INTERVIEW: Vicky Papatzikou – dreamideamachine ART VIEW

Vicky Papatzikou was introduced to me by an artist many years ago in Art Athina. What impressed me beyond her aesthetics, elegance and kindness, was the fact that she had established a gallery in Veria and collaborated with famous Greek artists, this gave the stigma of a professional who is worth keep track to her work. Indeed, over time, our paths intersected, I visited her gallery and the wonderful art cafe he created in Veria, Vicky Papatzikou organized one of the most successful Presentations of my Book, Now on the occasion of the video for the exhibition “At The Stairwell” that she send me, I was once again impressed by her professionalism and high aesthetics. So we discuss how this idea came about, and where art is led in this strange era that seems to has frozen everything.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Papatzikou Gallery’s Archive

Mrs. Papatzikou, we just received the excellent video you created for the exhibition “Art sto klimakostasio” (Art At The Stairwell) and the spontaneously question that arises is, “How did the idea to exhibit Art at the Staircase of the apartment building where you live came about?”

This exhibition is an idea of years. We estimated that this period of commitment is the ideal for its realization. We had the need to get out of the latency and dysthymia that surround us. Additionally, we wanted to give our Gallery’s imprint not only in the web, since due the pandemic from March 12, 2020 all the cultural venues remain closed. That is the reason that we transmuting the staircase of the building we live in into a “gallery”, ingenious surpassing the absence of art in our lives. We installed artworks at the staircase turning a shared and waiting area into a familiar one.

How easy was it for the other tenants to accept it, what were their reactions?

Some questions were raised such as, the personal safety of the residents and their property, any wear…, about the operation of the exhibition about who and how will visit it, if there would be control… and it is logical. The difficulties, however, were easily overcome as there was a consensual mood from everyone. Finally the exhibition was launched and the overall aesthetic result has wiped out any hesitation.

As we know the exhibition can be visited at specific hours, like an art gallery, what is the reaction of the visitors and how much visitors does it have?

The stairwell is a “living Gallery”, accessible twenty-four hours the day, and the everyday life coexists with art so harmoniously. For everyone who passes the entrance of the building, the exhibition is a pleasant surprise. A proposal of initiation is made even for the most unsuspecting. The huge response impressed us. We receive a lot of phone calls every day for appointments, so there is a waiting list. Of course, this period, due to the circumstances and respecting the restrictive measures, we urge those who are interested to watch the video of the exhibition, which captures the presence of the gallery in the pandemic.

“Art sto klimakostasio”, is an anniversary exhibition, on show are artworks in small format, of the period 2006-2016 of young and older artists, all collaborators of the gallery. What role did the size played both in the setting up of the exhibition and the sales?

The exhibition is a continuation of “Small Form”, a series of group exhibitions that we organized the period 2006-2016, with small-scale artworks at the gallery (Papatzikou Art-Gallery, 26 Ag. Antoniou str. – Veria) during the Christmas and New Year holidays. As for setting up an exhibition on the Stairwell of a building, believe me, it is a small achievement. Yes, the small size of the artworks helped significantly in setting up this exhibition, but it is not the only criterion for a work of art to be sold.

COVID-19, we live for a year with a Pandemic that seems to have changed our approach to art and artwork. There are works that are experiential, independent or interactive. During the lockdown and the quarantine, new conditions were created and many of your colleagues, more abroad and less in Greece, turned to the online exhibitions. Are you in the opinion, from your twenty years of experience as gallerist, that we are in the dawn of a new era that both Art and Art Market will change? or that through this exhibition and its success is proved that the natural spaces and the real space and the true relationship with the artwork and its aura, cannot be replaced by virtual reality?

The quarantine and the measures of implemented during the pandemic period have created new conditions and a multitude of challenges. It seems that a new era has already dawned that brings great changes and if we want to exist in the art field we have to adapt on time. We cannot ignore the power of technology and the World Wide Web. For me, the real space and the true relationship with the artwork, as we know it today, cannot be replaced by virtual reality. Only the idea that the art will be exclusive a “product” of the internet, grieves me, because I was born and raised in times when people perceived and enjoyed the world with all their senses.
Who knows…
The future is constantly surprising us.

Art At The Stairwell: Curator: Vicky Papatzikou, Camera – Editing: Konstantinos Markou, Photography: Elias Liakos, Music: Soulis Liako,s Production Manager: Eva Papatzikou.

Download Greek Version of Interview here.