ATHENS.- Every summer since 2009, DESTE has invited an artist or group of artists to create an exhibition in the Foundation’s Project Space, a former slaughterhouse on the island of Hydra. This year, DESTE is presenting a site-specific project by David Shrigley titled Laughterhouse, which is on view between June 19 and September 30, 2018.

Laughterhouse is a presentation in the Slaughterhouse of a documentary film about goats whose cries sound like those of human beings.

It is amusing to behold goats making these sounds and it is intended to be a funny film. However; slaughterhouses are not funny places. Particularly if you are a vegetarian or a goat.

The contradiction between the comedy of the film and the history of the space is the motivation behind this artwork.

David Shrigley was born in 1968 in Macclesfield, UK. He is now based in Brighton, UK.

Shrigley, a Turner Prize nominee in 2013, is best known for his distinctive drawing style and works that make satirical comments on everyday situations and human interactions. While drawing is at the center of his practice, the artist also works across an extensive range of media including sculpture, large-scale installation, animation, painting, photography and music.

Recent solo exhibitions include: Lose Your Mind , Art Tower Mito, Japan (2017); Problem Guitars , Anton Kern Gallery, Independent New York, NY, USA; Life Model II , The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA (2016); David Shrigley: Life and Life Drawing , National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2014-2015); Drawing , Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany (2014); Brain Activity ,
Hayward Gallery, London, UK touring to Yerba Beuna Centre for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, USA (2013); Arms Fayre , Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK (2012); Animate , Turku Art Museum, Turku, Finland (2011); and David Shrigley , Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway (2009).

Group exhibitions include, among others: The Gap Between the Fridge and the Cooker , The Modern Institute, Glasgow, UK; Problem in Toulouse , Printemps de Septembre Festival, Toulouse, France (2016); Drawing Now: 2015 , The Albertina, Vienna, Austria (2015); Generation, 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland , Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland (2014); and Funny , Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY (2012).