“Nautilus: Navigating Greece” exhibition in Brussels

The exhibition is dedicated to the sea and Greece’s relationship with it through the ages. This is the main event of the Presidency taking place in Brussels, at the  Musée des Beaux Arts (Βozar) and will be on display from 24 January 2014 to the end April.

With the sea as a connecting thread, the exhibition is structured around 6 themes – Ecologies, Maritime Routes, Odysseys, Hegemony, Ecumene, Faith – bringing to the fore the interplay between nature, culture, identity, adventure, politics, religion and most of all mobility in all its forms - migration, travel, trade etc.

On display there will be about 100 ancient artefacts (bronze and marble sculptures, frescoes, coins, vases and ceramic vessels) spanning from the Cycladic (3000 B. C.), Minoan and Mycenaean to the archaic, classical and Hellenistic periods, ending with the Greco-Roman world (200 AD). These artefacts, from about 30 Greek museums, including the National Archaeological Museum, the Acropolis museum and the Museum of Cycladic Art, will co-exist on display with 22 works of contemporary art including photographs, paintings, and video art, in a virtual conversation between antiquity and the modern world.

Events in Brussels also include:

a) An inaugural concert by Armonia Atenea, playing baroque works on Greek themes, conducted by George Petrou, at the Musée des Beaux Arts (Βozar) Concert Hall, on 14 January 2014.

b) A series of parallel events linked to the exhibition are hosted in several of Bozar’s halls:

• A “Mediterranean-Desert,” concert for piano and video, by George  Koumentakis, 26 January 2014
• A Greek Cinema-Tribute to young directors
• A Tribute to Greek literature