OMADA FILOPAPPOU | Over the corner we met Iolas

Opening: October 24th, 2011 | 8 pm
Exhibiton duration: October 24th – November 19th, 2011  
Exhibition Hours: Mon - Fri, 2-9 pm; Sat 2-6 pm

Beton7 Gallery presents the exhibition Over the corner we met Iolas by the Filopappou Group. The group attempts to pose a reflective question with this project concerning the contemporary Greek art, by using a major example: the emblematic figure of Alexander Iolas. Under careful investigation of the qualitative characteristics of this example, the question that derives among others is: What is the symbolic content of Alexander Iolas? How similar personas affected the international art scene, then and now? How the political power transcends into the art field? How do we perceive the artistic practices of a certain art generation under the shadow of a major such as the Alexander Iolas collection? Thus, how and where changes in attitude are becoming visible regarding issues such as art education and the content of contemporary artworks, among other things? Finally, how in nowadays an "imaginary museum" would be able to pose answers against our current demands and specificities?

Currently the group wishes to set up an “idiomorphic Iolas archive", by conveying together the fragmental elements of the collector's life and actions. The Iolas archive has been categorised through subjective areas such as the collection, the villa, the gardens, the museums, the role of institutions, individuals, collectors and art patrons, and the perception of an "imaginary museum". The project will be accompanied by presentations, discussions and lectures on relative subjects with referential example to Alexander Iolas, featuring theoreticians, art historians, artists, architects, social scientists and individuals who had a personal relation with Iolas or worked with him.
The group aims to retrigger a social debate starting from the Alexander Iola’s case and extend it into the entire spectrum of contemporary Greek art.
The exhibition Over the corner we met Iolas forms part of the parallel programme of events to the Athens Biennale 2011 - MONODROME (23 October - 11 December, 2011).

The Filopappou Group is an art collective which operates in a non-hierarchical way, based on self- organization. Its projects arise from the collaborative efforts of a number of self- directed individuals who work together on a non- profit basis. The group acts consciously according to decisions taken in open discussions, where there is no leader nor centralized organization and no official or permanent members. The participants do not take up any particular role or any given agenda. Every new idea or proposal stimulates new initiatives and reasoning that are not a priori consensual. The coexistence of those involved does not form a community but rather a kind of network whose members flow through its routes and hubs. Any potentially contradicting positions and intents do not hinder the making of various actions or projects. On the contrary, contradictions and differences are very much welcomed, as they provide raw material for the group's practice. The projects of Filopappou Group so far have been held in public spaces. From 2001 until now it has carried the projects 37-58°Β/23-43°Α (2001) at the old quarry on the hill of the Musses of Filopappou, Residents of the Ruins (2002), which took place in an abandoned hotel in Portaria, Pelion, Solus Locus (2003) in Ithaca and Gazonrouge gallery, Memory Game (2004) in Zoumberi, Attica, Et in Arcadia Ego (2009), which was presented at the 2nd Athens Biennale in Faliro and Desert (2011), part of the project Microgeographies I.

http://www.omadafilopappou.net

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