5th Thessaloniki Biennale
with work by Eleni Kamma
until 30/09/2015
Thessaloniki, Greece
Eleni Kamma will participate in the 5th Thessaloniki Biennale this summer, specifically in the main exhibition curated by Katerina Gregos titled Between the Pessimism of the Intellect and the Optimism of the Will. Kamma will show a new multi-media installation titled Parrhesia: courage / breath / speech.
The biennale is the last segment of a three part program which began back in 2011 with main focus in the Mediterranean sea, under the general title “Old Intersections-Make it New”.
Main Exhibition
The main exhibition title, Between the Pessimism of the Intellect and the Optimism of the Will, was given by the curator Katerina Gregos and inspired by an aphorism by Antonio Gramsci in The Prison Notebooks, a work he wrote between 1929 and 1935 while imprisoned by the Facist regime in Italy. In these writings he repeatedly cites the phrase: “The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions and without becoming disillusioned… I’m a Pessimist because οf intelligence, but an optimist because of will.”
This duality constitutes a point of departure to talk about the current situation of Crisis – and how to overcome it – that governs much of the Mediterranean, which will be the focal point of the next biennial.
Participating artists
Carlos Aires (ES), Can Altay & Jeremiah Day (TR/US), Ivan Argote (CO), Marwa Arsanios (US), Bertille Bak (FR), Taysir Batniji (PS), James Beckett (ZA/NL), Adelita Husni Bey (IT), David Brognon & Stéphanie Rollin (BE/LU), Marianna Christofides (CY), Depression Era (GR), Ninar Esber (LB), Mounir Fatmi (MA), Peter Friedl (AT), Mekhitar Garabedian (SY/BE), Ganzeer (EG), Marina Gioti (GR), Piero Gilardi (IT), Hamza Halloubi (MA), Nick Hannes (BE), Sven Johne (DE), Annika Kahrs (DE), Eleni Kamma (GR), Hayv Kahraman (IQ), Mikhail Karikis (GR), Chrysanthi Koumianaki (GR), Erik Van Lieshout (NL), Thomas Locher (DE), Angela Melitopoulos & Angela Anderson (DE/US), Tom Molloy (IE), Nikos Navridis (GR), Qiu Zhijie (CN), Pavel Pepperstein (RU), Antonis Pittas (GR), Theo Prodromidis (GR), Meriç Algün Ringborg (TR), Anila Rubiku (AL), Marinella Senatore (IT), Nedko Solakov (BG), Nikos Tranos (GR), Thomas Weinberger (DE), Olav Westphalen (DE)
The 5th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art is funded under the Operational Program Macedonia-Thrace 2007-2013, co-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund) and Greece, and is run by the State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki.
More information
www.greekstatemuseum.com