Space for Marine Species
Jenny Marketou
Book presentation and exhibition
Thursday February 15, 2024, 8pm
at HYPER HYPO – Voreou 10, Athens
HYPER HYPO is happy to host the first Athens presentation of the bilingual book Futuring Waters: A Speculative Manifesto for and from the Waters of Elefsina by the New York based artist, educator, cultural producer and author Jenny Marketou, part of which was presented in the context of Elefsis 2023. As part of this presentation, Marketou will moderate a discussion which will draw selectively from the book with a group of guests who contributed to her research and she will also sign copies. Her guests will include Julie Ward, Nadja Argyropoulou, Dimitra Ioannou, and Irakleia Peppa.
Alongside the event, an exhibition titled Space for Marine Species will bring together a video about The Hatchery Project with two sculptural creations made out of “tabby” an oyster shell and lime mix, a material that Marketou uses inspired by the artistic knowledge and traditions of native coastal peoples. In addition, the show will feature two free-hanging banners made out of recycled material. They will be shown for the first time in Athens in the project space at Hyper Hypo until February 27. Futuring Waters: A Speculative Manifesto from and for the Waters of Eleusina is the outcome of a creative journey made out of ideas, values and beliefs in times of systemic environmental destruction, monster storms , the destruction of every form of life, inequality and violence . It provides readers with extraordinary experiences to temporarily transcend the human/non-human divide and dive into a relationship of reciprocal belonging. The book foregrounds Marketou’s art practice in shaping collective awareness, preserving identity and environmental memory through the arts, social activism and knowledge production as artistic strategies. It is also about the potential of art to have critical impact on the kinds of worlds we want to live in. Jenny Marketou brings together voices of international eco-art curators artists, philosophers, scientists, environmental activists, poets, architects, and marine archeologists such as Nikolas Anastasopoulos, Eva Andronicidou, Tatiana Theodoropoulou, Dimitra Ioannou, Ariana Kalliga, Evangelos Katsanevakis, Areti Miza, Eleni Riga, Dr. Michael I. Skoullos, Angela YT Chan, Denis Maksimov, Joulia Strauss, Blanca de la Torre and citizens of Eleusis.
The book is the outcome of Marketou’s durational art project Mystery 42, Futuring Waters which was commissioned by 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture.
