THESSALONIKI .- Exhibitions, art events in museums and monuments; art installations, performances, workshops, conferences, educational programs, interventions in public spaces and guided tours will be taking place in Thessaloniki, Greece, during the 4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, from September 18, 2013 until January 31, 2014. This year’s Thessaloniki Biennale is being extended with a full program of events on a role, aiming to attract the art lovers’ interest in the city and internationally.
The 4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art is funded under the Operational Programme Macedonia-Thrace 2007-2013 and is co-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund). The organization is run by the State Museum of Contemporary Art, realized with the participation of the “5 Museums’ Movement in Thessaloniki” (namely, the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, the Museum of Byzantine Culture, the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, the State Museum of Contemporary Art, the Teloglion Foundation of Art of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) supported by the Municipality of Thessaloniki and with the collaboration of a number of other cultural and educational agencies and institutions.
Director of the 4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art is Katerina Koskina, President of the Board of Trustees of the SMCA, Art Historian & Curator.
The Biennale opening will be held on September 18, with the inauguration of the exhibition “Everywhere but Now”, curated by Αdelina von Fürstenberg, Chief Curator of the Central Exhibition of the 4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, along with the opening the exhibitions by the “5 Museums’ Movement in Thessaloniki”, while other events and exhibitions will be inaugurated during the following months.
4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art -a Synopsis
The Mediterranean sea, as a geographical space, in which the current cultural and social reality is researched and studied, although yet vague and still extremely interesting due to the constant dramatic changes in recent years, with its traditional elements along with influence and impact of the global model indicated, will be again this year’s thematic of the 4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, under the general title “Old Intersections-Make it New”.
The Biennale program goes as following:
Central Exhibition
“Everywhere but Now” is the title given to the Central Exhibition by Αdelina von Fürstenberg the Chief Curator of the 4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Independent Curator and Film Producer, President of the NGO ART for The World.
Over 50 artists from 25 countries - from Brazil and Cuba to Iran and India, as well as many Mediterranean countries, including 14 artists from Greece - will present their works, using all media such as paintings, sculptures, photography, video installations, films and performances.
Αdelina von Fürstenberg’s comments on the exhibition title: “Everywhere but Now closely relates the question of space of different genius loci in the Mediterranean area with the question of time of creation in our contemporary world. It’s in fact, Ernst Jungers’s Hic et nunc that in the "Treaty of Rebel" describes the rebel as an independent and free man of action, very similar to the artist’s condition. Everywhere but Now broadens also the concept of hic and nunc by giving a wider significant: a vision that adheres to the ideals of existentialism and recognizes man’s fragility in his condition over: the Being there, Dasein of Heidegger. In addition, we can perceive in the title the fundamental character of Dasein as Being-in-the-world, in taking the world as horizon of the project.”
Participating artists and filmmakers: Ghada Amer, Danai Anesiadou, John Armleder, Maja Bajević, Bill Balaskas, Lenora de Barros, Beforelight, Jacques Berthet, Nigol Bezjian, Mohamed Bourouissa, Marie Bovo, David Casini, Sheba Chhachhi, Claire Fontaine, Jordi Colomer, Marta Dell’Angelo, Desertmed Collective, Haris Epaminonda, Inci Eviner, Ymane Fakhir, Parastou Forouhar, Apostolos Georgiou, Khaled Jarrar, Gülsün Karamustafa, Iseult Labote, Ange Leccia, Los Carpinteros, DeAnna Maganias, Marcello Maloberti, Miltos Manetas, Mark Mangion, Josefina Markarian, Liliana Moro, Adrian Paci, Rosana Palazyan, Jafar Panahi, Maria Papadimitriou, Dan & Lia Perjovschi, Paris Petridis, Ivan Petrović, Khalil Rabah, Philip Rantzer, Zineb Sedira, Veronica Smirnoff, Priscilla Tea, Panos Tsagaris, Maria Tsagkari, Gal Weinstein, Peter Wüthrich, Raed Yassin, Yiorgis Yerolymbos, Vasilis Zografos.
For the first time, a large part of the Biennale Central Exhibition will be hosted in the Pavillion 6 (Thessaloniki International Trade Fair area), urging the visitors to explore the Thessaloniki city centre, and discover the monuments along with the old and contemporary history of the city.
The SMCA headquarters, Moni Lazariston, hosts the big exhibition “The Costakis collection and the Russian avant-garde. 100 since the collector’s birth”, putting in focus the collection and the collector’s work accordingly, through over 250 artworks. At the same time, some of the artists participating in the Central Exhibition will be in dialogue with Russian avant-garde period works, during the Biennale.
