Although a great deal has been written about the financial crisis in Greece over the last four years, it still remains difficult to understand what is really happening in people’s everyday life today within the context of a rapidly changing social reality. 

 

Bringing together 32 leading contemporary Greek artists, the exhibition “No country for young men”, opening today (27 March) at Bozar in Brussels, seeks to transcend stereotypical media representations of the crisis. According to the internationally acclaimed curator of the exhibition Katerina Gregos, the display “explores the state of affairs in Greece today, teasing out the complexity of the crisis and shedding light on how it has affected the people, the social body, institutions, landscape and environment, as well as artistic production”. The event is part of “Focus on Greece” programme organized by the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts during the Greek presidency of the Council of the EU. 

 

The artists’ work “provides a wide-ranging, affective, insightful and critical view of what is happening in the country right now” says Gregos, adding that the exposition “also looks beyond the gloom, to more imaginative, poetic, humorous or allegorical responses to the current situation.” 

 

The title of the exhibition evokes the unfavourable situation for young people in Greece today, while also looking at the possibilities the crisis offers for re-inventing and re-imagining the country. “No country for young men” is the first exhibition of its kind since the outbreak of the crisis and is the largest presentation of contemporary Greek art to take place outside Greece for a decade. 

 

Presenting recent work of established and emerging artists and collectives, it aims to be a lively, kaleidoscopic, visual patchwork, providing the opportunity for the European audience of Brussels to see not only unknown aspects of the Greek –and European- crisis, but also the unknown wealth of creativity that has sprung up in Greece in recent years, and in response to the crisis. 

 

Exhibition info

"No Country for Young Men": Contemporary Greek Art in Times of Crisis

27 March–3 August 2014

BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts

Rue Ravenstein 23, Brussels 

 

Participating artists: 
Loukia Alavanou / Manolis Anastasakos & Alexandros Vasmoulakis / Bill Balaskas / Depression Era / Eirene Efstathiou / Stelios Faitakis / Marina Gioti / Alexandros Georgiou / Philippe Grammaticopoulos / Guerrilla Optimists / Michalis G. Kallimopoulos / Dionisis Kavallieratos / Panos Kokkinias / Alkis Konstantinidis / Zissis Kotionis / Marinos Koutsomichalis, Afroditi Psarra & Maria Varela / Nicolas Kozakis & Raoul Vaneigem / Nikos Navridis / Angelos Papadimitriou / Maria Papadimitriou / Antonis Pittas / Poka-Yio / Stefania Strouza / Lina Theodorou / Panos Tsagaris / Kostas Tsolis / Dimitris Tsoumplekas / Chrisa Valsamaki / Kostis Velonis / Eirini Vourloumis / Zafos Xagoraris / Yorgos Zois

 

Curator: Katerina Gregos