by Georgia Drakaki

February 10, 2021, 6:01 p.m.

https://www.in.gr/2021/02/10/life/culture-live/sozita-gkountouna-mas-kanei-perifanous-sto-manxatan-kai-ston-kosmo/

Struggles relentlessly for the dissemination of Greek culture in a contemporary and “open” way

The cultural platform GREECE IN USA is a global organization that promotes Greek culture abroad and promotes international cultural cooperation. Founded in New York by the internationally renowned Greek adjunct professor CUNY Sozita Goudouna, one of America’s most prominent Greek curators.

GREECE IN USA makes an impressive opening amid a pandemic, launching, with the support of the Greek Ministry of Culture, the group exhibition “The Right to Silence?” / “The Right to Silence?” on the penitentiary system, prison and incarceration regimes and the reform of criminal justice, in different geographical and political contexts. The first edition of the exhibition is currently presented at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, City University of New York with the participation of 43 Greek and Cypriot Artists, while the second parallel action is expected in February at “Undercurrent”, one of the most influential Brooklyn-based showrooms worldwide.

So we talked with Mrs. Goudouna about the role of art in the time of a pandemic, her daily life between obligations and aspirations, the New York Performa Biennale, her favorite museums, GREECE IN USA and many more and even her views on rebetiko. This Greek woman has managed to remove the rust from her mind: nothing old and outdated in the way she perceives and acts for Greek culture, which is rarely found in local professionals of “culture” and “art”.

As we were discussing, I thought what a wonderful thing it is to be Sozita, to live in Tribeca (Manhattan’s most hip district) and to breathe with the lungs of creativity and art, collectives and exchange of ideas.

It’s like a dream.

But to get there, Sozita Guduna studied, worked and fought hard. That is why she makes us proud — not because she is Greek, but because the Greekness of her existence and action erupts unpretentiously and authentically.

A Greek woman in New York: how was the first night of the rest of your life in America? And how did you decide to leave Greece?

I remember my first night in New York in an apartment I stayed when I arrived at midnight. It was located opposite the historic Armory where the “Armory Show” took place in 1913, one of the most important exhibitions for Modern Art with the participation of Marcel Duchamp, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse, I felt so lucky !

However, what I will never forget was the day I found out what really makes you a New Yorker, the night I had nowhere to stay — due to financial and other circumstances — and spent the night in an overnight cafe-restaurant on Broadway. The edge of survival gives you a strength, that makes is easier to understand this city and sometimes “conquer” it with a sense of urgency.

Like Andre Gide wrote in 1926 ‘One doesn’t discover the new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.’ I was 17 years in London, then from 2013–2015 in Greece during the years of the crisis, I decided to leave Greece because I was lucky to have been selected as the inaugural curator at Performa Biennial, one of my most admired international Biennials.

What exactly is the job of a curator? If one wants to deal with it, what stages does one “have to” go through first?

The role of the curator is relatively new and there are different schools of thought about curation depending on the generation and the artistic orientation. In the past, good degrees in art history, politics, or the social sciences could cover a broader education for a good career as curator, and most curators did not have specialized studies in curation.

Today, excellent postgraduate courses are offered internationally in curating, therefore, following a good first degree there may be specialization in specific areas of curation such as: public space, digital arts, performance, politics and art, anthropology, environment etc. In Greece, similar educational programs are currently being developed but have not yet been established. The Performa Biennial in New York, in which I specialized, focuses on the role of the curator as producer — commissioner — developer. Performa also inspired me to establish Greece in USA. The Biennale takes place in different parts of the city, from Times Square and New York Customs to MoMA and BAM. For a month, Performa is changing the way New Yorkers experience and perceive the city, especially after 9/11, which transformed the relationship between residents and the public space. The Biennial aims to “reclaim” public space and spaces that have changed use due to the dominance of Real Estate.

Do you feel, yourself, an artist?

The nexus of curator — artist has preoccupied me a lot. We both participate in the creative process with a synthetic and analytical approach. Roles shift in contemporary times and the artist becomes a thinker, even a “scientist,” in the sense of detecting and evaluating asymmetric knowledges, the curator is like a “metteur en scene,” as we would say in French, and I use this term to give the broader perspectives of curation.

I see curation as a practice based on scientific-technological and philosophical developments to explore new temporal and spatial interactions, new forms of artistic intervention, to unfold the wide range of scientific, theoretical and artistic positions that shape the curator, spectator / artist, performance / event / exhibition and intervention / cultural production.

Will the artistic activities of the Greece in USA platform mainly concern the visual arts or other fields of art?

Greece in USA seeks to present all aspects of cultural production as well as cultural research. We focus on the visual arts, performing arts, experimental cinema, new media, architecture and dance. We commission and present in collaboration with other curators and institutions art programs on specific topics and we also commission artists to create new works or we collaborate with them on existing works.

The non-profit organization develops productions that meet the needs of public or private institutions and spaces (site-specific/location driven), new media (and intermedia). The promotion of international exchange of practices and knowledge in the arts, the exploration of methods used in theatrical and curatorial practices and the points of intersection between the arts, society and the public sphere through interventions, collective actions, educational programs and publications, are the point of interest of Greece in USA.

Among the goals of the platform is the following: “To support inspired cultural practices of Greece, welcoming and cultivating new ideas and influences.” This was promised by various institutions in Greece, such as Niarchos and Onassis, but various young Greek artists constantly feel marginalized. Monica, and Maravegias for example aren’t “new and influential”. How do you perceive your commitment to a goal like this?

Our goal is to create the “third way” for cultural diplomacy between the state and major institutions that will always be in good cooperation with the institutions, ministries of culture and foreign affairs. I have worked as a consultant for the Onassis Foundation in New York (I have been Onassis Scholar since 2002) and I appreciate the work of the organization.

Stegi has contributed tremendously to the dissemination of contemporary culture in Greece and internationally and we observe that organizations such as e.g. the Athens Biennale can not survive without the support of the foundation. It almost replaces the state and for that it has a huge responsibility for its choices. An organization like Onassis has exceptional potential, but this does not mean that there will not always be ground to be covered in the promotion of contemporary artists, with different sensitivity and care, than the mapping and management of the contemporary scene by an organization that is “too big to fail.”

What do you think is the big, non-negotiable common denominator of the visual and performing arts?

I would say “presence in present time.” However, in the post-Covid era, physical presence is not a possibility, in most cases, for the reception of art. Mediated presence at present time is necessary both for the visual and performing arts. More specifically, the canvas or the three dimensional installations, or the theater, are models for understanding the problem of the tension between reality and representation. Their non-negotiable common point is the exploration of representation that is understood as a process and not as a given.

In my book “Beckett’s Breath” I try to examine these relationships as they unfold in relation to temporality, materiality and plasticity in the arts. The book presents cross-disciplinary findings around the nature and aesthetic possibilities of respiration, the minimum condition of existence, in the interface between the visual and performing arts.

Culture was devalued by the Greek state during the period of lockdowns — not that one can make a living from his art in this country, even in normal conditions. What do you think about the Support Art Workers movement?

I was not able to follow the movement extensively, I was informed via internet, but I was excited about the way art professionals networked in activism and mass mobilization. I think something similar in the fermentation of artists with common visions had been achieved in front of the parliament during the “indignant movement” in Athens, but it had not taken a more specific form with an active participation in the trade unions.

I hope that the opportunity is not lost with the “Support Art Workers” movement for participation in the decision-making that is often done through the trade unions (Chamber of Arts, Actor’s Equity etc.) or with a strong and dynamic platform that will imagine the ways these pre-existing networks can be replaced or strengthened.

Do you watch subscription channels and, if so, are there any series that you are stuck with?

I watch Netflix and have recently watched series like Gumbit’s Queen, Bridgeton, Lupin and I also started The Dig (it seems from the selections that I am nostalgic of London), but I usually do not get stuck with the series. I’m most fascinated by the structure and “temporalities” of a movie, so when I watch Netflix longer than I should, I switch to Criterionchannel.com.

What is usually the first thing you do in the morning and what is the last thing you do before you go to bed, in the context of your daily routine?

The first thing I do is brew my coffee (or I have prepared it the previous night) so I can get up from the overnight and go to the office and the last one to turn off the laptop after working late at night, with background sounds of a movie or podcast. During the weekends I hope to get a few or many hugs.

Do you think that art should be militant, political or accusatory or, is it better for the creator to express her/himself by taking a distance, as an attempt to make her/his work timeless?

I believe in “living” art and “dead” art. I think Peter Brook remains unsurpassed in his theory in “The Empty Space” when he talks about the four categories: “Dead”, “Sacred”, “Rough” and “Immediate” theater. Consequently, whether militant or non militant, we are interested in art that is not “dead.” Militant art has references to major political processes and the relationship between politics and art in catalytic periods such as, say, the Russian Revolution. In Greece, poets, writers and artists such as Ritsos, Katrakis and many others were indeed militant with great impact on society. In contemporary times, when artists, but also curators, use political and social sensitivities as a means to justify the existence of their work, I believe that they are often led to a “cul de sac.”

At the same time, however, in modern times, if the artist-thinker does not negotiate environmental and social issues, she/he will soon find that his / her work will be redundant. Pretense is the problem in all aspects of culture and life.

What is your favorite museum in the world?

With the exception of the Anthropology Museum in Mexico, I would say that probably my favorite museum, owing to its size, but also exhibits and history, is the Foundling Museum that was situated next to my old house in London. Foundling was originally founded in 1739 as a hospital by the philanthropist Thomas Coram for the care of abandoned babies and is still a charitable organization.

At the same time, it is an exhibition space that hosts excellent exhibitions of contemporary art such as an exhibition with Mat Collishaw, Tracey Emin and Paula Rego. The artists were involved in a dramatic visual dialogue about the history and themes of the Museum, which was Britain’s first institution for abandoned children. This unique exhibition continued William Hogarth’s legacy in the eighteenth century, inviting leading artists to showcase their work at the Foundation, raising awareness of society’s failures against vulnerable children and mothers. Among the artists who supported the Hospital were William Hogarth and composer George Frideric Handel. The Museum’s Collections include paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures created and donated by Hogarth and others.

Greece in USA’s first group exhibition explores the penitentiary system to see if art and aesthetics can break the silence on critical political issues such as mass imprisonment and criminal justice reform. How did the decision / inspiration to present this extremely delicate, difficult and challenging issue came about ?

The subject of the exhibition I am curating is based on a reversal: I am interested in paradoxes, when they illuminate profound meanings. In this case it is about the well known “Miranda Rights” that as Greeks we learned from Hollywood crime films. I was always impressed by the expression “you have the right to remain silent.”

Silence is transformed into a right when what can be said might be legally binding for a citizen of a benevolent democracy. The paradox, however, is that some citizens remain silent because they are not given the opportunity to speak, therefore, the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

In the group exhibition, “Miranda Rights” acquires a metaphorical sense in terms of exploring moral issues, but also aesthetic forms and artistic means, if we assume that silence is the culmination of abstraction. At the same time, we are confronting the confinement of the current pandemic, hence, despite the sensitive balance of drawing a parallel between the confinement and incarceration indeed we become more aware of the issue of mass imprisonment during the current condition that we all share.

Who is Sozita Goudouna? Everything looks charming and rare on you. Let’s start with the name and get to the multi-page CV…

Who is she ? I also wonder when I catch Sozita talking to herself. I try to discuss with her often as a kind of contemplation and self-awareness. My name comes from “Sozo — to save in greek,” given that I was saved in childbirth and because my mom had a beloved nephew whose name was Sozos. Agios Sozon is the patron saint of the islands of Aegina, Lemnos and Patmos, I think. At the same time, my grandmother was Sotiria, so the child escaped being named by the strict name Salvation!

Would you ever return permanently to Greece?

My life has evolved in such a way that for better or worse I do not know if I can think of anything with a permanence. The current situation and the re-reminder of how vulnerable we are, both physically and mentally, reinforces this view.

Would you ever consider running for a political office in Greece or America?

I would if Greece acquired an inspired, contemporary, dynamic and militant ecological party, but such an expanded movement we will have to create ourselves. We cannot imagine ideal conditions in which we will be invited to participate because this isn’t realistic. Fermentations shape politics.

However, I have run for the municipal office in the island of Hydra, following my active participation, since 1988, in the ecological Association of Hydra that protects the environment and the Greek cultural heritage in the wider fields of archeology, traditional settlements and underwater antiquities.

Regarding ecology, the range of activities of the Association covers the protection of natural resources, fauna and the Mediterranean seal Monachous-Monachous, which lives and breeds in the Myrtoon Sea and in the eastern part of the Peloponnese. In 2011, I curated the project “Eleventh Plateau” in Hydra in order to explore the ways in which art can disseminate knowledge in relation to political ecology, you can find more information here .

Since we talked about politics, does Biden’s election or, better yet, Trump’s departure open up any new horizons in America and its relations with Greece?

Indeed, the term political ecology should refer to the ways in which politics can be purified or cleansed from the cynicism of the opportunism of certain participants in our public and political life. America’s diplomacy in relation to Greece depends very much on its current relations to Turkey. I imagine the correlations are even more complicated. In politics, nothing is exactly as it seems, but I believe that Biden is a factor of greater stability, at least compared to Trump.

How do you envision / predict the production and consumption of Art as a product in the coming years, with the impact of Covid on artistic creativity, but also on the mood of the public? Theaters, concerts, street musicians…?

I think a paradigm shift will take place, but for the wrong reasons. I mean we were waiting for a paradigm shift in the way cultural goods are received, but now it is becoming imperative because of the pandemic and I do not know where this adventure will lead us. Art should be a common good and the only positive opportunity given to us by a pandemic is to realize the social power and impact of art by expanding the ways of public viewing.

I welcome the recent calls of the Ministry for proposals for interventions. Cities should become museums without walls during the pandemic by presenting happenings, performances, concerts and all cultural activities under the Greek sun and moon.

What did you miss the most — you personally — during all these difficult months, without hugs?

My parents and friends, I have more than a year to travel to Greece and it is quite hard.

What book is currently on your nightstand?

Marc Lamont Hill’s book “We Still Here: Pandemic, Policing, Protest, & Possibility.” I admire the writers who managed to reflect on the period we are enduring with aptness and critical thinking. The book deals with the 2020 uprising that marked a new course for the “Black Lives Matter” movement.

The brutal assassinations of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and countless other injustices, large and small, were the spark for the largest protest movement in US history. Hill critically examines the “pre-existing conditions” that led us to this time of crisis and turmoil during the pandemic.

Would you consider doing something about the unrecognized in “Rebetiko Song” through the platform? What music do you usually listen to in the car or on Sunday afternoons?

I would be very interested in organizing a conference with the participation of bands from Athens to articulate a contemporary “mapping” of Rebetiko, in collaboration with the Modern Greek Studies Department at Columbia University, for example, and to highlight Rebetiko’s relationship with the refugee history of Greece and the corresponding music styles in Europe and America that are not so well known to the American public. Rebetiko and its history probably have to shift from the interiors of homes and Astoria and to find themselves in a more common view and in a contemporary context in cultural centers such as BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) and similar venues.

I had the opportunity to experience George Katsaros or Theologitis, before his death. The memory is vague but I think it was at the Lycabettus open theater in great devoutness. I am also lucky to have Harry Logothetis as a friend, a former student at ASOE (School of Economics of Athens), one of those who drop out of school, who taught me about the clarinet, Vasilopoulos, Saleas and others and with whom we have attended wonderful festivals from Tzoumerka to Krestena and many more. I was also lucky enough to be a friend of Konstantis Loukos, whose father taught the history of Rebetiko at the University of Crete. I am also fortunate to have Ed Emery as a friend, the organizer of the Rebetiko conferences in Hydra.

In London, Ed with Pavlos Melas and his band “Moo Soo Too” had jams at my parties and Paris Gravouniotis tried to institutionally promote this kind of music in London. Therefore, I love rebetiko and I am very interested in its contemporary reception, such as Blues, Portuguese Fado and other styles of “underground” urban music. I do not know how to drive, but on my Sunday flanerie on the trains from New York to Philadelphia I do not forget to listen to Bellou, Papaoannou, Vamvakari and Tsitsani.

Katerina Poulopoulou
19/01/2021 11:19
An innovative platform promotes the knowledge of modern and ancient Greek culture abroad with the signature of Sozita Goudouna.

The cultural platform GREECE IN USA is a global organization that promotes Greek culture abroad and promotes international cultural cooperation.

Founded in New York by the internationally renowned Greek visual artist and assistant professor at New York University CUNY Sozita Gudouna, one of America’s most prominent artists and curators.

GREECE IN USA is making an impressive opening amid a pandemic, launching, with the support of the Greek Ministry of Culture, the group exhibition “The Right to Silence? »/” The Right to Silence? “ on the penitentiary system, prison and incarceration regimes and the reform of criminal justice, in different geographical and political contexts. The first phase of the exhibition is currently being presented at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, City University of New York with the participation of 43 Greek and Cypriot Artists, while the second parallel action is expected in February at “Undercurrent”, one of the most influential exhibition Brooklyn-based locations worldwide.

What is the GREECE IN USA platform?
GREECE IN USA is a non-profit organization of global scope, which promotes the knowledge of modern and ancient Greek culture abroad and promotes international cultural cooperation and social participation. The platform focuses on the dissemination of innovative and unique programs in the field of art and education, exploring the evolving diversity and richness of Greek culture, seeks to create and provoke new (original) thinking about the arts and to promote intercultural dialogue through and “new” expression platforms.

GREECE IN USA makes an impressive opening amid a pandemic, launching, with the support of the Greek Ministry of Culture, the group exhibition “The Right to Silence?” / “The Right to Silence?” on the subject of the penitentiary system
It focuses on a number of cultural activities , including the development and support of creative, academic research with an emphasis on cultural policy and the extroversion of Greek culture. As well as in the production of cultural works and festivals in collaboration with prominent US cultural partners, as well as the organization of conferences, seminars, workshops and cultural exchanges through ‘art residencies’ hosting programs.

GREECE IN USA presents Greek-American and Greek contemporary productions focusing on visual arts, performing arts (theater), experimental cinema, cinema, new media, architecture and dance. The organization develops productions that meet the needs of spaces (on-site-specific) and new and intermediate media (new media & intermedia).

The promotion of the international exchange of practices and knowledge in the arts, the exploration of the methods used in theatrical and curatorial practices and the points of intersection between the arts, society and the public sphere through interventions, collective actions, educational programs and publications, is in progress. of interest to the organization.
The Board of Directors of GREECE IN USA consists of, among others, prominent personalities from Giannis Kaplanis, General Manager of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival and Andreas Takis, President of MoMUS.

What are the goals of the GREECE IN USA platform
GREECE IN USA aims to collaborate and build long-term partnerships with leading institutions and individuals active in Greece and its culture and to transfer a comprehensive representation of Greece and Cyprus through the production of cultural and educational programs that encourage interdisciplinary and allow cultural participation.

The main objectives are:
• To shape and envision the image of modern Greece in the United States beyond existing stereotypes
• To support the inspired cultural practices of Greece, welcoming and cultivating new ideas and influences
• To present contemporary Greek culture
• To promote Greek cultural research and culture in the American educational system
• The development of a transatlantic network for the exchange of cultures and ideas
• Enhancing the development of structures in cultural policy and the promotion of global mobility.

The platform is founded in New York by the internationally renowned Greek visual artist and assistant professor at New York University CUNY Sozita Gudouna, one of the most prominent artists and curators in America

The man behind the GREECE IN USA platform
The Sozita Gkountouna is empnefstria, founder and artistic director of GREECE IN USA, head of the Institute of Raymond Pettibon, one of the most prominent artists in America and assistant professor at NYU CUNY.

He holds a PhD in Art History and is the author of Beckett’s Breath: Anti-Theatricality and the Visual Arts, published by Edinburgh and Oxford University Press. She was selected as the first Andrew W. Mellon Curator at the Institute and the New York Biennale Performa, teaching at New York University. He has curated programs and exhibitions at the New Museum of New York, Documents, Onassis Cultural Center in New York, etc. He taught in the Postgraduate Program entitled “Management & Promotion of Cultural Heritage & Environment”, of the Department of History, Archeology & Cultural Heritage Management of the School of Humanities & Cultural Studies of the University of Peloponnese. He studied Philosophy, Theater (NE) and Directing in London (MA: RADA Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts & Kings College London). He holds a PhD from the University of London on the relationship between the visual arts and the performing arts.

As artistic director of the first official European program for hosting artists in Athens (2013–2015) under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture Athens Art Residency, she curated a series of solo art exhibitions such as Martin Creed, Santiago Sierra, Lynda Benglis, Marie Voignier, Roy Ascott and collaborated for the production of Marina Abramovic “Seven Deaths”. In 2008 he founded the company outoftheboxintermedia in London with productions at EMST, Benaki Museum, Tate Modern, Frieze London, Shunt Vaults, Hunterian Museum, French Institute. He is a member and was elected in 2015 as treasurer of the Greek Section of the International Association of Art Critics, AICA and was a member of the board of the Greek Section of the ITI International Theater Institute of Unesco.

The cultural organization Out of the Box Intermedia (www.outoftheboxintermedia.org) which he founded in 2008 in London and Athens, specializes in the research and production of cross-sectoral projects with the international collaboration of universities, artistic groups and scientific institutes and organizes for the last 12 years artistic productions, educational programs, conferences and publications. It has been supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Tourism, the European Foundation for Culture, the British Council, the French Institute, the NEON Foundation and private companies. Out Of The Box productions examine structural correlations between the visual arts, cinema, architecture, science and choreography and have been presented at the New Museum, Ionian Parliament, Documents, EMST, Benaki Museum, Byzantine, Christian & Christian Vaults London,

The opening exhibition “The Right to Silence?” / “The Right to Silence?”
GREECE IN USA captures and creates projects that build long-term collaborations with leading institutions and individuals who are actively associated with Greece. In this context, the inaugural report entitled “The Right to Silence?” (The Right to Silence?) Raises issues of criminal justice and is based on research and two parallel streams that deal with different geographical and political contexts, focusing on Greece and Cyprus.

The group exhibition is curated by Sozita Guduna. John Jay is joined by artists Margarita Athanassiou, Maria Adelman, Steven Antonakos, Klitsa Antoniou, Kenji Aoki, Lydia Venieri, Vangelis Vlachos, Antonis Volanakis, Alexandros Georgiou, Eva Giannakopoulou, Klio Gizelis, Z. , Georgia Kotretsos, Lappas Aristidis, Manolis Lemos-Daskalakis, Irini Linardaki, Aristidis Logothetis, Marion Iglesi, Olga Miliaresi-Fokal & Despina Damaskou for SPAGHETTO, Bapis Papas Spyrou, Marilia Stagouraki, Giorgos Stamatakis, Chrysan Stathakos, Panos Tsagaris, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Nagia Frangouli, Nikos Charalambidis, Gioula Chatzigeorgiou, Despina Hatzipavlidou & Anthio Mouriatou, Timou Mouriatou B, Kourou DKaren Finley, Geyer Andrea & Sharon Hayes, Steve C Harvey, Ashley Hunt, Richard Kamler, Renee Magnati, Ilan Manouach, Daina Mattis, Juli Susin, Mischa Twitchin, while in Undercurrent participate the artists Chloe Akrithaki, Alexis Vasilikos, Eugenia Vereli, Maria Georgoula, Eleni Glinou, Lydia Dampasina, Martha Dimitropoulou, Irini Karagiannopoulou, Ismini Karyotaki, Elias Cohen, Anna Laskari, Jenny Marketou, Maro Michalakakos, Phryni Mouzakitou, Manolis Bamis, Manolis Bamis Evripidis Papadopetrakis, Natassa Papadopoulou, Elias Papailiakis, Teresa Papamichali, Emilia Papafilippou, Georgia Sagri, Katerina Sarra, Christina Sgouromyti, Vouvoula Skoura, Evangelia Spiliopoulou, Ztonis Toniis, AntonisΔιονύσης Χριστοφυλογιαννακης, Elaine Angelopoulos, Blind Spot, Rafika Chawishe, Mat Chivers, Delia Gonzalez, Ashley Hunt, James Lane, John Newsom, OCD Ensemble, Anastasia Pelias, Irene Ragusini, Duke Riley, Martin Sexton.
GREECE IN USA also invited professor and curator Thalia Vrachopoulos to address the issue by inviting artists from Asia, and curator Tressa Berman with a historic American artist. The ‘Greece in USA’ platform invites artists, curators and academics to respond to “The Right to Silence?” The next events in other cultural venues of New York will be announced during 2021.

The prison regime and the culture platform
“ Despite the fact that many contemporary visual compositions seem to deny the presence of the spectator in their layout, what is of primary importance for the canon of art today is the dialogue with the spectator. “Recognizing the presence of the spectator and the ‘visibility’ (viewing) of works of art also has a decisive contribution to the ongoing dialogue on the aesthetics of the modern movement, “ said Sozita Gudouna.
“But how can the limits of this ‘rule’ be tested in relation to society at large. What happens when viewers remain hidden from the public and can not be in any dialogue with the artwork. “When they can only see one wall closed in a cube without windows or when they are blindfolded in absolute silence, waiting for an investigator.”

“A constituent element of prison is the silencing, the silencing of the prisoner’s life, often of justice, the silencing of pain or political expression.
Mass imprisonment has been discussed in terms of degrees of invisibility, but not so much in terms of the range of processes that reveal the boundary between the representation of silence and visibility. Is silence connected to the invisible in a cause-and-effect relationship?
Prisoners, ex-prisoners, their families, social activists, academics and professionals, founded in the 1970s an organization that aimed to dramatically reform the penitentiary system by giving a “voice” to the very foundations of the prison. The organization was named GIP (or Prison Information Group) and aimed to reveal to the public the real experiences of the detainees.

“The status of prison as a silent and invisible space has been challenged and continues to be challenged today, mainly by former imprisoned artists working in communities most affected by America’s penitentiary system and policing to consider prison privatization and economic policy. increase in the prison population since the 1970s in the USA.
The group report will explore the penitentiary system to see if art and aesthetics can break the silence on critical political issues such as mass imprisonment and criminal justice reform, as well as corruption / ill-treatment and gender rights, and the rights of minors in prisons.
The report will also address issues related to international coronavirus decrees and extensions of house arrest .
Recognizing the impact of programs that encourage the general public to become aware of prisoners through art or the ways in which art can heal prisoners, the report draws on forms of representation that have the potential to show beyond themselves in unacceptable and inaccessible “concludes Sozita Gudouna

Πηγή: iefimerida.gr — https://www.iefimerida.gr/politismos/platforma-proagei-elliniko-politismo

PK 6 PACK

SOZITA  

GOUDOUNA

''The time has come to become extroverted in a more systemic – and anti-systemic – way.''

P.K: You are a multifaceted creative. We believe that good curatorial work is an artform in and of itself, how do you approach your practice in terms of curation being a medium and artistic intervention of sorts?

S.G: I'm an admirer of the so-called "Gesamtkunstwerk" (total work of art) and despite the overuse of the term what still intrigues and inspires me in the reception of art are the interfaces between site specificity, medium specificity, location, social, political and aesthetic context. Sites of performance, of exhibition or display are revealed to be culturally specific situations that generate particular contexts, ethics and narratives regarding art, art history and society.  

P.K:) There’s a line of thinking regarding the Internet and that it’s not changing perception of art, but rather the art itself as a whole. Do you believe especially now due to the pandemic, this has become more true and also actually been exacerbated?

Following on, do you think that there might be a shift against being so terminally online, people will be turned off by it and looking for more “offline” art experiences?

S.Z: I think a paradigm shift is taking place and indeed I might agree that technology and the internet are changing the reception and perception “we” had for art and its production. Whether with crypto art, that has been considered as anachronistic by certain thinkers, or with internet art.

The mega galleries or auction houses, as we have seen with Christies and Beeple, will end up controlling these markets through their selective processes, however, at the same time there is a democratization that is taking place and we cannot, yet, foresee the impact it will have on art production. We were waiting for a paradigm shift in the way cultural goods are received, but now it is becoming imperative due to the pandemic. Art should be a common good and the positive opportunity given to us by a pandemic is to realize the social power and impact of art by expanding the ways of public viewing in the public sphere, whether this is in the virtual world of the internet or preferably in the real world of the public domain.

Alexandros Georgiou

P.K: In your most recent exhibition “The Right to Silence?” the subject is quite dystopic and political. In this current climate, there’s a valid need for inclusivity and diversity, but it can be skewed by individuals and the identity politics game. Could you please elaborate with regards to the subject and its motifs?

How do you feel about unpacking all the aforementioned complexities in an exhibition? As an Academic we would love your opinion for the artist to be a social commentator and not only a producer of aesthetically pleasing images?

Is current reality so “exposed” that there is true risk to express opinions?

S.G: The subject of the exhibition I am curating is based on a reversal: I am interested in paradoxes, when they illuminate profound meanings. In this case it is about the well-known “Miranda Rights” and the 5th amendment. I was always impressed by the expression “you have the right to remain silent.” Silence is transformed into a right when what can be said might be legally binding for a citizen of a benevolent democracy. The paradox, however, is that some citizens remain silent because they are not given the opportunity to speak, therefore, the right to freedom of opinion and expression. In the group exhibition, “Miranda Rights” acquires a metaphorical sense in terms of exploring moral issues, but also aesthetic forms and artistic means, if we assume that silence is the culmination of abstraction. At the same time, we are confronting the confinement of the current pandemic, hence, despite the sensitive balance of drawing a parallel between the confinement and incarceration indeed we become more aware of the issue of mass imprisonment during the current condition that we all share.

Indeed, I have always tried to be cautious in my curatorial project of not aesthetisizing such crucial social and political issues. There is a very sensitive balance especially in the metaphor between incarceration and the current condition of confinement that we are all experiencing. At the same time in contrast to the academy and scholarly knowledge (philosophy and especially science), art gives the opportunity to make reflective leaps. Nevertheless, to propose a spectacle based on these dystopic subjects can lead to an impasse. In the case of “The Right to Silence” and to the forthcoming exhibition “The Right to Breathe,” I think it is significant that Greek artists are invited to respond to issues that they haven’t really reflected upon due to the geographical and political contexts that they haven’t experienced. African American artists would consider these issues in an entirely different light and this is I think the contribution of these exhibitions, to introduce complexities and asymmetric knowledge or to provide versions of "uncomfortable knowledge" (Steve Rayner) on how artists can make sense of the complexity of the social sphere without aesthetisizing political tensions.

P.K: Finishing we would like to have your opinion as a creative who has worked in many art metropoli. P.K as an art platform one of our aims is to overcome the polarisation of a two speed europe and push the standing of Eastern creatives in the West. As the Founding director of the cultural platform GREECE IN USA, Do you believe that artists from the East need to have more opportunities and support exporting their practice to a wider audience abroad?

I am reluctant of terms like “Global South” or the so-called “West/East,” but at the same time I understand the necessity of using these terms. I would challenge the specific uses of the terms by challenging the victory of “neoliberal capitalism” that has failed to recognize the impact of massive social changes in parts of the world that are characterized as non-western. I am interested in these heterogeneous and even imaginary provinces of the world as they can be formulated in artistic and curatorial research. More specifically, however, since your question raises issues of infrastructure, governmental policies and funding I consider it is vital for these artists to receive more support whether from European or local networks to export their work abroad. Greece in USA with its modest means, but with a strong cultural capital, is trying to contribute to these efforts. It is principally the support of the artists that is helping us realize this goal even more than the systemic partners.

P.K Bonus question: Do you have a vision for the course of art currently? What would be a healthy future for art in general and more specifically for Greek art and how you see it coming true?

S.G: About a year ago, Yale University decided to remove its introduction to art history survey course following criticism that it focused mostly on Western art. This decision sparked public praise, but also a national outcry. The discussions surrounding that issue focused on how to ensure that the diversity of research can match the diversity of today’s student body and to advance teaching. I refer to trends in contemporary international art education in order to highlight the ideological and aesthetic principles that are radically changing these days. In Greece, these changes to our cultural life occurred recently, during the economic crisis of 2010 onwards, and then with the hosting of Documenta in Athens and Kassel in 2017, and with the pandemic this past year. The art scene in Greece has been influenced in ways that are not yet evident, and this is the reason that we refer to a “national” identity with frustration and discomfort. The time has come to become extroverted in a more systemic – and anti-systemic – way. This is the reason I chose to give the platform the generic name “Greece in USA”, and not a cute, conceptual title as is the norm in the post-postmodern era. I did not want the name to have any metaphorical dimension, thus risking or inviting misunderstandings. The name also raises questions about stereotypes and different expressions or perceptions of the “Greek nationality, language and country.”

Kavalieratos

The Greek art scene, like Greece itself, is unpredictable, stray (in terms of governmental strategy and funding), exciting and undisciplined. I consider that lately, it has evolved into a more international scene owing to the broader interest of foreigners in Athens. That is partly a result of the financial and social crisis, and of art initiatives by younger, local and international artists and curators who understand the importance of experimentation and who aren’t afraid to fail. This approach has caused a cultural shift from the significance of galleries in the 1990s to the prominence of non-profit art initiatives. I am investigating the Greek paradigm since I consider that “developing” art markets like the Greek can show the way to saturated markets like the US market that are anxious to find and exhaust new territories like the African American market. The past injustices cannot be resolved in a day especially if the new narratives are again recited by the dominant voices of the west.

Sozita Goudouna is the inspirer, founder and artistic director of GREECE IN USA, head of the

Raymond Pettibon Foundation, one of America's most prominent artists and adjunct professor at CUNY City University of New York. She is the author of "Beckett's Breath: Anti-theatricality and the Visual Arts" published by Edinburgh Critical Studies in Modernism and researcher at the Organism for Poetic Research supported by NYU and Brown University. Sozita has taught from 2015 at New York University as the inaugural Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Curatorial fellow at Performa Biennial in NYC. Her internationally exhibited projects include participations at New Museum NYC, Performa Biennial and Institute in New York, Documenta, Onassis Foundation New York, Hunterian Museum London, EMST, Benaki Museum, Byzantine Museum among others. She served as treasurer of the board of directors of AICA Hellas International Art Critics Association and as member of the board of directors at ITI International Theatre Association, Unesco..

Guest Editor: Sozita Goudouna 

19/11/2015

 

Over the last decade Performa has presented 592 performances, collaborated with 732 artists and toured productions in 17 countries. His Greek curator writes to us from America about the institution and the performance today.

Robin Rhode, 'Arnold Schönberg's Erwartung,' Times Square NY, Performa15 Biennale, November 2015. Photo Copyright Paula Court

My collaboration with Performa, the first Biennale of Performing Arts in New York, came as a surprise when I saw an announcement announcing funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which would support the creation of a curatorial and research position. I applied unexpectedly but I was ultimately the curator selected for this postdoctoral position for the next two years.

After four months I have the opportunity to participate in the Biennale which takes place from November 1 to 22 in different parts of the city, from Times Square and New York Customs to MoMA and BAM.

For a month, Performa is changing the way New Yorkers experience the city, especially after 9/11, which transformed the relationship between the residents and the public space. The Biennale aims to "reclaim" public space and spaces that have changed use due to the dominance of Real Estate.

Jesper Just and FOS 'in the shadow / of a spectacle / is the view of the crowd,' 44th floor 225 Liberty Building overlooking the One World Trade Center. Vocalist: Sahra Motalebi. Photo Copyright Paula Court.

In this context, the artist Jesper Just "invaded" on Friday, November 13 in an unexpected building, on the 44th floor of the 225 Liberty Building overlooking a performer at the One World Trade Center to reflect the public's relationship with the spectacle, the dynamics and the manipulation of the crowd as well as the experiences of the spectators, 14 years after the attacks on the financial center of the city. But the work 'in the shadow / of a spectacle / is the view of the crowd,' coincided with the events in Paris, provoking the memory of the public and thus repositioning the work of art in the news.

Oscar Murillo 'Lucky Dip' Alexander Hamilton US Custom House. Photo: Paula Court

At the same time, Oscar Murillo turns New York Customs into a corn factory, emphasizing the proportions between art and factory production, and Robin Rhode directs Arnold Schoenberg's opera 'Erwartung' in Times Square, stopping time in one of the busiest places. city's.

The Biennale also launched the Pavillion Without Walls program in 2013 and shows that more importantly than a particular country or region, it promotes cultural exchanges and the connection of international artists to the global audience as well as the cultural landscape of New York. I wonder if the Greek artistic production could be presented at the upcoming Biennale in November 2017…

My daily life during the Biennale is very different because I am not in the offices at Madison Sq and at the University of New York where I teach but I deal exclusively with the consortium of 80+ cultural institutions of Performa (MoMA, Guggenheim, Whitney, New Museum, BAM, Printed Matter, Art in General, Triple Canopy, Roulette, Watermill Center, Kitchen, Pioneer Works among others).

In the next few days, the modern opera of the Body by Body collective will be inaugurated, produced by Rhizome - New Museum, which I have undertaken on behalf of Performa and which will be held in the loft of a Greek artist, one of the few artists who managed to maintain their studio the late 70's until today. The project focuses on the history of New York lofts and how they defined artistic avant-garde.

Unfortunately, this past has begun to fade as artists are pushed out of the center, unable to cope with economic conditions, which alters the character of the city. That is why the Biennale kicked off the "NOT FOR SALE" series of symposia organized by art historian and founder of Performa RoseLee Goldberg in April 2004 at New York University, in response to the function of art in a capitalist mode of production like this. was imposed by the art market.

The lectures focused on the editing, preservation and collection of "ephemeral art" with speakers such as: Joan Jonas, Robert Storr, Chrissie Iles, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Klaus Ottmann, Debra Singer, Christian Marclay, Christoph Cox, Ron Kuivila, Elizabeth LeCompte, Katy Siegel, Anthony Huberman, Cay Sophie Rabinowitz, Margo Jefferson, John Rockwell, Bennett Simpson, Linda Yablonsky, C. Carr, Lia Gangitano, Laura Hoptman, Vito Acconci, Okwui Enwezor, Massimiliano Gioni et al.

Performa seeks to highlight performance as a different medium, and refutes the notion that it is only events, endurance exercises and conceptual experimentation as well as the belief that performance is intangible, since the body's assignments are very demanding in terms of stage and dramaturgical processing done in collaboration with artists and curators.

The founder of Performa, Prof RoseLee Goldberg, extends the intangible approach expressed by Lucy R. Lippard in her book Six years: the dematerialization of the art object from 1966 to 1972 (1973) highlighting the need to redefine the material dimension of ideas through performance, a point of view that had also influenced my own artistic practice.

Shirin Neshat "The Logic of The Birds," produced by RoseLee Goldberg, 2001.

Realizing in the late 1990s that the medium had found itself in a quagmire as artists replicated the events of 1970, Goldberg felt the need to redefine the character of the performance and commission artists who had not experimented with live art with rehearsals, auditions and lighting, the production of new works such as Shirin Neshat's Logic of the Birds.

The first Performa05 Biennale also curated Marina Abramovic's Seven Easy Pieces project at the Guggenheim Museum, which revived past performances by artists such as Bruce Nauman, Vito Acconci, Valie Export, Gina Pane, Joseph beuys and herself, with the aim of "reminding" the public the history of performance from 1960 to 2005.

The study of archives and publications as well as the relationship between education and art is an important part of my activity at Performa. Our research links movements such as Dada, Futurism and the Russian Avant-Garde to recent history, and argues that performance is the true history of art that has always been cross-sectoral, combining all artistic means, poetry, music, architecture and dance.

Revival of the surreal ballet Relâche by the artist Francis Picabia and composer Erik Satie, 1924, 'Relâche - The Party' by Performa, 2012. Photo: Paula Court

This cross-sectoral character of performance is observed, as the founder of Performa in Paris in 1920 with the Suedois Ballet says, in Oskar Shlemmer at the Bauhaus in Germany, at Vsevolod Meyerhold in Russia, and in New York in the 1920s. 1950-60 with John Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg, and in the 1960s-70s with Judson Church, Yvonne Rainer, Trisha Brown, Richard Foreman, Robert Wilson, Steve Reich, Phil Glass, and Rhys Chatham, Laurie Anderson and most recently in the projects of Pina Bausch, Jerome Bel and Boris Charmatz. '

Francesco Vezzoli (Italy) in an original collaboration with David Hallberg (Leading dancer at the Bolshoi Ballet and the American Ballet Theater in the United States). The "Fortuna Desperata" project, which took place at St Barts Church, explores the beginnings of ballet in the royal courtyards of the Italian Renaissance. Photo Copyright Paula Court.

Prominent art events such as Documenta focus on the way visual artists create performance, and every major museum of contemporary art establishes performance sections, most notably the Tate Modern in London and the New Whitney in New York.
The Documenta, the Venice Biennale, the Manifesto and the major festivals of Avignon and Edinburgh as well as the Museums, especially in Europe, are supported by the state while Performa undertakes such a venture as a non-profit organization supported almost exclusively by individuals. This structure, the way the organization works, as well as the executives co-shape the unique opportunity I was given to discover the artistic realities of New York.

More about Performa:
http://15.performa-arts.org

Who is who

Sozita Guduna on stage at "Fortuna Desperata" in St Barts. Photo Copyright Paula Court.

Sozita Goudouna is a curator and doctor of art theory, her book on breathing and art entitled "Mediated Breath" will be published in 2015. She is Andrew W. Mellon Curator at the Performa Institute in New York and also has teaching duties at New York University. She is the artistic director of the Kappatos Athens Art Residency where she curated a series of exhibitions (Martin Creed, Santiago Sierra, Mat Chivers, Marie Voignier etc.) and has collaborated with Marina Abramovic's production of "Seven Deaths."

The Onassis Scholar holds a PhD from the University of London on the relationship between the visual and performing arts. He has also studied Philosophy, Theater (BA) and Directing in London (MA RADA Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts & Kings College). Her articles have been published in academic journals and she has given lectures at Tate Modern, Documenta, Psi, IFTR, Tapra, the Prague Quadrennial and the Venice and Sydney Biennale.

 Founded http://www.outoftheboxintermedia.org in London in 2008 and presented Locus Solus (Benaki Museum, 2010) and Eleventh Plateau (Hydra, 2011) is a member of the board of the EKDITH Hellenic Center of the International Theater Institute and treasurer of the Greek Department of the International Association of Art Critics, AICA.

Interview by Maik Novtny Falstaff LIVING — das Design-Magazin Vienna

Link in German https://www.falstaff.at/living/nd/kuratorin-sozita-goudouna-im-living-interview-1/

Athens is, according to some, the “new Berlin”, with regards to its creative scene and vibrancy. Do you think this description is justified?

Athens has a versatile cultural identity and an energy full of potentiality that started to unfold gradually (at least for the visual arts), before the Olympic games of 2004 with the exhibition “Outlook,” and reached a peak during Documenta 14. With excitement, we anticipate to see its full potential not as a fake lifestyle of cultural consumption and spectacle but as a real cultural “renaissance.” Thus, yes, I consider that the description Athens is the “new Berlin” in spite of its predictability, shows a promise and is justified despite the lack of a systemic and long-term cultural governmental policy for contemporary art, or perhaps owing to this lack.

In contrast to Berlin, Athens didn’t have a general secretary of contemporary art, kunsthalle(s), grants or a national contemporary art museum until very recently and was dependent on private initiatives such as Dakis Ioannou’s “Deste Foundation,” which featured an influential series of exhibitions with international and local curators and moved to its first permanent space, a former paper factory in Psychico, in 1998. Roughly speaking, the 1990s was the period that the visual arts started to have a stronger impact since the theater (Marmarinos “Diplous Eros,” Attis, Cycladon, Empros, Sfendoni) and certain dance and performance initiatives (Papaioannou, Rigos) used to overshadow the cultural scene.

Exhibitions such as Jannis Kounellis’ “Boat Ionion” in Piraeus in 1994, curated by Katerina Koskina, and the Costakis Collection exhibition in 1995 at the National Gallery of Athens, curated by Anna Kafetsi, were monumental at least for my generation. Also, the Fluxus Group (1998) and Joseph Beuys (1997) exhibitions at the new Athens School of Fine Arts annex (the “Factory”) marked a new era for the contemporary arts in an exceptional industrial location that also hosted Documenta 14 projects.

In 2000 we had the opportunity to see the first exhibition of the National Contemporary Art Museum (EMST), which had just launched in the temporary space of the Fix brewery where my grandfather used to work during the Nazi occupation of Athens; he came to Athens as a refugee from Ismir (Smyrna) in 1922.

The museum remained without a permanent exhibition space for 20 years until 2020 and officially opened just before the pandemic… The Athens Video Dance Festival was also an influential initiative together with the opening of Technopolis and the opening of the new Benaki Annex for architecture and contemporary art. The lack of a governmental contemporary arts strategy in Athens (that is different to the periphery and Thessalonica) led to an interesting initiative that originally took the form of a manifesto. The Athens Biennial of Contemporary Art was launched in 2005 with radical “authoritative” intentions and high aspirations, and indeed created a system of support for the “newer/cutting-edge” galleries that were struggling to exist in the Athenian landscape.

The Biennial also activated private foundations like the Onassis and NEON. Adding to this, galleries such as Rebecca Camhi, the Breeder, the Apartment, Gazon Rouze and new editions like Futura and Highlights were able to collaborate with the Biennale to advance the careers of artists. However, the Biennial also worked with artists who were represented by more “established” galleries including Bernier Eliades, Ileanna Tounta, Eleni Koronaiou, AD Gallery, Antonopoulou, Kalfayan, Kappatos, Zoumboulakis and Nees Morfes. Nees Morfes, which bears similar characteristics to “Aithousa Technis Athinon,” shifted into becoming in 2009 an interesting non–for–profit archival initiative (ISET: Contemporary Greek Art Institute). Art Athina, the Athens International Art Fair, still provides a mapping of all these profit and non-for-profit initiatives, as well as Platform projects by Artemis Potamianou.

You were involved in the documenta14 which was co-hosted in Athens. in 2017. What short-term and long-term effects did the documenta have on the Athens art and culture scene?

I consider that Documenta had a short, but also a very long-term, impact on the Athenian cultural scene that we are only starting to comprehend and evaluate in an objective way. It was a “change of paradigm” and irrespectively of what anyone thinks, Documenta has shaken our thinking about culture in Athens. The main criticism was the non-involvement of the local art scene (artists and curators); however, we know that even the Athens Biennial doesn’t involve the local art scene in its entirety, even with the budget restrictions that Documenta did not have. Contemporary art is all about “face control” and “non-inclusivity” despite the various manifestos, or isn’t it?

I had the honor of working with Paul B. Preciado for the public program of Documenta, one of the most inclusive programs of Documenta that took place throughout the year and many months before the opening. In the birthplace of democracy, a parliament of bodies was founded — women, slaves and Others were all admitted and were given a plinth in Paul’s post–dictatorial parliament of discourse.

We could not presume that Documenta would take the role of the Ministry of Culture and that the team would involve the local art scene. As they claimed they were interested in the fragments of (h)istory and in the process of “(Un)learning.” The Documenta Greek team had perhaps the responsibility of informing the Documenta curators about the processes and feedback of the local scene, but they had more administrative roles; and in hindsight, we can focus on the “change of paradigm” that occurred and not on the “failures” of the initiative. Documenta was after all a continuation of the aspirations and achievements of the Athens Biennial, and its after-effect is that the Athenian scene can now be more self-confident as a member of the global network of art, even if it is called the “global south”…

You also directed an art residency with EU funding in 2013, in the context of the financial crisis. How did the crisis change life in Athens, and especially its creative scene?

I am writing in the midst of a pandemic and the financial crisis that overwhelmed the Greek citizens for more than 10 years of austerity is starting to fade in front of this global threat. The crisis had a tremendous impact on my generation, and I am not certain whether it helped Greek artists to articulate a coherent aesthetic response or a movement. This is the reason that certain artists and curators felt that Documenta in a way imposed a discourse on their experience; a discourse that had post-colonial characteristics. It seems that we tried to hold responsible Documenta for our incapacity to articulate our own aesthetic discourse that other countries of the “global south” had managed to formulate, whether with the help of the art market or with the support of the State…

During the crisis in 2013, I had the opportunity to direct the first EU funded art residency under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture. My non-profit initiatives from 2009 hadn’t received any state support and I had taken the risk with a loan for an arts and environmental initiative entitled “Eleventh Plateau” in the island of Hydra. Thus, the residency provided a kind of a safety net of almost less-than-the-minimum wage for the two years I stayed in Athens, and then I had to leave due to lack of resources and academic career development. During my directorship, I curated and commissioned various projects, including Martin Creed’s “Like Water at a Buffet,” which first presented the neon sculpture “UNDERSTANDING”, and Santiago Sierra’s “Athens Stray Dogs Project,” as well as solo shows by Lynda Benglis, Mat Chivers, Tim Shaw RA, Marie Voignier, Miriam Simun and Joo Yeon Park. I also collaborated with Marina Abramovic for the production of “Seven Deaths” and introduced Marina to a school friend who became the director of her institute “MAI”; that introduction led to the MAI — NEON Foundation collaboration at the Benaki Museum.

The most inspiring project I produced at the residency, that almost got me arrested, was Santiago Sierra’s stray dog project for which I had to dress dogs with t-shirts that said “I have No Money” in Greek. Santiago has a great capacity of choreographing actions by being present and absent at the same time. Dogs and cynics seem not to require money and the artist’s literal statement became not only the message but a call for action.

How has the art scene in Greece evolved, and what characterizes it especially? Has it become more international, or is it more intimate and family-like?

Certain skeptical responses to Documenta revealed a provincial phobia of opening to the new that is based on a fortification of imaginary privileges. I consider that the art scene in Greece has matured abruptly since 2017 with many initiatives and a younger generation of emancipated artists and cultural entrepreneurs, who are in dialogue with the international scene and don’t depend only on the local exchange and dialogue. It also brought a lot of foreign art professionals with real love for Greece who have started cultural initiatives with great intentions and vision. The eternal return of the crisis with the current financial pandemic will have to test once more our alertness and resilience.

Are there special neighborhoods in Athens which could be described as an art hub?

Kypseli (beehive in Greek), the neighborhood where I grew up and my mother still lives, is now claiming its gracious urban past with cultural initiatives like the reclaiming of the old Kypseli market as an art hub. This initiative has similar characteristics to the reclaiming of the old Patission Fix factory in 1994, but seems more sustainable. Adding to this, Kypseli has gathered very creative artists like Antonakis Christodoulou and Ralou Panagiotou, who launched the “Kypseli” fanzine a couple of years ago, and Angelo Plessas, who opened recently the art space the “Pet.” In the past, open occupied spaces like “Villa Amalias” and “Ano Kato Patission” were also hosting art interventions and situations in Kypseli and Victoria.

For Documenta, Rick Lowe and the visual artist and professor Maria Papadimitriou launched the “Victoria Square Project,” one of the most impactful Documenta projects, that attempted to provide alternatives to the recent racist phenomena in the old neighborhood of Victoria. Prior to these initiatives, it was “Gazon Rouge” gallery that opened an exhibition space at the residence of modernist architect Proveleggios as well the “Apartment Gallery” and “Salon de Vortex” that had moved to Kypseli expecting the birth of a cultural movement. The artist Panos Charalambous also presented one of his best shows in Kypseli at the Proveleggios residence. Kypseli has always been a very important hub for contemporary theater hosting “west-end” and fringe performances but also “avant-garde” directors like Lefteris Vogiatzis (Cyclades theater) and Kefalinias theater that focused on a continental repertoire.

On the borderline of the Acropolis, Koukaki and Petralona are developing into art hubs; Rowena Hughes and Athanassios Argianas founded in Petralona the artist run studio “Daedalus Street” featuring outstanding projects and focusing on artists’ editions, a short distance away from “Eleni Koronaiou,” a gallery with a very engaging program of local and international artists; and curator Iliana Fokianaki opened in 2013 the non for profit institution “State of Concept” showcasing global artists with a sociopolitical edge next to the “International Fine Arts Consortium” by the American Lee Wells that has an agenda of connecting the American with the local alternative scene. “Float” was also a very good initiative by younger gallerist Chloe Athanasopoulou.

The Acropolis Museum designed by Bernard Tschumi, the Onassis Stegi with the new critical research program “Onassis AiR,” directed by Ash Bulayev, and the new Niarchos Greek National Opera and Library SNFCC, designed by Renzo Piano, form a great city center cultural triangle that can embrace these independent art initiatives, instead of overshadowing them.

Maria Papadimitriou was one of the first to open an art space in the industrial area of Votanikos entitled “Suzy Tros,” followed by “Space52” and the non-profit “Locus Athens” which has staged a series of excellent interventions in Athens over the years recently acquired a permanent space in the area of Tavros. In all likelihood, Piraeus, the port next to Tavros, will also develop into an exciting art hub with the new “Rodeo Gallery,” “Intermission Gallery,” “Polyeco Art Initiative” and the future opening of the Museum of Underwater Antiquities. The mainstream Kolonaki features interesting new galleries like Eleftheria Tseliou, CAN Gallery, Elika, Nitra and the older Zoumboulakis and Kalfayan galleries. Finally, Exarcheia, Omonoia, Psirri, Monastiraki are classic central Athens neighborhoods with initiatives like “Hyle,” “Hot Wheels,” “Aetopoulos,” “Cheapart,” “3 137” and a new space by a Greek-Chinese curator “Phoenix Athens.” Last but not least the historic areas of Kerameikos, Metaxourgeio and Gazi will at some stage reclaim their potential to be art hubs again following the excitement of and mid 2000s with venues such as “Atopos CVC,” “Latraac Skate,” “Ε. Δ. Ω” and the new Athens Museum of Queer Arts (AMOQA) that represents the burgeoning LGBTQ cultural scene of Athens.

You moved to the USA in 2015, working with Raymond Pettibon and teaching. Has your view on Greece and Athens changed, now that you view it from a distance, and in comparison to art in the US?

I left Athens in 1996 when I was 18 to study art and philosophy and stayed in London for 17 years. I never lost contact with Greece, however, and especially with the Athenian gradual cultural development. I moved to New York in 2015 to work for Performa Biennial and to teach as NYU and indeed my views have changed. Especially, working with RoseLee Goldberg and Raymond Pettibon and collaborating with the galleries that represent the artist like David Zwirner, Regen Projects, Sadie Coles and CFA Gallery in Berlin. In November I had the privilege of producing and devising a project on Pettibon’s scripts at the New Museum for the Performa biennial consortium that I am also proposing at the Getty Institute in LA. In a way I have been developing in Europe a program similar to Performa biennial and I had collaborated with American based artists such as Lynda Benglis and Marina Abramovic, but it is so different to live and work in a country like the US and to understand the real cultural processes. Nevertheless, I am always interested in the cultural exchange between the Greek contemporary scene and the international scene, thus I am on the board of ARCAthens.org (a new artist residency) and I am launching in 2021 with a team of colleagues a new platform entitled “Greece in USA” (http://www.greeceinusa.com) that aims to challenge existing stereotypes and preconceived ideas about Greece and its culture. It will take the form of a small Performa biennial with New York cultural partners and with a notable advisory board that will be announced soon.

Which places would you recommend to a weekend traveler to Athens interested in museums and galleries? What are the must-sees, and what are the well-kept secrets?

Plato’s academy, Benaki Museum (all annexes, but also the Kriezotou st annex), Cycladic Art Museum, National Archaeological Museum, Epigraphical Museum, Kerameikos Archaelogical Museum, the First Cemetery, the Historical Archives of the National Bank at Triti Septemvriou st and the Athens Fine Art School. “Radio Athenes” is a very interesting non-profit space in one of the most beautiful streets of central Athens, Petraki street. I have also mentioned previously other cultural venues that I consider must-sees.

Sozita Goudouna is a curator, professor, and the author of Beckett’s Breath: Anti-theatricality and the Visual Arts (2018), published by Edinburgh University Press. She is head of operations at Raymond Pettibon Studio and in 2020 she founded the platform “Greece in USA.” Sozita holds a PhD from the University of London and has taught at various universities and at New York University as the inaugural Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial fellow at Performa NY. She has curated projects for the New Museum, documenta 14, Onassis Foundation NYC, EMST among other institutions and museums. She was a consultant at Zaha Hadid Architects and has served on the board of directors at AICA Hellas International Association of Art Critics.