Beyond the binaries of documenta 14? Opening the continuum between Greece and the South | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Journal of Greek Media & Culture
  4. Volume 8, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 8 Number 2
  • ISSN: 2052-3971
  • E-ISSN: 2052-398X

Abstract

Can we imagine Greece and the South beyond the enduring binaries that have long defined them? In 2014, the art institution documenta publicly announced that its fourteenth edition () would take place in both Kassel, Germany, and Athens, Greece. ’s stated goal, from the onset, was to balance ‘the need to embody the palpable tension between the North and the South’ while avoiding ‘the traps of binary logic’. Yet ’s critics focused on how the exhibition was conceived and structured by a series of binaries, failing to overcome the intense sociopolitical antagonism between Germany and Greece, North and South. This article argues that while these critiques were necessary, they overlooked examples of connective thinking that delicately threaded together the split event. The article revisits works by four artists that exemplify this non-binary approach: Jani Christou, Vlassis Caniaris, Andreas Lolis and Alexandra Bachzetsis. Using Christou’s idea of the ‘continuum’ as a paradigm, these artworks are offered as much-needed complements to the impasse of opposition, (a)symmetries and doubles left behind by . Ultimately, though, the article looks beyond the exhibition of to consider how the continuum’s fragile capacity for softening hardened positions might be extended to opening potential forms of relation within and between Greece and the South.

© 2022 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jgmc_00057_1
2022-10-01
2024-04-27
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Ammirati, Domenick. ( 2017;), ‘ Double gambit: Katerina Koskina and Adam Szymczyk in conversation. ’, South as a State of Mind, 9, pp. 170–78.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Anagnostopoulos, Aris. ( 2021;), ‘ Dilemmas of participation: Some notes on refusal, (dis)engagement, and contemporary art institutions. ’, FIELD, 18&19, https://field-journal.com/the-lfd-project-afterthoughts-three-years-later/recovering-lost-voices-a-situated-perspective-on-documenta-14. Accessed 12 September 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Antonakakis, Nikolaos, and Collins, Alan. ( 2014;), ‘ The impact of fiscal austerity on suicide: On the empirics of a modern Greek tragedy. ’, Social Science & Medicine, 112, pp. 39–50.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Artaud, Antonin. ( [1938] 1958), The Theatre and Its Double (trans. M. C. Richard), New York:: Grove Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Bailey, Stephanie. ( 2016;), ‘ Andreas Lolis: The Breeder. ’, Artforum, 54:7, p. 294.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Barka, Fotini. ( 2016;), ‘ Behind the scenes at the museums: Disarray in Athens and Belgrade. ’, Balkan Insight, 29 January, https://balkaninsight.com/2016/01/29/behind-the-scenes-at-the-museums-disarray-in-athens-and-belgrade-01-13-2016/. Accessed 24 June 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Boletsi, Maria,, Houwen, Janna, and Minnaard, Liesbeth. ( 2020), Languages of Resistance, Transformation, and Futurity in Mediterranean Crisis-Scapes: From Crisis to Critique, London:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Breeder Gallery ( 2018;), ‘ Andreas Lolis portfolio. ’, Issuu, 25 April, https://issuu.com/thebreeder/docs/2018_lolis_complete_portfolio. Accessed 2 August 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Christou, Jani. ( 1968a;), ‘ Epicycle for any participant. ’, documenta 14, https://www.documenta14.de/en/calendar/22476/epicycle-for-any-participant. Accessed 20 June 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Christou, Jani. ( 1968b;), ‘ Extract from a letter. ’, documenta 14, https://www.documenta14.de/en/artists/16174/jani-christou. Accessed 20 June 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Dainotto, Roberto. ( 2011;), ‘ Does Europe have a South? An essay on borders. ’, Global South, 5:1, pp. 37–50.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Diawara, Manthia. ( 2015;), ‘ Édouard Glissant’s worldmentality: An introduction to One World in Relation. ’, South as a State of Mind, 6, p. 190.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. documenta 14 ( 2017a;), ‘ Andreas Lolis. ’, https://www.documenta14.de/en/artists/22280/andreas-lolis. Accessed 13 July 2021.
  14. documenta 14 ( 2017b;), ‘ documenta 14 introduces institutional partners in Athens. ’, https://www.documenta14.de/en/news/15450/documenta-14-introduces-institutional-partners-in-athens-and-venues-of-the-exhibition. Accessed 2 September 2021.
  15. documenta 14 ( 2017c;), ‘ Neue Galerie. ’, https://www.documenta14.de/en/venues/21726/neue-galerie. Accessed 4 September 2021.
  16. EMST ( 2018;), ‘ Temporary suspension of EMST exhibition program. ’, https://www.emst.gr/en/shortnews-en/temporary-suspension-of-emst-exhibition-program. Accessed 1 June 2021.
  17. EMST ( 2019;), ‘ Oral histories – The Fix building. ’, https://www.emst.gr/en/events-en/oral-histories-the-fix-building. Accessed 30 June 2021.
  18. EMST ( 2020), ENTER EMST, Sillogi kai Istoria, enas sintomos odigos (‘Enter EMST, Collection and history, a short guide’), Athens:: National Museum of Contemporary Athens;.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Felios Collection ( 2021;), ‘ Andreas Lolis. ’, https://felioscollection.gr/en/artists/lolis-andreas/. Accessed 15 September 2021.
  20. Fokianaki, iLiana, and Varoufakis, Yanis. ( 2017;), ‘ “We come bearing gifts”: iLiana Fokianaki and Yanis Varoufakis on documenta 14 Athens. ’, Art Agenda, 7 June, http://www.art-agenda.com/reviews/d14/. Accessed 20 June 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Fridericianum ( 2010;), ‘ Fridericianum: From a museum to a kunsthalle. ’, https://archiv2.fridericianum.org/fridericianum1/fridericianum2/?L=1. Accessed 19 June 2021.
  22. Fridericianum ( 2021;), ‘ Fridericianum. ’, https://fridericianum.org/fridericianum/. Accessed 20 June 2021.
  23. Gallus, Henriette. ( 2014;), ‘ documenta 14, Kassel. Learning from Athens. ’, https://newsletter.documenta.de/t/j-12C9729D2BF513CC. Accessed 13 August 2021.
  24. Gercke, Peter, and Zimmermann-Elseify, Nina. ( 2007), Antike Steinskulpturen und neuzeitliche Nachbildungen in Kassel Bestandskatalog, Mainz am Rhein:: Von Zabern;.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Grigoriadou, Sofia, and Samantas, Yorgos. ( 2021;), ‘ Walking the lines of documenta 14. ’, FIELD, 18&19, http://field-journal.com/cartographies/walking-the-lines-of-documenta-14. Accessed 12 September 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Herzfeld, Michael. ( 2002;), ‘ The absent presence: Discourses of crypto-colonialism. ’, South Atlantic Quarterly, 101:4, pp. 899–926.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Hickley, Catherine. ( 2017;), ‘ Why a world-famous art exhibition needed a government bailout. ’, New York Times, 20 September, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/arts/design/documenta-germany-contemporary-art.html. Accessed 2 August 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Jannarone, Kimberly. ( 2010), Artaud and His Double, Ann Arbor, MI:: University of Michigan Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Jörg, Heiser. ( 2017;) ‘ A tale of two cities. ’, Frieze, 29 August, https://www.frieze.com/article/tale-two-cities. Accessed 1 June 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Kahane, Leon. ( 2015;), ‘ Doing documenta in Athens is like rich Americans taking a tour in a poor African country. ’, Spike Art Magazine, 10 October, https://www.spikeartmagazine.com/articles/doing-documenta-athens-rich-americans-taking-tour-poor-african-country. Accessed 1 August 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Kalantzis, Kostas. ( 2015;), ‘ “Fak Germani”: Materialities of nationhood and transgression in the Greek crisis. ’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 57:4, pp. 1037–69.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Kaplanis, Yiannis. ( 2011;), ‘ An economy that excludes the many and the “accidental” revolt. ’, in A. Vradis, and D. Dalakoglou. (eds), Revolt and Crisis in Greece, Oakland, CA:: AK Press;, pp. 215–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Kompatsiaris, Panos. ( 2017), The Politics of Contemporary Art Biennials: Spectacles of Critique, Theory and Art, New York:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Kornhauser, Bronia. ( 2010;), ‘ Layers of identity in the 1960s surf rock icon Misirlou. ’, Musicology Australia, 32:2, pp. 185–201.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Latimer, Quinn, and Szymczyk, Adam. (eds) ( 2017), The Reader, Munich:: Prestel Verlag;.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Learning from documenta ( 2017;), ‘ About. ’, https://learningfromdocumenta.org/. Accessed 12 August 2021.
  37. Ndikung, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng. ( 2015;), ‘ A united front against the debt. ’, South as a State of Mind, 6, Fall, p. 190.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Nothing Happening Here ( 2021;), ‘ Nothing re-fused: Performing the neo-institution. ’, APRJA, 10:1, pp. 84–93.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Papadopoulos, Georgios. ( 2019;), ‘ Documenta and the question of colonialism. ’, Journal of Visual Art Practice, 18:4, pp. 305–22.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Papanikolaou, Dimitris. ( 2007), Singing Poets: Literature and Popular Music in France and Greece, Oxford:: Legenda;.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Plantzos, Dimitris. ( 2019;), ‘ We owe ourselves to debt: Classical Greece, Athens in crisis, and the body as battlefield. ’, Social Science Information, 58:3, pp. 469–92.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. post documenta ( 2021;), ‘ Information. ’, https://postdocumenta.net/. Accessed 1 September 2021.
  43. Preciado, Paul. ( 2017;) ‘ Public paper no. 2. ’, documenta 14, 21 April, https://www.documenta14.de/files/PUBLICPAPER_N%C2%B02.pdf. Accessed 28 August 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Rikou, Elpida. ( 2021;), ‘ Recovering lost voices: A situated perspective on documenta 14. ’, FIELD, 18&19, https://field-journal.com/the-lfd-project-afterthoughts-three-years-later/recovering-lost-voices-a-situated-perspective-on-documenta-14. Accessed 12 September 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Rikou, Elpida, and Yalouri, Eleana. ( 2018;), ‘ documenta 14 learning from Athens: The response of the “Learning from documenta” research project. ’, FIELD, 11, http://field-journal.com/issue-11/documenta-14-learning-from-athens-the-response-of-the-learning-from-documenta-research-project. Accessed 17 July 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Roitman, Janet. ( 2012;), ‘ Crisis. ’, Political Concepts, Winter, https://www.politicalconcepts.org/roitman-crisis. Accessed 2 November 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Scott, Izabella. ( 2018;), ‘ Andreas Lolis: “I’m not working with marble, I’m conversing with it”. ’, Studio International, 11 November, https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/andreas-lolis-interview-prosaic-origins-athens-greek-sculptor. Accessed 24 May 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. ( 2003;), ‘ Paranoid reading and reparative reading, or, you’re so paranoid, you probably think this essay is about you. ’, in E. K. Sedgwick. (ed.), Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;, pp. 123–51.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Steenberg, M. C.. ( 2011;), ‘ Antidoron. ’, in J. A. McGuckin. (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Vols I and II, Chichester:: Wiley-Blackwell;, p. 34.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Stournaras, Y.. ( 2019;), ‘ Lessons from the Greek crisis: Past, present, future. ’, Atlantic Economic Journal, 47:2, pp. 127–35.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Szymczyk, Adam. ( 2017;), ‘ Iterability and otherness: Learning and working from Athens. ’, in Q. Latimer, and A. Szymczyk. (eds), The Reader, Munich:: Prestel Verlag;, pp. 17–42.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Theodoropoulou, Dora. ( 2018), FIX 120+ chronia architektoniki (‘FIX 120+ years of architecture’), Athens:: Epikentro;.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Theodossopoulos, Dimitrios. ( 2020;), ‘ Solidarity dilemmas in times of austerity: Auto-ethnographic interventions. ’, Cultural Anthropology, 35:1, pp. 134–66.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Tramboulis, Theophilos, and Tzirtzilakis, Yorgos. ( 2018;), ‘ When crisis becomes form. ’, Stedelijk Studies Journal, 6, https://stedelijkstudies.com/journal/when-crisis-becomes-form-athens-as-a-paradigm/. Accessed 11 July 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Tsampalla, Sevie. ( 2020;), ‘ Commoning and learning from Athens, documenta 14 (2017). ’, Passepartout, 22:40, pp. 257–78.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Tseligka, Eleni. ( 2020), From ‘Gastarbeiter’ to European Expatriates Greek Migrant Communities in Germany and Their Socio-political Integration, Oxford:: Peter Lang;.
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Tulke, Julia. ( 2017;), ‘ Sincerely, the indigenous: Street level responses to documenta 14 in Athens. ’, Aesthetics of Crisis, 24 June, https://aestheticsofcrisis.org/2017/sincerely-the-indigenous/. Accessed 15 July 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Tziovas, Dimitris. (ed.) ( 2017), Greece in Crisis: The Cultural Politics of Austerity, London and New York:: I.B. Tauris;.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Vergès, Françoise. ( 2015;), ‘ Like a riot: The politics of forgetfulness, relearning the South, and the island of Dr. Moreau. ’, South as a State of Mind, 6, pp. 26–43.
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Watkin, David, and Mellinghoff, Tilman. ( 1987), German Architecture and the Classical Ideal, Cambridge, MA:: MIT Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  61. Weiner, Andrew Stefan. ( 2017;), ‘ The art of the possible: With and against documenta 14. ’, Biennial Foundation, 14 August, http://www.biennialfoundation.org/2017/08/art-possible-documenta-14/. Accessed 20 May 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  62. Zefkili, Despina. ( 2017;), ‘ Exercises of freedom: documenta 14. ’, Third Text Online, http://thirdtext.org/exercises-freedom-documenta14. Accessed 15 August 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Strecker, Alexander. ( 2022;), ‘ Beyond the binaries of documenta 14? Opening the continuum between Greece and the South. ’, Journal of Greek Media & Culture, 8:2, pp. 185–206, https://doi.org/10.1386/jgmc_00057_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/jgmc_00057_1
Loading
Beyond the binaries of documenta 14? Opening the continuum between Greece and the South
Journal of Greek Media & Culture 8, 185 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1386/jgmc_00057_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jgmc_00057_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jgmc_00057_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): Athens; contemporary art; continuum; cryptocoloniality; documenta exhibition; Global South; non-binary; reparative

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error