AGORA – 4th Athens Biennale

Former Athens Stock Exchange / CAMP Contemporary Art Meeting Point , Athens, Greece
29 Sep 2013 - 01 Dec 2013

While Monodrome (AB3) attempted to reflect upon Modern Greek history and the origins of the crisis, this year the 4th Athens Biennale (AB4) will set out to explore creative alternatives to a state of bankruptcy.

Pondering this turning point, AB4 puts into play the collaborative process in producing an exhibition. Titled AGORA, it reflects on the way a biennale has to operate under the current socio-economic circumstances. Using the empty building of the former Athens Stock Exchange as its main venue, AB4 proposes AGORA not only as a place of exchange and interaction, but also as an ideal setting for critique. Contrary to an idealized image of the ancient agora, this new AGORA points to a radical re-orientation in thinking—one that entails judgment, ruptures and conflict. As a contested space where multiple theses and doctrines emerge, this AGORA cannot be taken for granted: it aims for pleasure and purpose; it opts for the carnivalesque and the ambiguous, for the significant as much as the insignificant.

AGORA draws on the notions of the assembly and the assemblage. Conceived both as a living organism and an exquisite corpse, it is formulated through a succession of objects, collaborative events, performances, roundtable discussions, film screenings, workshops and educational programs. In AGORA works and theses evoke that which is urgently needed at this particular moment: an engaged subjectivity, an unearthing of timely attitudes, a reevaluation of artistic strategies, a deconstruction of mystifying narratives.

AB4 is realized by a nameless and ephemeral group of artists, curators, theorists and practitioners in the creative industries. AGORA is thus a collective experiment, the result of a process of fermentation between professionals from different backgrounds. What matters most to those who participate in such an experiment is a shared sense of responsibility and an urge to co-produce meaning.

The program of the first week of AGORA includes a series of performances, workshops, lectures, discussions, as well as concerts:

[Visit the fully-detailed program on the Calendar page]

 

Curated by the  AB4 Team

Participants and projects:

A Whale’s Architects, Abbas Akhavan, ABROAD, Activist group of the Theatre of the Oppressed, David Adler, AGORA Kyklos, Ianna Andreadis, Dimitris Antoniou, Arbit City Group,  Art & Economics Group (Tanja Ostojic, Dimitri Kleiner, David Rych), Art as a Change Maker, Artbank, Anestis Azas, Manolis Baboussis, Bertille Bak, Erica Baum, Bernd & Hilla Becher,  Dave Beech, Matei Bejenaru, Blitz, Iain  Boal, Irina Botea, Tania Bruguera, Campus Novel, Charley Case, Center for Research and Dissemination of Music Scheming, Giuseppe Chico & Barbara Matijevi?, Katerina Christidi, Creative alternatives to the state of bankruptcy, Neil Cummings, Dashndem, Anthony Davies, Design 99, Dimitris Dokatzis, Sam Durant, Economic Forum, Erect like a Country, Charles Esche, Event as Process, Fallen Fruit, Heiner Flessbeck, FYTA, Rainer Ganahl, Nikolaus Gansterer & Emma Cocker, Fernando Garcia-Dory,  Bruce Gilbert and BAW, Fotini Gouseti & Taxideftes Politismou, Grupo Etcetera, Nuria Güell, Severin Guelpa,  Jan Peter Hammer, Paul Handley, George Harvalias, David Harvey, Constantinos Hadzinikolaou, Yota Ioannidou, It Takes Two to Tango, Nazima Kadir, Yannis Kalaitzis, Valentina Karga & Pieterjan Grandry, Gareth Kennedy & Sarah Browne, Soo-Young Kim, Anja Kirschner & David Panos, Anna Kleberg, Ika Knezevic, Maria Konti, Zissis Kotionis, Chrysanthi Koumianaki, Gabriel Kuri, Kyklos Ensemble, Mara Maglione, Gosalyn Mallard, Paolo Manasse, Jenny Marketou, Gabriel Mascaro, Konstantinos Mihos, Never the Same, The New Parthenon, Vladimir Nikolic, Nomadic Kitchen / Shedia, The Non-Serious Lectures, Navid Nuur,  OKK Actiongroup, Boris Ondreicka, Geof Oppenheimer, Georgia Paizi, Leda Papaconstantinou, Yorgos Papadakis, Panos Papadopoulos, Elias Papaioannou, Ester Partegàs, The ‘peculiarity’ of the Greek case vis-a-vis European ‘normality’, Pil & Galia Kollectiv, Adrian Piper, Antonis Pittas, Vito Polito, Sally Potter, Thomas Poulsen/FOS, Pre-Institutional Critique Workshop, Theo Prodromidis, Anja Puntari, Qualia, Radio Materiality, Gene Ray, Raymondos, Lucrezia  Reichlin, Steve Reinke, Oliver Ressler, Juan Carlos Romero, Romvos, Frances Ruane, Salinas / Bergman, Salon de Vortex, Marinella Senatore, Roman Signer, Laurie Simmons, Deb Sokolow, Aspa Stassinopoulou, Yannis Stavrakakis, Hito Steyerl, Subversive affirmation and overidentification, Superstudio, Amund Sjølie Sveen, Petros Touloudis, Nikos Tranos, Kostas Tsolis, Loukas Tsoukalis, Value, Vital Space, Vassilis Vlastaras, Peter Watkins, Wooloo, Zafos Xagoraris, Mi You & Lisa Bensel.

 

 

athensbiennale.org/agora/

 

 


All content © 2024 Contemporary And. All Rights Reserved. Website by SHIFT