Photo © Jerome Galland
As a venue for promoting contemporary art, Delta collaborates with ARTWORKS for the third consecutive year and presents works of Greek artists in the restaurant’s venue. Delta embraces art an organically integrates yearly rotating artworks in its interior and surroundings spaces.
Five artists are presenting their work at Delta Restaurant: Irini Bachlitzanaki, Despina Flessa, Chrysanthi Koumianaki, Lydia Miligκou and Sofia Stevi. All of them are awardees of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Artists Fellowship Program.
Following the concept of sustainability, we are invited to think of arts as part of diverse ecosystems and interdependent interactions. The works explore the relationship between nature and digital environments, knowledge and emotion, corporeality, architecture and landscape. They incorporate mythological references into contemporary reflections and connect visual and tactical elements.
Mosaic by Irini Bachlitzanaki is part of a body of work that draws on the concepts of artifacts and decoration that uses objects and motifs derived from the domestic environment. It features a part of the floor of the artist’s apartment in Athens embroidered on canvas. Despite the fact that it comes from this particular house, it could refer to any apartment. The depiction transcends personal memory and becomes a reference point of Athenian architecture from previous decades. While this particular type of floor got gradually disfavored, in recent years and with the rise of digital tourism, it has been revived. The artist refers to occupations related to artistic practices, and especially those that have not found their place in the narrow canon of art history, underlining the complex relations of dwelling, appropriation and revival.
Despina Flessa examines the characteristics and properties of materials, focusing on their various textures, but also on the interaction between their surfaces and the architecture of the space. The notion of transformation is essential to her creative process; two-dimensional materials transform and expand in space. In Crossing Nile, thin layers of wood veneer take the shape of a boat made of papyrus. The artist turns to historical and mythological references of the Mediterranean and Egypt, and to solar barques that symbolize transportation from the terrestrial to the transcendent. She creates vertical forms that lean against the wall -like “resting boats”- whose traces on their surface witness the routes that have been carved on them. The anthropomorphic clay objects, placed at the bottom of the installation, have been coated with graphite and evoke figurines of eerie forms.
Chrysanthi Koumianaki’s artistic practice delves into the impact of signage and signs, drawing inspiration from the diverse “tools” integrated into the urban fabric to optimize behavior within bustling urban environments. Athens, a city brimming with seemingly unremarkable metal bars lining its streets—some bearing the marks of vandalism, while others remain steadfastly functional—becomes a canvas for shaping our physical experiences and proposing a fluid, timeless vocabulary. In the work Blue Dots, the signs establish conventions that effortlessly bridge the realms of private and public spaces, merging different elements together. Reminiscent of the digital realm, the presence of a blue dot serves as a visual cue frequently employed in user interfaces and maps, effectively drawing attention to specific locations or points of interest. Moreover, the soothing associations of blue with calmness and tranquility infuse the artwork with a serene ambiance, not always expected in the public space. The sculptures themselves can be interpreted as a form of contorted signs, further adding to the multifaceted nature of the piece. Through the utilization of geometric shapes, Koumianaki presents a captivating fictional symbolic system, giving rise to a shared vocabulary that transcends the conventional language.
Lydia Miligkou’s How to dive if you are afraid of the Whale is a series of ceramic works that simulate the texture of wet swimsuits with the ripples, suggesting recent emergence from water as if patiently drying before their next use. The swimsuits’ wetness invokes all those sea bottoms that, like a swimsuit, seal the body, eventually making it disappear and leaving only its absence. This evokes a sense of fear, activated by the watery context. In Béla Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies, the whale signifies the unknown threat of an impending disaster that disrupts the serenity of the town where the film takes place. The massive, lifeless body of the whale appears harmless and still, but ultimately inspires action due to the fear it can generate. In the face of a slow cancellation of the future, between anticipation and action, a post-apocalyptic event unfolds: the magnificent body (of the Whale) may decay, decompose. The unseen whale elicits emotional responses and provokes contemplation about the fragility of existence and the uncertainty it provokes. The works transcend mere representation and are transformed into embodiments of sublime power.
The paintings of Sofia Stevi interpret reality in a fluid world, in a universe where the dreamlike is an integral part of everyday life, where bodies float, space and time merge and the contingent becomes permanent. Urania is also a star is made with gouache on raw cotton fabric. Stevi often selects fabric and other textile materials over canvas, making good use of their textures, and highlighting how easy they are to access since they are part of her everyday life. The work takes as its starting point the mythological manifestations of astronomy that determine the names of the celestial bodies. Stevi’s dire painting gestures, as well as her color palette, manage to capture in a single form the soft contours of the body, constellations, plant elements such as leaves and fruits. The individual constituents -charged with symbols and signs- are attributed with expressiveness and playfulness. Sensuality is associated with dreams, while the boundaries between reality and the imaginary, representation and abstraction seem blurred.
ARTISTS’ BIO
IRINI BACHLITZANAKI
Irini Bachlitzanaki (b. 1984, Athens) studied history of art at UCL, University of London and fine art at Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Arts and most recently the Royal Academy Schools in London, graduating in 2021. Inspired by material culture and the biographies of objects, in her practice, which is primarily sculptural, she combines a range of material processes to interrogate the relationship of sculpture to other forms of representation but also the relationship of making works of art to different forms of production, artefacts and commodities. Solo exhibitions include: just us on a different day and Emergent Qualities at Elika Gallery, Athens; and The Combination Show at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. Her work has also been displayed in several group exhibitions in Athens, London and elsewhere in galleries, museums and independent art spaces. Recently awarded scholarships and grants include: the Arts Council England DYCP grant (2022), the Jerwood Arts 1:1 grant (2021), the André Dunoyer de Segonzac Hon RA Prize from Royal Academy Schools (2021), the Wolfson College graduate prize (2021), the Gilbert Bayes Award (2020) and the NEON scholarship for postgraduate studies (2017-2020). She lives and works between Athens and London. She is an awardee of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship by ARTWORKS (SNF ARTWORKS Fellow 2022).
DESPOINA FLESSA
Despina Flessa (b. 1986, Athens) lives and works in Athens. She graduated from Athens School of Fine Arts in 2012. In 2010 she studied at the Edinburgh College of Art and in 2015 she completed her Master of Fine Arts (MET) in Athens. She had her first solo exhibition, ”Substratum”, at the Zoumboulakis Gallery (2016), followed by a solo exhibition, ”Float”, at the Pop/off/art Gallery in Moscow (2017). In 2017 she represented Greece at the International Women’s Day Exhibition organized by UNESCO at the Salle des pas perdus & Espaces Miró in Paris. She has also participated in group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. She is represented by Zoumboulakis Galleries. She is an awardee of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship by ARTWORKS (SNF ARTWORKS Fellow 2018).
CHRYSANTHI KOUMIANAKI
Chrysanthi Koumianaki (b. 1985, Heraklion) is a visual artist who lives and works in Athens. In her practice she explores the idea of translation, creating symbolic systems, codings, alphabets that focus on non-verbal communication. She revises and tackles rules and methods of a universal visual language, creating new narratives that reflect different times. Her main work comprises installations that combine various media: prints, ephemeral drawings, videos, sound and metal structures. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in institutions, museums and galleries such as: Netwerk Aalst (2018), Kadist, Paris (2017); Benaki Museum, Athens (2016); DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens (2016); Biennale of Contemporary Art of Thessaloniki (2015); Athens Biennale (2013) and National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (2013). Her work has been shown in institutions and museums, at Fondazione Prada (Milan, 2017) and at New Museum (New York, 2016) among others. Ιn 2012, together with Kosmas Nikolaou and Paky Vlassopoulou, she co-founded the artist-run space 3 137. She is an awardee of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship by ARTWORKS (SNF ARTWORKS Fellow 2018).
LYDIA MILIGKOU
Lydia Miligkou (b.1995, Athens) is a visual artist based in Athens. She holds an integrated Μaster’s degree from the Department of Fine Arts of the Athens School of Fine Arts.
Οne central question in her work is whether it is still possible to disengage ourselves from the dominant narratives that shape our desires and our decisions, both in the personal and in the political sphere. She mainly works with installations, textiles, writing, sculpture and video, all of which she employs to create poetic instances designed to fight back against the disenchantment of the world. She has participated in group exhibitions and festivals in Greece and abroad and presented her work at Athens & Epidaurus festival (Athens); European Cultural Centre of Delphi; Benaki Museum (Athens); Witch Rave Festival, Berlin; and 11th Sonic Arts Festival, Corfu, among others. Her poems have appeared in Teflon magazine and have been presented at poetry slam events (Atopos CVC). Since 2018 she has also been working in the art direction department of several Greek and international film productions. She is an awardee of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship by ARTWORKS (SNF ARTWORKS Fellow 2021).
SOFIA STEVI
Sofia Stevi (b. 1982, Athens), is a graduate of Central Saint Martin’s School of Art & Design in London. She lives and works in Athens. Her paintings are interpretations of materiality through fluid narratives. Time and space are conflating, in a universe where dream is a basic construct of the everyday experience, bodies are in flux and chance acquires a permanent substance. Selected exhibitions include: When We Start to Understand the World, The Breeder, Athens (2023); The Sky above the roof, group show at Tabula Rasa, Beijing; Song without an ending, solo show at Le Quai Monte Carlo; The Wave, public mural in Athens, produced by Onassis Foundation (2022); Touch, 16:9 billboard, Kingsgate Project Space, London (2022), Meeting House, duo show with Rachel Howard at Galeria Pelaires, Palma (2021), the somnambulists, solo show at Alma Zevi Gallery, Venice (2021), we don’t have to learn something new, solo show at Pippy Houldsworth, London (2019), turning forty winks into a new decade, solo show at the BALTIC museum, Gateshead, UK, (2018), lizzie & laura, solo show at The Breeder gallery, Αthens (2017), The Equilibrists – Benaki Museum, Athens, co-organized with the New Museum in New York and DESTE Foundation, curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Gary Carrion-Murayari and Helga Christoffersen (2016). She is represented by The Breeder and is an awardee of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship by ARTWORKS (SNF ARTWORKS Fellow 2022).
Αll photos © Zak Viemon
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Delta is the uppercase 4th letter of the Greek alphabet. A triangle with three sides in perfect harmony. Just like Delta restaurant. A project shaped by three principles: Gastronomy – Sustainability – Culture
Delta was created through an initiative and a grant by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). It aims to become a landmark culinary destination in line with the high standards of the SNFCC and to share Greek cuisine around the world.