El Greco, or Domenikos Theotokopoulos if you want to go by his legal name, is taking Athens by storm; as the city prepares to release a film dedicated to the 16th Century painter on October 18th.
El Greco, who hailed from Crete used a dramatic and expressionistic style in his painting; but was also an architect and a sculptor.
Sytagma's Metro Station has transformed its exhibition space to replica the scene of El Greco's studio with replicas of his canvases, paintings and utensils on display. There are also costumes and accessories of the film production exhibited including: dresses, aprons and coats, the paint-splattered easels and brushes stacked on wooden tables and chairs.
Canadian Press
posted on Wednesday, October 17
Nikos Alexiou is currently presenting the installation, The End , in the Greek Pavilion at the 52nd Biennale of Art in Venice
The Greek participation in the 52nd Biennale of Venice focuses on the possibilities of diversity , the critical re-negotiation of the concepts of identity, the repetition of the same as different, the new condition of handicraft, the sensory materiality and the multiplicity of artistic practices.
Nikos Alexiou (born 1960) is the artist whose work is featured and is presenting in Venice a modular installation inspired by the floor mosaic in the Catholicon of the Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos (10th-11th century).
http://www.nikosalexiou.com
La Biennale di Venezia
posted on Wednesday, October 3
An exhibition entitled “The Greeks: Art Treasures from the Benaki Museum, Athens” was inaugurated last week at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. The exhibition comprises 157 rare works from the Athens museum’s collection, which highlight the unbroken Greek presence from the beginnings of prehistoric times up to the Classical and Hellenistic periods, from the Roman up to Byzantine era, and from the centuries of foreign rule up to the 1821 Revolution, as well as the founding of the modern Greek state.
DF: The Benaki is one of our favorite museums, and we love the fact that they are creating traveling exhibits for more of the world to see its beautiful collections
Benaki
posted on Monday, October 1
The coastal tourist resort of Ayia Napa is seeking to enter the Guinness Book of World Records, having organised a half-kilometre-long Greek ''syrtaki'' folk dance this past Sunday. 268 members of eight dancing groups danced in step to ''Zorbas."
Ayia Napa Mayor Antonis Tsokkos said the aim of the event was to send the message that the village was interested in Greek culture and to promote the tourist resort abroad.
Cyprus Mail
Agia Napa
posted on Wednesday, September 19
With a fresh new look at the artistic process and the relationship between the artist and his public, the exhibition "Where is the art?" kicked off in and around Athens this past Tuesday with the opening of a central exhibition at Myllerou 22 in Keramikos and the installation of artworks in public spaces throughout the city centre. Organisers have described it as an "interactive artistic experiment" and an "artistic adventure" that coincides with the 2007 Athens Biennial "Destroy Athens".
The aim of this experiment is to change the viewer's preconceptions about contemporary art that are linked with the way that art is presented as a finished product of the creative process in the environment of a "white cube" that is a museum or a gallery.
And in the UK, brothers Theodore and Stephen Spyropoulos are at it again with a new unique exhibition that will open at the Offload Festival this upcoming Saturday September 15th titled Smoke Signals. Check out the site below.
DF: Have a few minutes to kill? Visit the Destroy Athens site below.
Minima Forms - Smoke Signals
Destroy Athens
posted on Friday, September 14
The Fix building, designed by Takis Zenetos who many consider one of the greatest Greek architects of the 20th century ,is located in Athens at syggrou and kallirois ave. The building is now in a state of disrepair and a hulking eyesore to any passerby on one of Athens main thorough-fares.
Originally a brewery, Zenetos' redesign was hailed worldwide and earned the building landmark status by the Intl. Council on Monuments and Arts (ICOSMOS).
It now stands partly demolished and at the center of a heated debate with the 'National Museum of Contemporary Art' waiting to occupy the space with their own redesign of the building and construction of a parking lot. The Greek arm of ICOSMOS has repeatedly asked for restoration of the old Zenetos design but to no avail.
DF: We passed by The Fix this summer. It really is falling apart, something should be done soon.
2modern
Natl museum of contemporary art
posted on Tuesday, September 4
Following a debut at the Louvre, the marvelous works of 4th century BC sculptor Praxiteles is on exhibit in Athens until October 31. Works collected from the British Museum, the Vatican and Capitolium museums are displayed.
A grand exhibition at the Louvre Museum in March traced Praxiteles' myth and history through the display of mainly Roman copies given that a very small number of sculptures have been identified by researchers as Praxiteles' own or as the originals of his workshop.
Though more compressed due to practical reasons, the Greek version of the Louvre show - running at the National Archaeological Museum through to October 31 - features 79 works from prestigious museums abroad, such as the Louvre in Paris, the British Museum in London, the Vatican and Capitolium museums in Rome, as well as the archaeological museums of Ancient Agora, Corinth, Vravrona, Thebes, Rhodes and Corfu.
DF: A must see! Entrance fee is 7 Euros.
posted on Monday, August 20
In a restored 17th century castle known as the Bazeos Tower in a small corner of Naxos, you'll find a unique exhibition of futuristic areosculptures and impressive marble sculptures, all inspired by the ageless aesthetic of the 5,000-year-old Cycladic civilization. The exhibition, entitled "From Cycladic figurines to the aerosculptures of the future," started on July 20 and will be on display through September 2, 2007. Sure to please both contemporary and classical tastes, this exhibition fuses ancient Cycladic art with post-modern forms.
Among the featured artists is Greek artist Ioannis Michaloudis who is famous for his so-called aerosculptures. In 2001, Mihaloudis received a scholarship from the Fulbright Foundation in Greece to do research at the Visual Arts Research Centre of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T). While trying to create cubic nephele, he came upon the material silica aerogel, a space technology material, intangible (consisting of 99,9% air and 0.1% glass), which has been used by NASA for the collection of stardust. And thus his unique aerosculptures were born. If you are Greek island hopping near Naxos and you get to stop by the island, make sure to stop by to see this unique exhibit.
Bazeos Tower
Michaloudis
posted on Wednesday, August 15
A program that began before the 2004 Athens Olympics to renovate the facades of buildings that look onto public spaces was yesterday extended to other parts of Greece. The scheme, known as “Prosopsi,” was part of the drive to tidy up Athens before the Games three years ago and has led to 3,800 buildings in the city undergoing improvements to their exteriors.
DF: The website below was specifically designed so the public can see the progress made on the buildings -- in Greek and English. Unfortuuantely it doesnt' look like it's been updated in a while...
astynet
posted on Tuesday, August 14
The parents of Paris Hitlons former Greek boyfriends have banded together in an effort to prevent any future relations between their offspring and the _________ celebutante. (really, take your pick of adjectives.)
Paris has dated a few rich Greek boys--including Stavros Niarchos, Paris Latsis (who she was engaged to) and briefly was with Chris Contogouris (whoever that is).
DF: We like that Marianna Latsis (the mother of Paris Latsis) reportedly refused to meet Hilton during her son's five-month engagement to Hilton in 2005. Nice.
NYDailyNews
posted on Wednesday, July 25
