"The Scarecrow". International Art Exhibition
The Scarecrow exhibition took place in Averoff Art Gallery and Vineyards of the St Nicholas Monastery at Metsovo.
The exhibition projects fear as a primitive material with conscious artistic expression. Most of the works of the 63 artists who are taking part in the exhibition have been produced specially for it. These artists have used a wide range of media of expression. Painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, installations and video. Seventeen of them will present large-dimension installations in the vineyards of the St Nicholas Monastery. The works which have been selected (most of them were commissioned specially for the exhibition) are not a reflection of a shared approach. There is no intention of making reference to current concerns about globalisation, technology, or policies which concern identity. On the other hand, the artists present the various forms which contemporary anxieties can take on. Actual or imaginary, this concern relates to the recollection and projection of their personal experiences.
The exhibition does not attempt to solve or rationalise modern dilemmas, but, rather, stresses the disappearance of collective methodology. The artists were encouraged to express personal fantasies, longings and neuroses, given that we are advancing from a relationship of reflection with the world to a relationship where no point of reference is fixed. The Scarecrow negotiates the contradictions which people encounter when they examine issues related to the origin and purpose of the world, the certainty and inevitability of death, the possible disappearance of all life from the planet, the inscrutability of the future, the conflicts between reason, emotion and instinct, free will and determinism, object and subject, society and the individual, the absolute and the relative, the human and tangible and the metaphysical and inconceivable - and all this through the individual way of looking at things of each of the 63 artists.
Exhibition curators:
Olga Daniylopoulou, art critic, Director of the Spyropoulos Museum, Athens
Nico de Oliveira, writer, curator, Museum of Installation, London
Nicola Oxley, art historian, Director of the Museum of Installation, London.
Participating Artists:
Yannis Adamakos, Jonathan Allen, Nikos Alexiou, Christina Antonopoulou, Alexandros Apostolidis, Trevor Appleson, Christos Athanasiadis, Alexandros Avranas, Hans Op de Beeck, Nina Jan Beier, Xenophon Bitsikas, Stefan Bruggemann, Lizzie Calligas, Pantelis Chandris, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Nikos Charalambidis, Panos Charalambous, Manolis Charos, Marcus Coates, Adam Dant, Katerina Dellaporta, Double O, Thomas Eller, Marit Folstad, Yorgos Gyparakis, Frank Halmans, Tom Hunter, Michalis Katzourakis, Panos Kokkinias, Masakatsu Kondo, Tomoko Konoike, Henry Krokatsis, Michalis Lagouvardos, Hew Locke, Loriot/Melia, Nikos Markou, Rosemarie McGoldrick, Mariko Mori, Maria Nymfiadi, Nicola Oxley, Achilleas Papacostas, Angelos Papadimitriou, Sophia Petrides, Lia Petrou, Olivia Plender, Elisabeth Price, Jon Pylypchuk, Elwyn Reynolds, Boo Ritson, Ugo Rondinone, Yorgos Rorris, Sam Salisbury, Kyrillos Sarris, Andreas Savva, Angelos Skourtis, Bob & Roberta Smith, Danae Stratou, Vasileia Stylianidou, Dimitris Tzamouranis, Yannis Valavanidis, Carl von Weiler, David Wilkinson, Zafos Xagoraris.
SPONSORS OF THE EXHIBITION AND SYMPOSIUM: Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Culture, National Bank of Greece, Baron Michael Tossizza Foundation, Katogi & Strofilia S.A., G. Karavias Associates – Fine Art Insurance, Sony Hellas S.A.
CATALOGUE SPONSORS: Alpha Bank, Baron Michael Tossizza Foundation.
COMMUNICATIONS SPONSOR: Hellenic Radio and Television S.A.
