In the current financial situation, according to which culture tends to be institutionally treated as a needless luxury, OpenShowstudio held an Open Call inviting art students to respond through their work to this very question: Why art now; a question, which actually troubles the majority of creators in Greece and in Europe. The welcome to this call was warm and strong proposals came both from students in Greece and abroad.
The selected participants are: Úlfur Karlsson (Iceland), Jean-Philippe Paumier (France), Martinka Bobrikova (Slovakia) and Oscar de Carmen (Spain), Kristian Zara (Albania / Greece), Vassiliki Spyrou, Dimitris Lambrou, Vassia Katsarela , Athena Pappa, Giorgos Tsakalis, Philippos Vassiliou, Joanna Gouzeli, Elias Polichroniadis, Anna Vassof, Vassiliki Sifostratoudaki. *
At the opening, Saturday 31th March, the presentations of their proposals will be accompanied by actions (performances) of emerging Greek artists. Kangaroo Court group, a collective, whose core consists of Ameladiotis Dimitirios, Simos Veis, Philippos Gkountzos, Elena Koukoli, Jordan Papadopoulos, Nana Sachini and Ioanna Stratoglou, will present an action of various expressive art forms which will interact and function as communicating vessels. In a joint project entitled “Deliver Your Virgins Or We Burn The City”, which refers to the spirit of the times, Stelios Karamanolis, Georgia Karidis and Tula Plumi are trying to approach the concepts of conflict and negotiation. By realizing combat tactics as a means of creating a shell to harden oneself, they create an ode to toughness.Vassilis Botoulas will negotiate the theme of the exhibition in an unorthodox way, in the documentary Why Art Now. People widely regarded as irrelevant to the matter, are being interviewed and offer their view on the subject. Maria Lianou will “vandalize” the outer wall of the studio drawing one of her signs- messages which are part of her work.
A phantom limb: the sensation that an amputated or missing limb is still attached to the body and is moving appropriately with other body parts.
The Phantom Limb consists of a selection of works by Greek and Chilean artists. The exhibition is brought together at a time when in Greece the whole nation is protesting against the capitalistic reorganization of the country and in an almost exclusively privatized Chile people are out on the streets demanding free education and a real welfare state. We put forward the interaction of ten artists and one documentarian using these circumstances as a starting point of convergence.
In the epicenter of a polyphony of themes and mediums, are the artists and the solutions they turn to, caught between the dichotomy of their function as social beings and their own authorial practice.
The positive acceptance of the Vitrina project by the public encourages us to continue. From now on, the presentations on the Vitrina will be monthly and independent from each other and will consist of site specific work.
The Vitrina is a public oriented project that runs on the glass entrance of OpenShowstudio since June 2010, presenting contemporary artworks.