57th THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
November 3-13, 2016
“WHISPERS” EXHIBITION OPENING
November 3-13, 2016
“WHISPERS” EXHIBITION OPENING
In a warm and friendly atmosphere, the exhibition “Whispers” opened on Friday, November 4, 2016 at the Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art, as part of the 57th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. TIFF’s General Director, Elise Jalladeau, and TIFF’s Director, Orestis Andreadakis, were present, while the Minister of Culture and Sports, Aristides Baltas, inaugurated the exhibition.
“Whispers”, an exhibition produced by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete, where it was initially presented last October, includes the works by 25 artists from Greece, Europe and the USA, and aims at exploring issues of gender, identity and fear, and the artists’ conclusions about prohibitions and social codes. On this basis, the Festival inserts in the CACT screening room the short film Hands: The Life and Loves of the Gentler Sex by Stella Simon and Miklos Bandy (1927-28, 13’). At the same time, inside the Olympion lobby, the Festival is hosting the exhibition’s video installation “Emergency Exit” by Despina Meimaroglou (2004). The exhibition is organized by the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art.
The director of the State Museum of Contemporary Art, Maria Tsantsanoglou, welcomed the audience in the event, noting: “We are happy that this exhibition takes place as part of the 57th Festival, which in addition is screening a short film at the Museum”. She focused in the cooperation between the institutions involved, saying: “This is not the first time we collaborate with the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete and its artistic director, Maria Marangou, and it certainly won’t be the last, since there will be a second part of this exhibition in Rethymno, Crete”. Mrs Tsantsanoglou also talked about the parallel event – interactive performance by Evgenia Tsanana that takes place at the Museum, during which the artist meets the visitors of the exhibition and talks with them about their nightmares, records them and then attempts to make them vanish.
Afterwards, the director of the Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art, Syrago Tsiara, talked about the variety of artistic expression highlighted in the exhibition “Whispers”. Regarding the collaborations of the exhibition, she also mentioned that such partnerships are “evidence of our country’s cultural capital”. Mrs Tsiara also noted that she has always been interested in the multidisciplinarity of modern art and said she was optimist for the future of art in Greece, even amidst the financial crisis: “In times of crisis we try to face hardships by using more creative ways, realizing what really unites us and working on the common axes”.
On her part, the artistic director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete and curator of the exhibition, Maria Marangou, also expressed optimism for the flourishing of art in times of crisis, stating that: “MCAC has been organized and survives thanks to a lot of hard work. But I’m not a moper. Since I find that even crisis can be, let’s say, creative, I feel fulfilled”. Mrs Marangou underlined the importance of the collaboration between institutions, saying: “Of course we are interested in collaborations. Maria Tsantsanoglou and Syrago Tsiara are members of the wider family that all of us, who love and work in this field, wish to have». She also mentioned with affection the request made by Orestis Andreadakis that the exhibition “Whispers” could be part of the 57th TIFF. Mrs Marangou also insisted that the most important partners are the artists themselves, “our great sponsors”, as she said characteristically.
Taking the floor in order to inaugurate the exhibition, the Minister of Culture and Sports Aristides Baltas expressed satisfaction for noting, among others, that: “Culture embraces the city in Thessaloniki; collaboration among institutions is creative and not competitive, thus sending this message to the rest of the country”. Mr. Baltas also noted that this exhibition addresses not only to the audience of Thessaloniki and Greece, but partially all the world.
Information:
Duration: November 4, 2016 - January 7, 2017
Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art (Warehouse B1, Port)
Presentation-production: Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete
Organized by: Thessaloniki International Film Festival and Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-18:00
Curator: Maria Marangou, Artistic Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete
Coordination: Domna Gounari & Eirini Papakonstantinou, Art Historians/SMCA curators
