Konstantinos Kotsis and Sasha Streshna join the exhibition in Lesvos “Sleeping with a tiger”
07.08.20
K-Gold Temporary Gallery presents “Sleeping with a tiger”, its seventh summer show in Lesvos, curated by Nicolas Vamvouklis. The exhibition’s title refers to the homonymous painting by Maria Lassnig who explored body awareness though her sensitive observations of nature.
Collective nouns for groups of animals (swarm of bees, colony of ants, parliament of owls etc.) first appeared in The Book of Saint Albans (1486) by Juliana Berners. These poetic names – based on animals’ behaviour, appearance, and location – reflect a certain societal disposition from humans towards them.
The exhibition focuses on the relationship between human and animal societies by looking at the dynamics of coexistence, dominance, and exclusion. Starting from the notions of reason and instinct, the participating artists explore possible interspecies connections through history, politics, ethics, and tradition.
The context of Lesvos highlights these parallels on social, natural, and cultural level. Besides a focal point of the humanitarian crisis, the island is considered one of the major birdwatching destinations in the Mediterranean due to the seasonal passage of migratory species like flamingos.
Humans and animals are depicted on the limits of borders, areas, and situations. What does the nomadic character of both have in common? What can we learn from the animal societies and the ways in which they develop and coexist?
The narratives in “Sleeping with a tiger” examine how places of turmoil can become hotbeds for revisiting our worldview and how art can be a powerful tool for developing a symbiotic future.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Mike Bourscheid, Alex Cecchetti, Oliviero Fiorenzi, Ody Icons, Konstantinos Kotsis (Fellows 2019), Ana Mendieta, Yoshua Okón, Maria Papadimitriou, Józef Robakowski, Virginia Russolo, Sasha Streshna (Fellows 2019), Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou, Pinar Yolaçan, Iro Vasalou, Cosima von Bonin
PARALLEL PROGRAM
The show is accompanied by a series of parallel events, coordinated by Katerina Zagli and Ioanna Vallina: educational activities, performances, discussions, excursions, screenings, and guided tours. K-Gold Temporary Gallery also partners with Hermitage Sykaminea for the “Isolation and Forms of Community” program, curated by Andreas Sell. All the events are open and free to everyone.
A Greek/English catalog, edited by Christos Mouchas, will be published with contributions by Jean-Luc Nancy, Peter Cross, Phillip Warnell, Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp, and Nik Pantazopoulos.
INFO
Opening: Friday 7 August 2020, 20:00
Daily, 11:00-14:00 and 19:00-23:00
Agia Paraskevi, 81102 Lesvos, Greece
+30 6942202222
kgoldtemporarygallery.tumblr.com
[email protected]
@kgoldtemporarygallery
Under the auspices of the General Secretariat for Vocational Education, Training and Lifelong Learning of the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs
Co-organised with the North-Aegean Region
With the support of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Municipality of Western Lesvos, the Onassis STEGI, the Chatzigakis Foundation, and the Ouzo Plomari Isidoros Arvanitis
Media sponsors: ERT North Aegean, CultureNow