Her(his)tory, contemporary video show at the Historical Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens
Victor Alimpiev Summer Lightnings, 2004 Video projection, 2′30′’ Courtesy the artist and Regina Gallery, Moscow Photo credit:Fanis Vlastaras & Rebecca Constantopoulou
Her(his)story 5th June-29th September, 2007
The Museum of Cycladic art is delighted to announce Her(his)tory, the first ever video exhibition in its premises, examining the notion of the subjective development of the ‘historical condition’. It is presented in a stunning installation which extends both in Stathatos Megaron, a neoclassical mansion, designed by the 19th century architect Ernst Ziller, as well the newer wing of the museum situated at 4 Neofytou Douka Street. Commissioned from the Museum of Cycladic Art to the independent curator and art critic Marina Fokidis, the exhibition is sponsored by the National Bank of Greece and Bombay Sapphire.
Concentrating on themes drawn from personal stories of today’s human beings, the show will feature the video works of leading international artists including Bruce Nauman, Garry Hill, Rodney Graham, Doug Aitken, Aernout Mik, Douglas Gordon, The Atlas Group, Anri Sala, Tony Oursler and others, as well as of younger members of the contemporary art scene such as Zineb Sedira, Adel Abdessemed, Seth Price, Cory Arcangel, Paul Chan and others
Her(his)tory addresses the major issues faced by society in the contemporary world. It will comprise of artworks which comment - with a poetic and in cases humoristic view - on questions such as the profile of contemporary woman and man, as well as the vast geopolitical contemporary arena today. The idea is to present works that will intrigue the interest around human culture and will promote the diversity found in the synthesis of various personal stories, the intersection of ‘private’ and ‘public’, and the comprehension of the ‘historical truth’ through everyday life experiences.
Through the coexistence of contemporary art video-works along with ancient objects from the permanent collections housed in the Museum of Cycladic Art, new questions are anticipated to arise in what concerns the provenance of human culture and its contemporary evolution. In particular, with relation to human representations (figurines) of the Early Cycladic culture, these elegant witnesses of the 3rd millennium BC which, though silent, reflect the anthropocentric spirit of an important prehistoric insular culture that flourished in the Aegean.