ARTWORKS supports the Greek participation in the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

ARTWORKS, in collaboration with its founding donor, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), supports the Greek participation in the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, for the presentation of the interdisciplinary installation Xirómero / Dryland some members of which are SNF ARTWORKS Fellows.

Through this support, our aim is to enhance artistic creation and provide visibility to the young, dynamic, and talented individuals who have joined forces to represent the country in such an important institution for contemporary art this year.

Xirómero / Dryland is an interdisciplinary collective installation based on a concept by Thanasis Deligiannis and Yannis Michalopoulos and has been created in collaboration with Elia Kalogianni (SNF ARTWORKS Moving Image Fellow 2022), Yorgos Kyvernitis (SNF ARTWORKS Moving Image Fellow 2019), Kostas Chaikalis and Fotis Sagonas (SNF ARTWORKS Visual Arts Fellow 2018). The Greek participation has been curated by Panos Giannikopoulos (ARTWORKS’ Program Coordinator). It comprises an agricultural irrigation machine, music, moving image, soundscapes, lighting and the element of water.

The work consists of a piece of agricultural irrigation equipment which synchronizes in real time the sound, video and lighting environments that make up the installation. It investigates the experience of a village festival by following a route that leads from the village square to the borders of the surrounding farmland. More specifically, it draws upon the experience of the panighíria -local festivals- of mainland Greece, Thessaly and the area of Xirómero, in Western Greece, which lends the work its title.

Xirómero/Dryland aims to relate the situated, local experience to the global condition where aesthetic directions change, traditions shift, rural life and celebration take on different forms, whilst the political dimensions of these processes remain an open subject of inquiry.

* Xirómero (Ξηρόμερο) [ksirˈomero]: Known for its paneghíria, was a historic province of Aetolia-Acarnania. Today, it is a municipality in the Region of Western Greece.

Xirómero/Dryland
Pavilion of Greece at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
April 20–November 24, 2024

Professional preview: April 17–19

Press conference: April 18, 13:30 pm, accreditation required

Pavilion of Greece– La Biennale di Venezia
Giardini
30122 Venice
Italy
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10am–6pm

Commissioner: EΜΣΤ | Νational Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens; Katerina Gregos, Artistic Director

Administrative & financial director EMΣΤ | Νational Museum of Contemporary Art Athens: Athina Ioannou

Head of production of the Greek Pavilion, ΕΜΣΤ | Νational Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens: Yannis Arvanitis

Artistic team:

Kostas Chaikalis, Thanasis Deligiannis, Elia Kalogianni, Yorgos Kyvernitis, Yiannis Michalopoulos, Fotis Sagonas

Curator: Panos Giannikopoulos

Artistic collaborators: Fotini Papachristopoulou, Studio Precarity (Vassiliki-Maria Plavou and Marios Stamatis)