PRESENTATION: Weaving the Future III (Tirana), Part II

The group exhibition “Weaving the Future III (Tirana)”, is on view at the exhibition space of COD (Center for Openness and Dialogue) in Tirana. The series of the exhibition “’Weaving the Future” (2019-ongoing) is a project-work in progress and focuses on feminine nature and creativity. The 35 women artist that participate in the third Part of the exhibition “Weaving the Future”, are using different means of expression such as: painting, sculpture, installations, photos, video and performance, denaturing traditional methods and techniques such as: embroidery, loom, knitting, sewing, wool, canvas, yarn and fabric, with a new way, mutating and transforming them into contemporary sculptures, paintings and installations.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Artists Archive

Efi Michalarou, the curator of the exhibition, makes us a guided Tour (in three parts) in the exhibition “Weaving the Future III (Tirana). In the hall Ada Anastasea only with the use of fluo pink thread transforms a traditional Sarakatsani model into a work of contemporary art, while in the cinema Viki Betsou through her very interesting video chronicles with great sensitivity the fragility of family relationships. The photo by Betty Zerva is from her installation at a German Shelter in Milos Island, with traditional Greek wedding crowns, to convey the experience of women that  during World War II had to live and raise their children while the men were fighting and what marriage means to them. Ioanna Myrka is an artist with mobility problems and embroiders on canvas bonsais that does not grow resembling her body, while Penny Gecka creates an installation of a postmodern curtain with punched cards, that were in use in the first motorizedJacquard. Beskida Kraja joins small pieces of paper with gold thread, composing a new personal story dedicated to her own grandmother and all the grandmothers, while in the photo that completes the work and functions as a diptych she is photographed naked – at the same age as her grandmother died, a hommmageto her,while Ifigenia Sdoukou embroiders a poem in an old nightgown entitled “Sleep” in order for her own mermaid to travel to the depths of the soul and mind, to the unconscious and the dream… A Greek artist raised in Germany and studied art in India, Maria-Marika Koenig, through this work she travels to the bitterness and pain of Immigration, since the lace she uses is one of those that women cut from their dowries in the Asia Minor Catastrophe as the most valuable commodity, as well as the objects they took with them. The video by Thalia Chioti with the common knitting from 4 hands defines the relations of an entire era, how the women worked together and knitted together to finish the work faster, while the video “Painting” from of Fani Sofologi’s performance at the old quarry of Filopappou Hill, revives the well-known Vermeer’s painting, to transport us to another era and emphasizing the role of women in the home. Our relationship with tradition, through a classic lace shown in the photo, but also the future through the young child, is emphasized by Efi Fouriki, while Margarita Petrova fills her grandmother’s old drawers with lace, yarn and fabrics, creating the dollhouses of adult life, which function as memory sacristies.

Participating Artists: Artemis Alcalay, Annita Argiroiliopoulou, Ada Anastasea, Evangelia Basdekis, Vicky Betsou, Dimitra Chanioti, Thalia Chioti, Martha Dimitropoulou, Maro Fasouli, Voula Ferentinou, Efi Fouriki, Penny Geka, Kristi Grigoriou, Aikaterini Kanakaki, Marigo Kassi, Maria-Marika Koenig, Eleni Kotsoni, Beskida Kraja, Evdokia Kyrkou, Maria Lagou, Maro Michalakakos, Ioanna Myrka, Penelope’s Web, Margarita Petrova, Spiridoula Politi, Artemis Potamianou, Katerina Ribatsiou, Ifigenia Sdoukou, Fani Sofologi, Eleftheria Stoikou, Theodora Tsiatsiou, Vicky Vassiliou, Grigoria Vryttia, Betty Zerva, Maria Zygomala, Mary Zygouri.

Photo: Maro Fasouli, Untitled, 2020, Fabric, spray, pastel, thread, cane, 228 Χ 294 cm, © Maro Fasouli, Exhibition view COD-Tirana, Photo: Dimitris Lempesis

Info: Curator: Efi Michalarou, COD (Center for Openness and Dialogue), Prime Minister’s Office, Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit 1, Tirana, Albania, Duration: 7-31/10/2021, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri 9:30-14:00 & 17:30-20:30, Sat 17:30-20:30, http://cod.al

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the support of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Sports

With the auspices of the Greek Embassy in Albania