Tuesday 29 May 2007

Sunday 27 May 2007

MARIA PAPADIMITRIOU TO FLY OVER MOUNT ATHOS


a painting of Maria Papadimitriou's project will be shown at the Blow de la Barra stand in Artathina

Maria Over Mount Athos
By Jennifer Allen

Maria Over Mount Athos
A hot air balloon floats silently over Mount Athos... Not just any balloon but one carrying an image of Maria's face. Much to the surprise of the monks living on the peninsula, the face does not belong to the Blessed Virgin Mary but to the artist Maria Papadimitriou. With this visitation from above, Papadimitriou questions the centuries-long ban that bars women from visiting Mount Athos to see its cultural and natural treasures.

History
Over 1000 years ago, the Byzantine Orthodox Church ruled that the monasteries on Mount Athos should worship the Virgin Mary, who is said to have taken refuge on the mountain during a storm. To eliminate rivals for the monks' attention, all females - including animals - were banned from the Athonite peninsula. While Mount Athos is famed for its Byzantine icons of the Virgin, her face is the only female countenance to adorn the monastary walls since all images of other women were also prohibited. Apart from the Virgin, the only other females to grace the peninsula are birds.

Today
Nothing has changed since 1060 A.D.: All women, images of women and female animals still remain absent. Officially known as the Regime of Aghion Oros, Mount Athos is a self-governed monastic republic whose autonomy is protected by Greece and guaranteed by the Greek constitution. The twenty Holy Monasteries are under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, which appears to have more say in Athonite affairs than Greece itself. Although Greece provides public services, including police and customs, the Greek governor of Mount Athos has only an advisory role and reports to the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While Mount Athos can turn away women at its borders, it has the right to give Greek citizenship to foreigners who dedicate themselves to a monastic life on the peninsula.

EU Funding
When Greece joined the European Union in 1981, Mount Athos was specifically excluded from the jurisdiction of EU equality legislation, although the monasteries were not excluded from applying for EU funding. By 1998, the EU had poured 23.4 million euro directly into the monasteries to conserve and to restore their buildings and cultural heritage. While the EU funds have been legitimated on the basis of the monasteries' "monuments of exceptional importance in Europe," many Europeans who supplied these funds - European women taxpayers - have no right to see the monuments, let alone walk on the peninsula.

Light as Air
Maria Papadimitriou's hot air balloon is a light intervention that openly challenges Athonite tradition without breaking Greek laws. The hot air balloon, bearing an iconographic image of the artist's face, recalls the monks' veneration of the Virgin Mary's face on auratic icons. Papadimitriou also takes her cue from the birds, approaching the peninsula by air, albeit without landing. Both appearance and apparition, her hot air balloon will create a highly-visible image that can be seen from afar for one entire day: not only by monks and men on Mount Athos but also by spectators in boats and planes circling the peninsula. Given the balloon's spectacular nature and the political implications of a religious ban on women, the event is sure to gain attention from the international media as a non-violent action against gender discrimination.

Moving Borders
In terms Papadimitriou's oeuvre, the hot air balloon project is yet another attempt to undo the border controls that link mobility with identity. Defying the passport control, Papadimitriou has used aesthetic forms - from music to hotel rooms - that promote nomadic, ephemeral and collective ways of experiencing identity. It is no surprise that her Autonomous Temporary Museum for All (T.A.M.A.) centered upon a Roma community living a semi-nomadic life at the edges of Athens. At Mount Athos, Papadimitriou will take on yet another border control with a moving image of Maria: visible to everyone, regardless of gender.

Saturday 26 May 2007

ANDREAS ANGELIDAKIS CLOUD HOUSE TO BE SHOWN IN ART ATHINA



Cloud is a House from the series Neen Homes. The shape of the cloud is derived from whywashesad.com, while the form is based on a model of house that I grew up surrounded by: The domino frame on pilotis, in its mediterranean, post-modernist decadence of anarchic construction and casual, haphazard habitation. This is one of the drafts for the house for 2, made of a concrete cloud.
http://angelidakis.com
http://angelidakis.com/_PAGES/CloudHouse.htm
http://www.whywashesad.com/

Thursday 24 May 2007

BLOW DE LA BARRA PARTICIPATING IN ART ATHINA

Los Super Elegantes, 'Nothing Really Matters' video, filmed in Athens, edition of 5 +2AP, 2006

Blow de la Barra is happy to participate in the restart of Art Athina

May 29-June 3, 2007
Helexpo Palace, 39 Kifissias Avenue
151 23 Maroussi, Ahens, Greece

Artists Exhibiting at Art athina:
Stefan Brüggemann
Federico Herrero
Los Super Elegantes
Marcelo Krasilcic
Matthieu Laurette
Miltos Manetas

And special guests:
Maria Papidimitriou
Andreas Angelidakis
Angelo Plessas

Blow de la Barra participates in the Contemporary Club Section:
Invited by The Breeder Gallery 10 emerging international galleries will present their artists in a special section entitled Contemporary Club, participating in this year’s edition of artathina:

ART: CONCEPT, PARIS
BLOW DE LA BARRA, LONDON
THE BREEDER, ATHENS
JOHN CONNELLY PRESENTS, NY
COSMIC GALERIE, PARIS
GALERIST, ISTANBUL
GAZON ROUGE, ATHENS
IBID PROJECTS, LONDON
PERES PROJECTS, LA / BERLIN
GALERIE DIANA STIGTER, AMSTERDAM

www.art-athina.com

Wednesday 23 May 2007

PABLO INTERNACIONAL MAGAZINE ISSUE 3 LAUNCH IN ATHENS


housing and urbanism. pink house in ciudad nezahualcoyotl

pablo internacional magazine is happy to invite you to the launch of issue 3 at
Big Bar, 12 Falaisias St. & 67 Iera Odos St., Gazi, Athens, Greece
Sunday, May 27, 2007, 11pm
http://www.bigbarathens.gr
http://www.pablointernacionalmagazine.com

pablo internacional magazine
macho not rough
art, men and architecture
autumn/winter 2006
issue 3
5£, 5€, 5$US, 50$mx, $15reais
*contains adult material

contents:
reader’s letters. brutalist de-tropicalization by jean-michel wicker
religion. no possesions, no violence, no sex... by karl holmqvist
portrait. pepe rojas
home improvement. the technical vocabulary of the interior decorator. a play by los super elegantes
housing and urbanism. ciudad nezahualcoyotl
kitchen and swimwear. dimitris gets comfortable after a swim
fashion. george and stathis dress in black
nightlife. the eagle, madrid

pablo internacional magazine is available for sale among other fine selcted bookshops in:
London: Conor Donlon, Kokon to Zai, Prowler Soho, Artwords Bookshop, Franz Koening
Paris: Colette, Palais de Tokyo, Les Mots a la Bouche, Yvon Lambert Bookshop
Mexico City: Conejo Blanco, Chic by Accident, Proyectos Monclova
New York: Opening Ceremony, Printed Matter
Los Angeles: Skylight Bookshop, Ooga Booga
Berlin: Bless, Pro Q
Athens: The Breeder
Madrid: Berkana
Leon, Spain: MUSAC
Barcelona: Mercado
San Jose Costa Rica: La Parada
Sao Paulo: Ellus 2
Rio de Janeiro: Denise's
Fioranopolis, Brasil: Café dos Aracas
Buenos Aires: Belleza y Felicidad
Bogota: Fundacion Valenzuela y Klenner

issue 3 of pablo magazine was published thanks to the support of American Apparel and Blow de la Barra Gallery


Tuesday 22 May 2007

AN EXHIBITION IN HONG KONG BY MATHIEU COPELAND


'Celador, a taste of illusion', films stills, © Loris Gréaud

An exhibition, with Loris Gréaud and Arnaud Michniak, by Mathieu Copeland

Hong Kong, Hong Kong City Hall, 14th of May - 27th of May 2007 - opening the 15th of May, 18.30

The exhibition appears as a moment frozen in time. A place where the viewers constantly celebrate the opening of an exhibition in a gallery whose size is gradually reduced, and that in turn reduces the view over the city.

The first movement of the exhibition comes with the present DVD that acts as a catalogue. Widely available, it features two new-commissioned films by Loris Gréaud and Arnaud Michniak both filmed in Hong Kong. The film ‘Celador, un goût d’illusion’ by Loris Gréaud is an advertising for a candy that taste of illusion. The film by Arnaud Michniak “Sound take in a hospital” focuses on arrested moments in the midst of a city in constant movement.

The exhibition at the Hong Kong City Hall appears minimal, if not empty. The films realised for the exhibition are shown sporadically throughout the exhibition. Our experience in the gallery is somehow what we are told of these works. There, everything remains, but nothing is left. Nothing seems to happen. The only element that evolves throughout the exhibition is, paradoxically, the space itself. The art is simply everything else.


Monday 21 May 2007

MARJETICA POTRC AT BLOW DE LA BARRA



Blow de la Barra is honoured to invite you to the opening of the exhibition

MARJETICA POTRC
FLORESTANIA

Tuesday May 22nd, 2007, 6:00 to 8:30 PM

The exhibition will remain open until Saturday June 30th, 2007
Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM

Visit Marjetica Potrc’s website http://www.potrc.org

Sunday 20 May 2007

MOMA NY PRESENTS MEDIASCOPE AN EVENING WITH MATTHIEU LAURETTE


Matthieu Laurette on the "Star Academy" set, photo Lea Crespi

MoMA NY presents
MediaScope
Monday, May 21, 6:30 p.m. (T2)
An Evening with Matthieu Laurette

Taking part in a French television game called 'Tournez Manège' (The Dating Game) in 1993, Parisian artist Matthieu Laurette first claimed to be a multimedia artist to the show's host in front of the audience. Since then, Laurette has used various strategies to explore the relationships between conceptual art, Pop art, institutional critique, and contemporary society, and to change the contexts of presentation and representation. In his recent series 'Apparitions/Appearances' (2004-06), the artist appeared among the on-the-street audiences of CBS's 'The Early Show' and NBC's 'The Today Show', holding up his own signs. Laurette also scrutinizes the social dynamic of spectacle and celebrity. 'Déjà vu' Project, 'The International Look-alike Convention' consists of an ongoing series of performances at art-world openings and special events (Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2000; Dia Art Foundation, New York, 2004) where star look-alikes are mixed in with the audience. In 'What Do They Wear At Frieze Art Fair?' (2005), various fashion experts comment on visitors and art dealers and their relationship with fashion rather than on the art itself. Laurette presents and discusses these and other recent projects. Program 95 min.

Dedicated to experimentation with cinematic form and content, MediaScope presents emerging and recognized artists who discuss their work with the audience. The program explores filmmaking and videomaking, as well as Web-based, installation, and digital art practices.

Organized by Sally Berger, Assistant Curator; Jytte Jensen, Curator; Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator; Barbara London, Associate Curator; and Joshua Siegel, Assistant Curator, Department of Film and Media.
MediaScope is supported by Jennifer McSweeney

The Museum of Modern Art

(212) 708-9400
11 West 53 Street
New York, NY 10019-5497
Access to T2 (Titus 2 Theater) from Film & Media entrance.
For ticket information: http://www.moma.org/visit_moma/admissions.html

Monday 14 May 2007

MILTOS MANETAS "THANK YOU ANDY WARHOL"




Miltos Manetas Manetas creates a
new website animation that expresses the huge debt felt by artists towards Warhol.
http://www.thankyouandywarhol.com/


DAZED & CONFUSED Vs ANDY WARHOL
16 May - 2 September 2007
BALTIC CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

20 years after his death, the legacy of Andy Warhol lives on through the work of today’s contemporary artists and cultural instigators.

Having identified direct parallels between Dazed & Confused Magazine and the world of Warhol, BALTIC has invited Dazed & Confused to nominate 10 key multimedia artists to exhibit who they feel have a specific link to a post-Warholian discourse.
This group show features the work of the artists:

David Fryer
Cyprien Gaillard
Trevor Jackson
M/M (Paris)
Miltos Manetas
Robert Montgomery
Gareth Pugh
Rankin
Rafael Rozendaal
Peter Stitson
Matthew Stone
The Kills

Covering visual art, photography, performance and new media, the artists explore how some of the key themes that Warhol introduced are being further questioned, subverted and investigated in today’s evolving creative landscape.

http://www.balticmill.com/

Sunday 13 May 2007

MIGUEL CALDERON SHOWING AT "FREAKSHOW"


Miguel Calderon, Artificial History, colour print, 2000

FREAKSHOW - AN UNNATURAL HISTORY
BALTIC CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
16 May - 26 August 2007

The first and most memorable cultural experience for a child can often be a visit to a museum of natural history. Whale bones, dinosaur skeletons, archaeological objects and wax figures leave long lasting impressions.

Artists including Maurizio Cattelan, Miguel Calderon, Oleh Kulik and Tony Matelli examine and incorporate elements of natural history in this spectacular, humorous and sometimes disturbing group show. They present us with an exhibition which takes us on a bizarre tour of man’s recreation of the natural environment.

In transforming BALTIC’s Level 4 gallery space into an absurd cabinet of curiosities, they provide us not only with a commentary upon the past but also comment upon the future of the human species.

http://www.balticmill.com/


Saturday 12 May 2007

MARJETICA POTRC'S LUCY HOUSE



Image No. 1 of Marjetica Potrc Rural Studio: The Lucy House Tornado Shelter, 2007, 3,40 x 4,10 x 4,45 m

MARJETICA POTRČ RURAL STUDIO: THE LUCY HOUSE TORNADO SHELTER APRIL 27, 2007 Galerie Nordenhake is very pleased to present an exhibition by the Slovenian artist Marjetica Potrč, an architect turned artist who works at the interface of art, architecture and social science, exploring local innovations in the built environment. For the exhibition, Potrč has installed a site-specific structure that evolved from her case study of the Lucy House in Greensbro, Alabama, designed by the Rural Studio in 2002 for Anderson and Lucy Harris and their three children. Rural Studio is a program founded in 1992 by Samuel Mockbee for architecture students at Auburn University in Hale County, Alabama, one of the poorest regions in the United States. Potrč’s work negotiates with the gaps in knowledge that result when urban planners and architects insist on creating order. Notably, Potrč is interested in what architects and planners cannot predict. Notions such as homelessness, the shantytown, outsider communities, and the role of imagination are united in Potrč’s work with an architecture of immediate, personal response. The ‘Lucy House Tornado Shelter’ is an organic, ‘living’ structure based on the metaphor of the human body’s spontaneous and unplanned behavior. The house includes a built-in tornado shelter topped with a ‘crumpled’ dome. This dome is not the actual shelter; rather, it is protecting the structure underneath. Potrč’s design takes into consideration her work with Buckminster Fuller’s tensegrity domes, which she encountered while at the Burning Man Festival. A tensegrity dome involves a coordination of pressure and release, push and pull. The dome is built by adjoining segments at different angles together so that in the overall structure an equilibrium of push and pull occurs between segments weighed on and those weighing. ‘ Potrč’s study evolved out of her interest in architecture that emphasizes ‘self-reliance’ and ‘individual empowerment.’ This is accomplished through the usage of alternative, environmentally sustainable construction materials, combined with little money and much creativity. She investigates how to improve relations between society and the individual, asking what sort of space is available to us for freedom. Transforming scrap material and ‘junk’ into a solid, sturdy structure, Rural Studio’s work has provided the opportunity for many underprivileged families living in substandard housing to move into a house that is not only a home, but a shelter for the soul. The Lucy House’ unites residential architecture with an emergency provision, the permanent need with the temporary necessity. As with her previous projects, Marjetica Potrč is continuously exploring fundamental human needs: community, safety, and shelter. In addition to the house, Potrč will also exhibit new drawings that are somewhere between an architectural plan and a mental association chart. These drawings give insight into her idiosyncratic process of thinking about urgent problems in urban architecture. http://www.nordenhake.com/

Friday 11 May 2007

JO ROBERTSON CURATES A GREAT SHOW "HOT FOR TEACHER"





HOT FOR TEACHER
Curated by Jo Robertson and
Byron Coley
with:
Rita Ackermann
Rachal Bradley
David Cunningham
Martin Creed
Pierre Cupp
Spencer Clark
Tali Febland
Kim Gordon
Manuela Gernedel
Celia Hempton
Max Kansas
Kilynn Lunsford
Thurston Moore
Shana Moulton
John Olson
Jo Robertson
Lucy Stein

glitter rettilg glitter sister met you in a four poster bed with stools and grass hands playing at my feet, a readymade jumpsuit with fiery wings, landed in my coat pocket and i started to sing, how doth though receive me? with open arms which laugh and chuckle at my paranoia, I hope they do, cause i love you.

feel the power of glitter transcending its own formal boundaries, emerging out the equation's nether end as a sheet of purest noise. before glitter, there were only tears. and they soaked the paper with invisible images that directly burned the pineal eye. after glitter, there was everything. a cascade of possibilities sonically etched onto the backs of eyelids. heard and seen merged. a triumverate implied when combined with imagination. which only you can bring.

Private View 10/05/07 6pm-8pm
Nog Gallery
182 Brick Lane
London
E1 6SA
02077394134
info@noggallery.com
after party downstairs, bands/dj's

Thursday 10 May 2007

LOS SUPER ELEGANTES DJ OVER WARHOL SILENT FILMS AT MACO PARTY OFFERED BY PABLO LEON DE LA BARRA IN MEXICO CITY


Andy Warhol's Empire proyected in the building in front of Hotel Habita


Milena and Martiniano, Los Super Elegantes djing over Warhol's films


Guests arriving to the party, among them Adriano Sack and David Waddington



Cuauhtemoc Medina welcoming the guests to the party


Beatriz Lopez, director of VK Proyects Bogota, Silverio and Mexico's first lady of art Patricia Sloane


Directly from London: Liliana Sangino and Richard Battye from George and Dragon, with friend Lucy


The Simon Family sisters


Rafael Jimenez and Martin Raffa from iqons.com with Guillermo Martinez


curator Olivier Debroise with Cay Sophie Rabinowitz and Christian Rattemeyer


Patricia Sloane with Nicolas Trembley


Cay Sophie Rabinowitz trying the Andy Warhol Empire lipstick on Frank Horning


Milena and Martiniano djing with their ipod


Los Super Elegantes with tranny leyend Vicky Fox


Whitney's Shamin Momin with Los Super Elegantes


fans dancing with Los Super Elegantes, including Shamim Momim and Carla Verea


Federico Herrero, Reinaldo Leandro and Marcel Krasilsic among the crowd in the party


Andy Warhol's Kiss proyected to the building in front of Hotel Habita

Warhol films selected by Cay Sophie Rabinowitz and Christian Rattemeyer
with the support of Hotel Habita and iqons.com

Wednesday 9 May 2007

BLOW DE LA BARRA MACO MEXICO STAND




general view of the stand

general view of the stand, with Carolina Caycedo's Mexican-American flag flying above

Marcelo Krasilcic's cushions and photos, Miltos Manetas powerbook painting, Federico Herrero painting

Los Super Elegantes / The Technical Vocabulary of an Interior Decorator

Marcelo Krasilcic, photos and cushions

Miltos Manetas Powerbook Painting (small), Federico Herrero Painting, Marcelo Krasilcic cushion sculpture

art muses Ana Sokoloff and Sagrario Perez Soto

Federico Herrero and Marcelo Krasilcic

Frank Hornig

Tuesday 8 May 2007

ISABELLA BLOW 1958-2007




Isabella Blow at her best during "What Do They Wear At Frieze Art Fair?" a project by Matthieu Laurette in which Isabella gave a guided fashion tour of the fair, Saturday 22 October 2005.

Isabella Blow, fashion icon, muse, talent discoverer and true star was born on November 19, 1958.
She died on May 7, 2007, aged 48.
Long live queen Isabella.

Obituary The Guardian
Obituary The Times