYZ Outlet, 8 Perdika St., Metaxourgeio on Tuesday 8 November. Three more talks will be presented at the 3rd Athens Biennale 2011 MONODROME (Diplareios School) as sessions of The Public School in Athens (http://thepublicschoolinathens.net/), part of the project Word of Mouth, curated by KERNEL.

1st Talk: Tuesday 8 November, 20:00-21:00, Money and Desire - XYZ Outlet#21: Book presentation: "Notes Towards a Critique of Money". An analysis of money and value from a Psychoanalytical and Post-Structuralist perspective.
www.xyzprojects.org

2nd Talk: Wednesday 9 November, 19:00-21:00, The Public School in Athens, Diplareios School.
Community and Value: Introduction to alternative exchange systems and social economy initiatives - basic notions and theoretical problems.








 

Lindsay Seers, Monocular 2, performance
Wednesday 9 Νovember, 17:00-19:00, in five cycles of 20 minutes each
Space of We Never Closed, Diplareios School, 3rd Floor

Lindsay Seers’ work for the 3rd Athens Biennale, titled "Monocular 2", is a live performance and a film. The film is projected onto two spheres - at times these seem to refer to eyes, then platonic forms and at other times cosmological particles which are entangled. The narrative is about a person with two different coloured eyes, an aberration that occurred genetically through the character's sibling/twin being absorbed into one egg in the womb. Through this character that carries a stream of alien DNA, an existential tale unfolds. The divided character struggles to understand the situation of her life. The meta-narrative of the work is about how the medium of film mirrors and creates ontological problems for the human subject, generating a new truth.








 

MONODROME DEBATE

Talk: Anna Dezeuze "Some Observations on Precarious Art since the 1990s"
Thursday 10 November, 18:00
Diplareios School Auditorium

The current economic crisis is the result of the acceleration and expansion of post-fordist capitalism in the last two decades, which has led to a growing awareness of the increasing precarization of European and North American societies. Looking back at this period Anna Dezeuze will map out some of the ways that artists have responded to these social and economic shifts by developing practices that could be described as precarious. While precursors for these types of practice can be found in 1960s and 1970s art, Dezeuze argues that precarious works developed since the 1990s reflect the changes that have occurred in the intervening decades, while refusing to embrace either melancholy cynicism or escapist naivety. The vital question of whether, and how, an ever more intelligent capitalism can be outwitted, has never appeared more urgent than today.

Anna Dezeuze is an art historian currently working on a book titled "Almost Nothing: Precariousness in Contemporary Art since the 1960s". She has held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Manchester and at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. and is a teaching fellow at the Université de Genève. She has edited "The Do-it-yourself Artwork: Participation from Fluxus to New Media" (Manchester University Press, 2010)and published essays on a number of 1960s practices, including assemblage and the work of Hélio Oiticica, as well as writing in magazines such as Art Monthly and Mute.

The talk will be held in English.






YELP Danceco.

Action 3: -what I wanted - 3
Friday 11 November, 18:00-19:00
Space of We Never Closed, Diplareios School, 3rd Floor

Performance of the YELP Danceco. company for the 3rd Athens Biennale 2011 MONODROME.
Choreogaphy by Mariela Nestora in collaboration with dancers Mary Fofi Anestou and Ioanna Apostolou.

Action 0: Exactly - 0
Exactly - 0
Sunday 13 November, 19:00-20:00
Diplareios School, Ground Floor
Performance of the YELP Danceco. company for the 3rd Athens Biennale 2011 MONODROME.
"Exactly what I wanted" was Sergei Diaghilev’s (director of Ballet Russes) statement after the premiere of the ballet "Le Sacre du Printemps", choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, with music composed by Igor Stravinsky, in 1913 in Paris. "Le Sacre du Printemps" was Nijinsky’s only second choreography after "L'apres-midi d'un Faune", yet its premiere ended in one of the most famous audience riots and changed ballet’s history.
http://www.yelpdanceco.gr/



 


Ida-Marie Correll, ACHTUNG / ATTENTION
Friday 11 November, 19:00-20:00
Diplareios School, Ground Floor

Ida-Marie Corell is a multimedia artist living and working in Berlin, she will present a musical performance for the 3rd Athens Biennale 2011 MONODROME.








 

We Never Closed
Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Diplareios School, 3rd Floor

A multifarious project presenting performances every Saturday and Sunday and hosting various guest artists every Friday, on a stage that functions both as a platform for the events and as an ongoing installation.
https://www.facebook.com/we.never.closed

Guest #3: Secret Action
Friday 11 November, 19:00

Tableau #2: Public Enemies
Saturday 12 & Sunday 13 November, 18:00-20:00
Bonnie and Clyde were notorious outlaws that used to operate in the central United States during the Great Depression. Their feats shook the American public opinion from '31 to '34, years labelled as "The Public Enemy Era".
Two actors take poses and improvise inspired by the original photographs of Bonnie and Clyde, found in their hideout in Joplin, Missouri in 1933, and also by the film of the same name by Arthur Penn from '67. At the same time, a musician composes & performs music for Bonnie Parker's poem "The Trail's End", parts of which Serge Gainsbourg included in his song "Bonnie and Clyde".

Participants: Dimitris Pleionis, Aris Siafas, Despoina Chatzipavlidou
Production and direction collaborator: Manos Tsichlis



 


Performance and workshop from the High School of Art, Gerakas with the participation of pupils from the 2nd years of the High School and the Senior High School.
Saturday 12 November, 14:00-17:30
Diplareios School, Ground Floor

Original costumes from recycled and re-used materials. Creations designed and constructed by the Art Department pupils of the 2nd year of the High School and the 2nd year of the Senior High School. Through this project the pupils comment on the ephemeral aspect of fashion declaring indirectly their interest on the environment. http://gym-kall-gerak.att.sch.gr/

Costumes presentation performance: "Garments of the Future", 14:00-15:00
Costume construction art workshop: "Creative routes", 15:30-17:30

Art Workshop: Varvara Spyrouli, Marina Maravelaki
Participants: Pupils of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years of High School and of the 2nd year of Senior High School and the following Art teachers: Varvara Spyrouli, Elpida Panonidou, Marina Maravelaki, Konstantina Bolieraki, Tzimis Efthymiou, Korina Prevedouraki, Eleni Pavlichenko



 


"LEAK" Intervention
Saturday 12 November, 18:00 onwards

Venice Biennale 2001, Francis Alÿs takes part with his work "The Ambassador", which comprises of releasing a peacock in the streets of Venice. The "LEAK" , starting from the 3rd Athens Biennale 2011, lets loose an intervention aiming to spread in the city of Athens. The LEAK comments on the notion of the contemporary performance, entwines with it, and doubts, like its curators, what it means to be a viewer.
Without this performance being a work of art per se and without it being anything without an audience, the "LEAK" challenges our circulation within the spaces of the Biennale venue in Diplareios School, and the way we move within them.

Leaking…: Nefeli Ananiadi, Venia Andreou, Fryni Vrettou, Konstantina Giasemidou, Georgia Laskari, Chara Kotsali, Androniki Marathaki, Chrysanthi Badeka, Maria Papachristou, Ioanna Paraskeuopoulou










Daily Lazy presents: Christian - Time Hunter, performance
Saturday 12 November, 19:00-19:30
Diplareios School, Ground Floor

Time Hunter is a performance by the artist Christian that brings together painting with object manipulation- the juggler and the painter become one. The performance hero travels through space and time via a creative maquette, the "shield of reflection".
http://daily-lazy.blogspot.com/










XYZ Outlet: Poka-Yio // Bordello Nacional
12 September - 15 December 2011
47 Iassonos Street, Metaxourgeio, Athens

Poka-Yio’s solo show "Bordello Nacional", curated by Marina Vranopoulou, continues until 15 December by appointment only. For booking an appointment to see the exhibition please contact Elina Kakourou.
Τ: +30 6978696342 | Ε: officepokayio@gmail.com | www.xyzprojects.org

 
 
3rd ATHENS BIENNALE 2011 MONODROME
23 October – 11 December
Curators: Nicolas Bourriaud and Χ&Υ

Diplareios School
Theatre Square 3, Psyrri | Metro: Monastiraki / Omonia
Arts Centre & Eleftherios Venizelos Museum
Eleftherias Park, Vasilissis Sofias Avenue | Metro: Megaro Moussikis
Tuesday – Friday: 12.00-21.00
Saturday – Sunday: 10.00-21.00
Closed on Mondays | Closed on Thursday 17 November

LINEAR B : Responding To works in the Collection Of Artist Nikos Alexiou

Time
Thursday, November 17 at 6:00pm - Monday, January 9, 2012 at 12:00am
Location
The Stephen Lawrence Gallery University of Greenwich
Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London SE10 9LS
London, United Kingdom
Created By
Christina Mitrentse
More Info
LINEAR B : A Memorial Project Responding To Works In The Collection Of Greek Artist Nikos Alexiou
17 November 2011 – 6 January 2012 | Private view 17 November 6 – 9 pm

The Stephen Lawrence Gallery
University of Greenwich, Queen Anne Court,
Old Royal Naval College,
Park Row, London SE10 9LS

Opening Hours: Mon - Fri: 10am- 5pm, Sat: 11am - 4 pm | * Closed from 23 December 2011– 3 January 2012 inclusive.

Curated and Organised by Christina Mitrentse and Jonas Ranson

For Visual Documentation and writings Please Visit:
http://alexioulinearb.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Linear-B/265244153516981?ref=ts

The exhibition presents new works produced by seven contemporary London based artists, responding explicitly to a selection of international artists’ work in the idiosyncratic private collection of late Greek artist Nikos Alexiou. Incorporating diverse readings, the show explores the dialectical relationships between artists, and between contemporary collectors and artists. It is also alludes to the larger conversation of the artist-as-collector and artist-as-curator.

ALEX BUNN responds to REMY RIVOIRE, ALEX ZIKA responds to ADAM CHODZKO, CHARLOTTE BERGSON responds to PANOS KOKKINIAS, CHRISTINA MITRENTSE responds to NIKOS ALEXIOU, MARSHA BRADFIELD responds to BERNHARD CELLA, MARTIN SEXTON responds to GIANOULIS HALEPAS, JONAS RANSON responds to VASSILIS BALATSOS

The notion and practice of the archive seem to be very attractive in the case of Linear B project. Nikos Alexiou’s collection is
revisited and becomes the tank for new works, new thoughts, new inventions and new connections. If the recorded and the
unwritten, the material and the immaterial, the visible and the invisible, the real and the imaginary are being registered in a
way in every Archi(bio)ologie [‘Archiviologie’, Derrida], something similar happens in the case of Linear B.

If we speak in terms of narrativity, the whole project is a narration. Through a narrative manipulation of the sequence of events,
the accidental acquisition of the first object becomes the beginning of a collection. When another meaningful sequence occurs
(we are there now), collecting continues its journey in time, space and people’s psychic life. In any case, Linear B becomes a
project of re-collection through an initial collection. (When we look at explanations of motivation however articulation of
understanding recedes and yields to another narrative). Only the principal agent of the narration is not here anymore. An
imaginary ending-death could be a constitutive force in subjectivity and a real ending-death also.

Today someone else still “tells” a story, some other agents have driven the story to a new plot. The new agents continue to
“tell” the story, regulate in their way the accessibility to some aspects of information and sustain what the art historians may
miss; the depot aesthetics of the collection, a collection-archive that becomes a place of work and a method in the same time, a
place and an institution. The new agents’ story of re-collecting also begins by initial blindness, although less than the blindness
of the principal agent. Their motivation is the new narrative aspect of collecting and its intrinsically ungraspable beginning.
And this beginning is enriched by the new function the artworks have outside of being collected items, but into the psychic realm
of personal reconstruction.

According to the logic of the plot, or of theories of fibula, of structuralist genealogy, the particular combinations of beginnings,
middles and endings that make up a story of collecting allow illuminating specifications of ‘collections’. In this plotted nature
of collecting, the new artists-agents recreate, reinvent, respond, keep the dialogue open and alive. If the new seed can be
found in the tiny, minuscule fragments of Alexiou’s collection, if new techniques revise the old craft of Nikos, if the collection’s
works are being extended, then the common ground is somewhere there. And it has nothing to do with pragmatic and concrete
formal issues. It has to do with psychic bonds of first degree, an artistic affiliation that not even Nikos could have
predicted (or did he?).

Writing by Thouli Misirloglou, Art Historian, exhibitions and collections Curator MMCA, Greece.
Project kindly supported by KIPOS, Nikos Alexiou Foundation, Athens


For Press Enquiries please contact the Curators at: alexioulinearb@gmail.com

The exhibition is part of the gallery’s programme for 2011-12 anticipating the forthcoming Olympic Games.
A day Symposium around contemporary notions of collection including speakers Cornelia Parker and a number of Academicians will take place at the gallery on the 7 January 2012. A colour publication will accompany the exhibition.

For bookings please contact the Gallery Director, David Waterworth
E: slg@gre.ac.uk T: 0208 331 8260 W: gre.ac.uk/pr/sl

Communications by Aeon Rose

3rd Athens Biennale 2011 MONODROME 23 October – 11 December

		ελληνικά

3rd Athens Biennale 2011
MONODROME
23 October – 11 December
The 3rd Athens Biennale 2011 MONODROME is considered the final part of a trilogy which started with DESTROY ATHENS 2007 and continued with HEAVEN 2009. Drawing upon the life and work of Walter Benjamin and inspired by his book by the same title (One way Street, 1928), MONODROME is curated by Nicolas Bourriaud and X&Y (Xenia Kalpaktsoglou and Poka-Yio, co-founders of the Athens Biennale). It is a narrative broadcasting from historical venues in the centre of Athens and articulating an imaginary dialogue between The Little Prince and Walter Benjamin. As the intellectual retreats defeated in the face of the escalated distress, the Little Prince keeps questioning this condition with the disarming innocence and the plainspoken boldness of a child.

MONODROME is being realized despite the Crisis that affects Greece heavily. Produced in a state of emergency, and through the synergy of all participants and a large group of volunteers, MONODROME assembles the diverse pieces of an exploratory puzzle, addressing the "here and now". At the same time the exhibition attempts to question historical narratives that have functioned as dictums of the Greek sociopolitical and aesthetic identity and resulted in the country’s perennial suspension between a ‘before’ (tradition) and an ‘after’ (modernization). Being usually perceived and promoted as an emblematic city, Athens today is the epicentre of the Greek upheaval, a place of massive demonstrations and public discussions.

MONODROME addresses and emphasizes various structures (national, historical, political, cultural, educational etc.) as well as the notion of the “sociology of institutions”, primarily highlighted by the selection of the exhibition venues. The buildings that host the 3rd Athens Biennale take centre stage in MONODROME: Diplareios School at Plateia Theatrou is a seminal Arts & Crafts School that operated for the largest part of the 20th century. Located in a ghostly, degraded block in the heart of the city that had fallen into oblivion, the building is opening up to the public for the first time in its history. The 3rd Athens Biennale transforms Diplareios School into an international hub that hosts the largest part of the MONODROME exhibition, as well as a diverse programme of live events, performances, workshops and lectures creating rather than illustrating a political moment.

The exhibition continues in a complex of venues and museums at Eleftherias Park (Park of Liberty), including the Arts Centre and the Eleftherios Venizelos Museum, focal site of Modern Greek history. Artworks are put side by side with historical archives, documents artifacts and ‘ruins’, mapping Greece and the 3rd Athens Biennale as a derelict museum that transmits and resists the predetermined downfall. At a time when History is unfolding at accelerated pace, art cannot but defy the reproduction of teleological pronouncements and the One-Way-Street is questioning the lust for self-flagellation and catastrophology.

The 3rd Athens Biennale 2011 MONODROME is a collective discourse of artists, art groups, curators and theorists, reflecting on the complex relations between the global and the local, in an attempt to explore new modes of cultural action that open up dialogue and debate, comment on cultural production and revisit relations between (art) histories and subjectivities. It consists of three intertwined modes: the MONODROME exhibition & projects, the MONODROME Debate, the MONODROME online Channel. Furthermore, a series of exhibitions and events organized by cultural institutions, museums and galleries in Athens are included in MONODROME Parallel Events.

The MONODROME Debate is an ongoing body of lectures, interviews, discussions and performative presentations that will take place at the auditorium of Diplareios School. Participants include: Charles Esche, Anna Dezeuze, Kostis Stafylakis & Thanos Lipovats, Antonis Liakos, Effie Gazi, Dimitra Labropoulou, Alexis Fragiadakis, Manuel Ramos, Makis Malafekas and others.

The MONODROME Channel is an online platform that will be transmitting two parallel projects: The ongoing documentation of the MONODROME exhibitions and time based events (performances, lectures, workshops etc) and the MONODROME Debate programme.

 3rd Athens Biennale 2011
MONODROME
23 October – 11 December
Venues

Diplareios School
Theatre Square 3, Psyrri
Metro: Monastiraki / Omonia

Arts Centre – Eleftherios Venizelos Museum
Eleftherias Park, Vasilissis Sofias Avenue
Metro: Megaro Moussikis

Exhibition days & hours
23 October – 11 December
Tuesday – Friday: 12.00-21.00
Saturday – Sunday: 10.00-21.00
Closed on Mondays.
The exhibition will remain closed on Thursday, November 17th.
Contribution to the 3rd Athens Biennale 2011 & Personal 42-day-pass: 10 euro
Valid for the whole duration of the 3rd Athens Biennale 2011 for unlimited visits to all MONODROME exhibitions, events and talks. Identification required. Available at Diplareios School.

Free entrance (upon presentation of appropriate documents) to: Students of the Athens School of Fine Arts, members of Ε.Ε.Τ.Ε., ICOM, AICA, IKT, disabled plus an escort, juniors (under 12) and seniors (over 65), holders of unemployment card, educators

Access

Diplareios School (Theatre Square)
by bus:
 049 Athinas and Lykourgou / Peiraias (bus stop: AFETIRIA)
 Β18 Menandrou / Perama (bus stop: Afetiria)
 Γ18 Menandrou / Perama (bus stop: Afetiria)
 815 Goudi / Tauros (bus stop: ΙΚΑ)
 21 Zappeio / Nikea (bus stop: ΙΚΑ)
Information for all public transport: www.oasa.gr
Info line: 185 (Mon-Fri: 06.30-23.30, Sat-Sun: 07.30-22.30)
by car:
We suggest drivers to use the local parking facilities:
Parking services at Varvakeios Agora: day pass 7€, valid for MONODROME ticket holders only
Parking services at 22, Menandrou street: day pass 5€, valid for MONODROME ticket holders only
Eleftherias Park

by bus:
 Α5 Academias / Anthousa (bus stop: ILISIA)
 550 P. Faliro / Kifissia (bus stop: ILISIA)
 3 Filadelfeia / Girokomeio (bus stop: ILISIA)
 13 Lambrini / Psychiko (bus stop: ILISIA)
 10 Tzitzifies / Chalandri (bus stop: ILISIA)


http://www.athensbiennial.org/AB/en/monodrome/EN_MDinfo.htm