One of the more recent additions in Athens’ cultural life, following years lost to red tape, administrative issues, lack of government funding, and delays in the renovation of its intended permanent home, the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST) was finally opened to the public in February 2020. It is now permanently located at the historic building of the former FIX brewery, and it was worth the wait.
Kimsooja || Bottari, 2017
Site specific installation – Bottari made from traditional Korean bed covers and used clothes from Athens and Kassel
Janine Antoni || Slumber, 1994
Maple loom, wool yarn, bed, nightgown, blanket, artist’s REM reading on computer paper, REM decoder
”What if the fabled adventures of Ulysses, upon his return to Ithaca, had never taken place but were in fact Penelope’s dreams, ”the monsters of the psyche” as described by Janine Antoni? In the context of exhibitions from 1994 to 2000, the artis slept in this bed while an electroencephalograph machine recorded her eye movements. During the day, Janine Antoni would sit at the loom and weave shreds of her nightgown in the pattern of her REM graph. These sections, recorded while she dreamed, are woven into the blanket.”
Bia Davou || Sails, 1981-1982 
Bia Davou || Sails, 1981-1982 [detail] 
Bia Davou || Sails, 1981-1982 [detail] 
Bia Davou || Sails, 1981-1982 
Ilya Kabakov || The Boat of My Life, 1993 [detail] 
Vlassis Caniaris || Hopscotch, 1974
”After WWII, and particuarly in the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of thousands of Greeks emigrated abroad. Can you think of some reasons why people leave their birthplace to go to another country?”
Vlassis Caniaris || Hopscotch, 1974 [detail] 
Vlassis Caniaris || Hopscotch, 1974 [detail] 
Dimitris Alithinos || A Happening, 1973 
Ilya Kabakov || The Boat of My Life, 1993
”In essence, this is the idea of presenting my life, the story of my life, in the form of an installation. I did this when I turned sixty years old. The installation is a large and long (17 metres) wooden boat with stairways at each end, which the viewer uses to climb up on the deck and descent from it. On the deck are twenty-five large cardboard boxes in total disarray, as though they have been put there temporarily. Each is filled with all kinds of household junk, like when a person in a hurry to leave throws stuff together without sorting it.. On top of everything in each box is a piece of cardboard on which photos, small objects, and texts are glued. The texts are fragmented recollections of episodes in my life.”.
George Hadjimichalis || Days and Nights in York, 1998
Acrylic on 8,760 wooden cubes
Carlos Motta || Graffiti Cuts: Who Owns the Street, 2007-2009
The work consists of socio-political graffiti which the Colombian artist photographed in the streets of twelve cities around the world. Next he engraved them on black paper and used special lighting to make them stand out
Walking together with Costas Tsoclis & his Wayfarer, 1989
From the ”Living Painting” series – Colour video projection on a painting with acrylic on cloth
Kendell Geers || Akropolis Redux (The Director’s Cut), 2004
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens
August 22nd, 2020
The Humble Fabulist 