Το Ίδρυμα ΔΕΣΤΕ και το New Museum της Νέας Υόρκης, σε συνεργασία με το Μουσείο Μπενάκη, παρουσιάζουν την έκθεση καλλιτεχνών που ζουν στην Αθήνα “Στο Ίδιο Ποτάμι Δύο Φορές” σε επιμέλεια των Margot Norton και Natalie Bell. Η έκθεση επικεντρώνεται στην πόλη της Αθήνας και το διαρκώς εξελισσόμενο εικαστικό της τοπίο με τους αναρίθμητους αυτοδιαχειριζόμενους χώρους καλλιτεχνών, τις διατομεακές συνεργασίες και εκδηλώσεις και την ασίγαστη ενέργεια που έχει προσελκύσει πολλούς μη έλληνες καλλιτέχνες να εγκατασταθούν εδώ.
Ο τίτλος της έκθεσης προέρχεται από τον Ηράκλειτο, που δηλώνει ότι δεν μπορεί να μπει κανείς δυο φορές στον ίδιο ποταμό: “ποταμώ γαρ ουκ έστιν εμβήναι δις τω αυτώ”. Η ροή του ποταμού αποτελεί καλό παράδειγμα της διαρκούς ροής που ήθελε να περιγράψει ο φιλόσοφος, και καλύπτει και τη διαρκή μεταμόρφωση της σημερινής εικαστικής σκηνής της Αθήνας: την εξ ορισμού αδυναμία να τη συλλάβει κανείς πλήρως σε μια δεδομένη στιγμή. Η ίδια η πόλη τελεί υπό διαρκή μεταμόρφωση, και οι καλλιτέχνες της πάντοτε έβρισκαν και εξακολουθούν να βρίσκουν τρόπους να καταγράφουν τα μεταλλασσόμενα τοπία της, μελετώντας τα χαρακτηριστικά της, εξετάζοντας μνημεία και απομεινάρια ή διερευνώντας, τον χαρακτήρα των ανθρώπων της και των δημόσιων χώρων.

Την έκθεση θα συνοδεύει εικονογραφημένος κατάλογος σε σχεδίαση της An Art Service, με δοκίμιο των επιμελητριών και κείμενα από τη Νάντια Αργυροπούλου, τη Δανάη Γιαννόγλου, τη Delia Gonzalez και τον Θεόφιλο Τραμπούλη, με στόχο τη δημιουργία μιας πηγής πληροφοριών για την πολύπλευρη αθηναϊκή εικαστική σκηνή — από τα underground happenings και τις ακτιβιστικές πρωτοβουλίες μέχρι τους αυτοδιαχειριζόμενους χώρους και τα διαδικτυακά art zines.

Οι καλλιτέχνες που συμμετέχουν είναι:

Αμαλία Βέκρη (γεν. 1983 Αθήνα)
Νικόλας Βεντουράκης (γεν. 1981 Αθήνα)
Βαγγέλης Βλάχος (γεν. 1971 Αθήνα)
Ειρήνη Βουρλούμη (γεν. 1979 Αθήνα)
Αναστασία Δούκα (γεν. 1979 Αθήνα)
Εύα Γιαννακοπούλου (γεν. 1977 Αθήνα)
Delia Gonzalez (γεν. 1972 Μαϊάμι)
Λάκης και Άρης Ιωνάς / The Callas (Λάκης Ιωνάς [γεν. 1974 Αθήνα] και Άρης Ιωνάς [γεν. 1975 Αθήνα])
Διονύσης Καβαλλιεράτος (γεν. 1979 Αθήνα)
Εύη Καλογηροπούλου (γεν. 1985 Αθήνα)
Navine Khan-Dossos (γεν. 1982 Λονδίνο)
Κατερίνα Κομιανού (γεν. 1984 Αθήνα)
Παναγιώτης Λούκας (γεν. 1975 Αθήνα)
Πέτρος Μώρης (γεν. 1986 Λαμία)
Ραλλού Παναγιώτου (γεν. 1978 Αθήνα)
Βασίλης Παπαγεωργίου (γεν. 1991 Θεσααλονίκη)
Άγγελος Παπαδημήτρου (γεν. 1952 Κιάτο)
Ρένα Παπασπύρου (γεν. 1938 Αθήνα)
Ευτύχης Πατσουράκης (γεν. 1967 Κρήτη)
Αναστασία Παύλου (γεν. 1993 Αθήνα)
Γιώργος Πρίνος (γεν. 1977 Αθήνα)
Κώστας Σαχπάζης (γεν. 1977 Θεσσαλονίκη)
Βαλίνια Σβορώνου (γεν. 1991 Αθήνα)
Εύα Στεφάνη (γεν. 1964 Αλαξάντρια, Βιρτζίνια)
Σωκράτης Σωκράτους (γεν. 1971 Κύπρος)
Αλέξανδρος Τζάννης (γεν. 1979 Αθήνα)
Ίρις Τουλιάτου (γεν. 1981 Αθήνα)
Δημήτρης Τσουανάτος (γεν. 1944 Αθήνα)
Παύλος Φυσάκης (γεν. 1969 Αθήνα)
Ελένη Χριστοδούλου (γεν. 1965 Αθήνα)
Neritan Zinxhiria (γεν. 1989 Τίρανα, Αλβανία)

ΕΓΚΑΙΝΙΑ: 20/06/2019, ώρα 20:00
ΔΙΑΡΚΕΙΑ: 21/06/2019 – 22/09/2019

ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟ ΜΠΕΝΑΚΗ – ΠΕΙΡΑΙΩΣ 138
Πειραιώς 138 & Ανδρονίκου, 118 54 Αθήνα

Ωράριο Λειτουργίας: Πέμπτη, Κυριακή: 10:00 – 18:00 | Παρασκευή, Σάββατο: 10:00 – 22:00
Κλειστό Δευτέρα, Τρίτη, Τετάρτη και τον Αύγουστο

New York, NY…The New Museum and the DESTE Foundation, in collaboration with the Benaki Museum, Athens, present “The Same River Twice,” an exhibition of Athens-based artists. The exhibition, on view at the Benaki Museum / Pireos 138 from June 21 through September 22, 2019, will focus on the city of Athens and its constantly evolving artistic landscape, which is host to countless artist-run initiatives and exhibition spaces, cross-disciplinary happenings and collaborations, and a dauntless energy that has enticed many non-Greek artists to relocate and call Athens home. Featuring over thirty artists of diverse ages and nationalities, working across all mediums, the exhibition will offer a portrait of a city with an artistic dynamism that continues to unfold as artists seek new models for creative output and exchange.

“The Same River Twice” borrows its title from an aphorism attributed to the Greek philosopher
Heraclitus, in which he famously asserted that “one cannot step in the same river twice.” The flow of water offered an apt analogy for the state of constant flux Heraclitus sought to describe, and it applies to the continuous transformations of Athens’s art scene today—and the inherent impossibility of capturing or containing it at any given moment. As a city, Athens is in perpetual transformation, and its artists have long found ways to document its shifting landscapes, whether through visual or material studies of the city’s attributes; meditations on its monuments, relics, and cast-offs; or inquiries into the character of its people and public spaces. Metamorphoses are central to many works in the exhibition: mediums defy stability and trace modulations in form, and artistic practices blur the lines between genres or disciplines. The fluidity evoked by Heraclitus’s metaphor offers a way of thinking of identity at a time when the political struggle of those seeking to define their gender or sexuality is both turbulent and vital in Greece, and worldwide.

Throughout the works in the exhibition, change and transfiguration are not only constant but embraced, resonating as fundamental to the energy and character that shapes Athens and its many artists

The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, designed by An Art Service, featuring an essay by the curators as well as texts by Nadja Argyropoulou, Danai Giannoglou, Delia Gonzalez, and Theophilos Tramboulis. Their contributions aim to collectively establish a resource on Athens’s multifaceted art scene—from underground happenings and activist orientations, to the rise of artist-run spaces, and the critical realm of self-published art zines and journals.

“The Same River Twice” follows the 2016 exhibition “The Equilibrists”, which was also organized by the New Museum and DESTE Foundation and was conceived in the spirit of the DESTE Prize, an award given to a promising young Greek artist biannually from 1999 to 2015. The exhibition also embodies one of the aims of the Benaki Museum, a historical museum that aims to bridge the past and the present, and aligns with the  New Museum’s commitment to exhibiting emerging artists from around the globe, highlighted by its signature Triennial exhibition, which will next be held in 2021. For more information, visit deste.gr.

This exhibition is curated by Margot Norton, Curator, and Natalie Bell, Associate Curator, New Museum. 

Artist List
Eleni Christodoulou (b. 1965, Athens)
Anastasia Douka (b. 1979, Athens)
Pavlos Fysakis (b. 1969, Athens)
Eva Giannakopoulou (b. 1977, Athens)
Delia Gonzalez (b. 1972, Miami)
Lakis & Aris Ionas / The Callas (Lakis Ionas [b. 1974, Athens] and Aris Ionas [b. 1975, Athens])
Evi Kalogiropoulou (b. 1985, Athens)
Dionisis Kavallieratos (b. 1979, Athens)
Navine Khan-Dossos (b. 1982, London)
Katerina Komianou (b. 1984, Athens)
Panayiotis Loukas (b. 1975, Athens)
Petros Moris (b. 1986, Lamia)
Rallou Panagiotou (b. 1978, Athens)
Angelos Papadimitrou (b. 1952, Kiato)
Vasilis Papageorgiou (b. 1991, Athens)
Rena Papaspyrou (b. 1938, Athens)
Eftihis Patsourakis (b. 1967, Crete)
Anastasia Pavlou (b. 1993, Athens)
Yorgos Prinos (b. 1977, Athens)
Kostas Sahpazis (b. 1977, Thessaloniki)
Socratis Socratous (b. 1971, Paphos, Cyprus)
Eva Stefani (b. 1964, Alexandria, Virginia)
Valinia Svoronou (b. 1991, Athens)
Iris Touliatou (b. 1981, Athens)
Dimitris Tsouanatos (b. 1944, Athens)
Alexandros Tzannis (b. 1979, Athens)
Amalia Vekri (b. 1983, Athens)
Nikolas Ventourakis (b. 1981, Athens)
Vangelis Vlahos (b. 1971, Athens)
Eirini Vourloumis (b. 1979, Athens)
Neritan Zinxhiria (b. 1989, Tirana, Albania)

ABOUT DESTE
The DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art is a non-profit institution established in Geneva in 1983 by collector Dakis Joannou. DESTE engages in an extensive exhibition program that promotes emerging as well as established artists and aims to broaden the audience for contemporary art, enhance opportunities for young artists, and explore the connections between contemporary art and culture. The flexibility of DESTE’s exhibition schedule enables the Foundation to respond to what is current in the art world, both nationally and internationally, and to embark on interesting projects as they emerge in today’s society.
www.deste.gr

ABOUT THE BENAKI MUSEUM
The Benaki Museum is among the most extensive and innovative museum organizations in Europe. It was founded by Antonis Benakis in 1930 and subsequently donated to the Greek state. Arranged across a satellite network of six museum buildings, the Museum also features 5 archival departments and an extensive library, the Leigh Fermor House, offering residencies to scholars, and a collection currently holding a 500,000-strong inventory covering all periods of Greek culture as well as European, Islamic, Pre-Columbian, African and Chinese art.
www.benaki.org

ABOUT NEW MUSEUM
The New Museum is the only museum in New York City exclusively devoted to contemporaryart. Founded in 1977, the New Museum is a center for exhibitions, information, and documentation about living artists from around the world. From its beginnings as a one-room office on Hudson Street to the inauguration of its first freestanding building on the Bowery designed by SANAA in 2007, the New Museum continues to be a place of experimentation and
a hub of new art and new ideas.
www.newmuseum.org