PARATOXIC PARADOXES

an exhibition by PCAI and the Benaki Museum | Curated by Nadja Argyropoulou

22 March -21 May 2017

Benaki Museum, Pireos St. Annexe

Athens, Greece

Curated by Nadja Argyropoulou

Participating artists: Loukia Alavanou, Sophia Al-Maria, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Vasilios Patmios Karouk, Anja Kirschner, Eva Kotatkova, Eva Papamargariti, Agnieszka Polska, Mika Rottenberg, Wu Tsang, Saskia Olde Wolbers

PCAI’s Collection is based to commissioned artworks. PCAI invites mid-career international and Greek artists to create an artwork of moving image, which is inspired by the notion of waste and waste management, as a way to raise environmental awareness. PCAI therefore provides the artists with an opportunity to explore and further research the field of waste, by giving them also access to its resources, facilities and workforce where Polyeco is present in order to get more familiar with issues and challenges deriving from the waste management process. For this process, curator Nadja Argyropoulou was invited to curate the first capsule of commissioned works. The capsule resulted into eleven commissions of artists: Loukia Alavanou, Sophia Al-Maria, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Vasilios Patmios Karouk, Anja Kirschner, Eva Kotatkova, Eva Papamargariti, Agnieszka Polska, Mika Rottenberg, Wu Tsang, Saskia Olde Wolbers. The first presentation of the capsule resulted into the exhibition presented in spring 201at the Benaki Museum, Athens parallel to Documenta 14. 

Is man's relationship to the environment the most controversial, complex and unfinished project of humanity? A long history of ideas, philosophies, sciences, arts, politics and events seems to confirm this tumultuous relationship and its pending matters, as it becomes evident that treating the political in terms of a relationship limited only among humans is insufficient, and that all the world's species, things and beings must be represented in a sustainable symbiosis.

The exhibition Paratoxic Paradoxes presents new works of moving image (film, video, animation, digital imaging, etc.) that explore this critical question through the contemporary viewpoint of political ecology and eco-criticism, as it is shaped in the crux of art, politics, socioeconomic demands, pedagogy and activism, beyond naive classifications, univocal readings and outdated strategies. The exhibition is designed by architect and artist Malvina Panagiotidi. The Paratoxic Paradoxes project has a virtual dumpsite, designed by Eva Papamargariti and Vassiliki Maria Plavou as an online parasitic body living in the PCAI site. (www.pcai.gr)

 

 

 

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 Organized by:

 

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With the support of: 

 

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