Some major names from the international art scene and many emerging young artists from Greece and abroad are featured in Art Athina 2013!

As Art Athina remains true to its international outlook and the promotion of young artists, its main programme is complemented by some outstanding parallel events.

Open Form

Curator: Marina Fokidis

The lower level of Art-Athina hosts Open Form, where Marina Fokidis curates a parallel group exhibition featuring distinguished international galleries which are represented by one work or one series of works created by outstanding artists of the contemporary art scene.

Among these are Jurgen Teller, the no. 2 photographer in the world; Hollywood star James Franco who participates with an artwork; Jeremy Deller, Turner Prize winner and Britain’s representative in the Venice Biennale of 2013; the much awarded Nedko Solakov with one of his most important work; Yael Bartana and Yehudit Sasportas, two of Israel’s most distinguished international artists; Adrian Paci, and many more.

Platform Project @ Art-Athina

Coordinator & Organiser: Artemis Potamianou

Artemis Potamianou attempts to map the independent art scene by presenting over 500 artists from 16 countries, most of them young and talented, who have created artist groups, collectives, platforms and independent art venues of non-commercial (non-profit) character as they seek joint and unconventional solutions to the artistic and social issues of our time.

The artists’ platforms-groups will demonstrate their modus operandi by presenting a project or happening with the aim of establishing channels of communication and collaborations with other countries through unexpected dialogues and manners of symbiosis.

The participating platforms are:

1646, Netherlands; AAR, platform for critical artistic research, Germany; ARTIA GALLERY, Greece; Binary Art Group, Cyprus; DaDa Da Academy, Austria & Greece; Daily Lazy Projects, Greece; DEREE–SFPA, Greece; International Biennale of Architecture, Thessaloniki, Greece; Duplex100m2, Bosnia-Herzegovina; EN-FLO, Greece; Filopappou Group, Greece; Grimmuseum gUG, Germany; Hollow Airport Museum, Greece; Hydra School Projects, Greece; Margaris Foundation / les yper yper, Greece; INDOORS PLUS, Greece; Kalos&Klio (artist collaborative duo), Greece; KANGAROOCOURT, Greece; KC Grad, Serbia; La Galerie du Nouvel Ontario, Canada; LO AND BEHOLD, Greece; LUBOMIROV-EASTON, U.K.; MANTOVA EYES, Italy; Microwesten, Germany; Milkshake Agency, Switzerland; Museum of Forgetting, Sweden; OFIS & Perimeter, Russia; Openshowstudio, Greece; Horizon of Events, Greece; OUT OF THE BOX INTERMEDIA, U.K.; Parabola, Sweden; KODRA ACTION FIELD, Greece; PROVO PRINCIPLES, Greece; Rajataide association / Gallery Rajatila, Finland; Salon de Vortex, Greece; SKOUZE3, Greece; Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina, Kosovo; State of Concept, Greece; Stigma Lab, Greece; STUDIOvisits, Germany; “The Grey Cube” Platform, Greece; T H E M { } E S U M, Germany; The Blue Oyster Art Project Space, New Zealand; The I-Node of the Planetary Collegium, Greece; Transient Projects To People, France.

Symposia @ Art-Athina

Coordinator & Organiser: Marina Fokidis

As curator of Symposia, Marina Fokidis invites a panel of international curators and art critics to present and discuss the methodology and the challenges of their profession.

The subject areas which will be examined in the Symposia and the discussions with the audience are: “Close Encounters-The fourth kind of curatorial practices, or the importance of making people meet”; “Curating in a conflict zone”; “South: A User’s Manual; Curating in the age of ideological cuts”; “Institutions Don't Cry"; “The Battle for Art, Wine and Love, or How To Save the World from Parkerization” “Presentation of the Berlin Biennale of 2014”; etc.

The list of speakers includes the following distinguished names:

Chiara Bertola (Contemporary art curator—Querini Stampalia, Venice; Furla Prize, Bologna, Italy); Kimberly Bradley (freelance contributor—Μonocle, Art Review, Art Agenda, NY Times, etc.); Florence Derieux (Director of FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Rheims, France); Galit Eilat (Researcher/Curator, Van Abbemuseum, Einthoven, Netherlands; President of the Akademie der Kunste der Welt, Cologne, Germany); Juan A. Gaitán (Curator, Berlin Biennale 2014); Jens Maier-Rothe (Co-founder and director of Beirut, Cairo, Egypt); Ricardo Nicolau (Deputy Director, Serralves Museum, Porto, Portugal); Filipa Ramos (art critic based in London and Milan); Alya Sebti (Art Director, 5^th Biennale of Marrakesh, Morocco), Marieke van Hal (founder and director of the Biennial Foundation); Kaelen Wilson-Goldie (writer and critic based in Beirut, Lebanon); and Adnan Yildiz (Art Director, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany).

Art-Athina Contemporaries: Paradise Lost

Curator: Artemis Potamianou

Working with artists from the galleries represented in the main programme of Art Athina who are predominantly younger in terms of age or artistic generation, Artemis Potamianou curates Paradise Lost, an exhibition-happening that aims to showcase the contemporary art scene as it is shaped today. Inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy and referencing also other major literary works, the exhibition features a labyrinth made of cheap materials associated with the urban landscape, with the concepts of “transition” and “moving” and with all the negative connotations of an economic downturn. Along this journey the works guide and complement one another, and viewers are called upon to experience a journey that is meant to take them from hell to purgatory and heaven.

Participants: Angela Svoronou (Titanium Art Gallery); Angelo Plessas (Rebecca Camhi); Antonis Papadopoulos (Artis Causa Gallery); Athanasia Vidali-Soula (Alma Gallery); Babis Papayiannis (Ekfrasi-Yianna Grammatopoulou); Bonnie Lane (Anna Pappas Gallery); Christina Mitrentse (Lola Nikolaou Gallery); Dan Dubowitz (Mirko Mayer); Dimitra Vamiali (Vamiali’s gallery); Dina Koumpouli (Courtesy Agathi-Kartalos); Efi Papaioannou (Astrolavos); Eftihis Patsourakis (Eleni Koroneou Gallery); Elias Tsakmakis (Art Zone 42 Gallery); Evangelia Spiliopoulou (Kaplanon5 Gallery); Gregory Grozos (Elika Gallery); Irini Bachlitzanaki (Cheapart); Katerina Kalogri (Technohoros Art Gallery); Konstantinos Kyrtis (Alpha Art Gallery); Lina Theodorou (Zina Athanassiadou); Marc Bijl (The Breeder); Maria Aristotelous (Penindaplinena Gallery); Maria Ikonomopoulou (Mulier Mulier Gallery); Marios Fournaris (Peritechnon); Miltos Michailidis (Medusa Art Gallery); Nikos Arvanitis (a.antonopoulou.art); Nikos Papadimitriou (AD Gallery); Orestis Symvoulidis (Ersi’s); Pagratis Pagratides (Skoufa Gallery); Panagiotis Paloglou (Argo Gallery); Panos Tsagaris (Kalfayan Galleries); Pasquale De Sensi (ARTcore Gallery); Peggy Kliafa (Kappatos Gallery); Roderik Henderson (Donopoulos IFA Gallery); Roi Alter (Joey Ramone Gallery); Sabine Rosenberger (Francoise Heitsch); Tula Plumi (CAN Christina Androulidaki Gallery); Vasilis Avramidis (Tsatsis Projects / Artforum); Vasso Pikou (Gallery Papatzikou).

As part of the parallel events, Art-Athina 2013 pays tribute to Desmos Gallery. Manos Stefanidis will present the panorama of Desmos using images and archive material and point out its absence in an age dominated by commercialism and the market, while Dimitris Alithinos, a historical member of the Desmos family, will participate with a surprise contribution.

The presence of museums and foundations alongside the Greek and foreign art galleries makes for a unique opportunity to bring together the entire art scene and allow visitors to form a more complete picture. This year, some of the country’s most important institutions will honour Art-Athina with their presence—indicatively: Acropolis Museum, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Benaki Museum, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Photography Museum of Thessalo­niki, B & M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music, Spyropoulos Museum and also AICA Hellas, the School of Fine Arts of Thessaloniki, etc.

Sponsor: Karavias & Associates

Communication sponsors: Alpha TV, EΡΤ (Hellenic Radio & Television), Alpha FM 98.9, En Lefko FM 87.7, Kathimerini, Naftemboriki, Athens Voice, Athinorama, Ta Nea tis Technis, Insider, Click@Life, Culturenow.gr, ελculture.gr. http://www.art-athina.gr