ART-REVIEW: documenta 14 Athens
Learning from Athens-Learning From Life: In the International Press the negative comments are more that the positive as well as the grumbling and complaints inside and outside of Greece, as well as the strict reviews. Ι spectated many times the documenta 14 in Athens from the press conference and the previews till today with the obsession of a professional wanting be fair to everyone. Firstly, I positively pose the fact that for the first time the most important Institution of Contemporary art presents a part of its programme in a city other than Kassel. It is extremely important that Athens, which is neither a region nor a metropolis but an outsider in the art world, is at the center of the contemporary art scene, gathering more and more visitors.
Crossing the five main venues where documenta 14 is spread, my emotions are mixed. Starting from the first and main space which is the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) where the exhibition unfolds in its entire space (four floors) we note that the artworks do not involve coherence and conversation, so they do not help the viewer in a smooth observation and approach, that is why he feels tired and confused. As well as the obsession with artists like Edi Hila, bad upfront copies of artworks like Khvay Samnang’s “Preah Kunlong” (2017), or the selection of secondary artworks of very important Greek artists. All these do not count το the positive aspects of the exhibition. The long duration of the video works are absurd and terribly tiring, as well as the inexpedient photographs that balance between bad photojournalism and outdated aesthetic of the past. In the opposite direction is the exhibition at the Athens Conservatoire (Odeion), where with a few exceptions, most artworks interact with each other, as well as with the space creating a visual result that makes you to want visit the space again and again..
The works of Apostolos Georgiou at the Athens Concert Hall (Megaron) would be functional if the space was open and alive, while Andreas Angelidakis’ Installation at the Athens Municipality Arts Center at Parko Eleftherias evokes bewilderment.
At Pireos Street Annexe of Benaki Museum, the exhibition has many common elements with the one at EMST, the viewer really gets confused, but there are on view some interesting artworks. Whereas in the Factory of Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA) on Pireos Street inside the Nikos Kessanlis Exhibition Hall, excluding the artworks by Yannis Tsarouchis and Angelo Plessas, the whole exhibition is very good, not only is it coherent, not only the artworks converse and interact between them, but also with the space, the highlight and the crescendo of the exhibition is “Matanzas Sound Map” (2017) by María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Neil Leonard. Interesting is the educational and relaxation space that has been created at the building of ASFA’s former library, it should be noted that due to the performances and visits to the documenta 14 in ASFA, there were a lot of viewers at the performances of the 3rd International Performance Art Festival ASFA BBQ.
In conclusion, it is extremely important that a part of documenta 14 was held in Athens but also the great opportunity offered to Greek artists through the EMST and its skilled director Katerina Koskina to participate in the exhibition «ΑNTIDORON. The Collection of EMST” at Fridericianum in Kassel. Truly this I a really great moment for Greece through this conjuncture, not to make Athens, like Berlin in the field of contemporary art (Because Athens lacks both the environment and the institutional framework), but first το acquire the National Museum of Contemporary Art and everything else will follow…-Efi Michalarou & Dimitris Lempesis