In the past few years, Greece has made the headlines of worldwide news: from tense relationships with Germany and Europe to last year’s referendum, from on-going state corruption to neo-nazi uprisings, from subsequent austerity measures to the refugee ‘crisis’. How has the world of art responded to these ongoing crises? Greece has continued its cultural efforts with the Athens and Thessaloniki Biennales, Whitechapel Gallery’s collaboration with Athens-based NEON foundation, Marina Abramović’s new work involving local artists, Ai Weiwei’s infamous and controversial actions ‘inspired’ by the arrival of refugees in Lesbos and the upcoming Documenta (2017). While living through critical times, Greece has continued to make the headlines while art continues to provide the entertainment, often at the cost of overshadowing the urgency and complexity of its critical situations. The gravity of words like “economy”, “corruption”, “democracy”, “grexit” have eclipsed the voices of artists, writers and activists whose work revolves around genders, sexualities and other critical themes. The current Greek crisis is not a new crisis, at least not for the field of queer and feminist debates.
The event starts with a short screening of “Opera Aperta”, a video-archive created by Mary Zygouri, about the life and practice of feminist artist and activist Maria Karavela (1938 – 2012), active during the Greek dictatorship in the 70s. It will then present four contemporary Greek artists/collectives and the fieldwork of a social anthropologist in an attempt to bring together the fragmented narratives of Greek artists and activists whose practices have engaged communities both in Greece and abroad, but also through online media.
This event aims to initiate conversation on the multifarious manifestations of queer and feminist politics from a range of geographical and artistic contexts, in the hope of producing a broader discussion on gender and sexuality.
More info can be found at www.facebook.com/CVNTEMPORARY/ and www.youtube.com/user/CuntemporaryEvents.
Venue: Goldsmiths University of London (room RHB 256)
Admission free and open to the public.
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1514779925497140/
