The Architecture exhibition “9 transitions: The Imaginary Museum” was inaugurated on Friday, June 3rd at the Headquarters of the Old Oil Mill Factory of Eleusis and will run until June 19th. The exhibition is organized by The School of Architecture of NTUA, in collaboration with “Eleusis 2021 European Capital of Culture – Candidate City” and the Municipality of Eleusis and curated by the professors Vana Xenou and Giorgos Parmenidis.
The proposal of Eleusis 2021 is summed up in the phrase “Transition to EUphoria. The study of the concept of transition, a fundamental condition for ensuring coexistence, has been the long-term research’s subject of The School of Architecture of NTUA. Through the student’s work, is testified the research’s experience developed by the graduate and the undergraduate courses of the 6th, 7th, 8th semester under the title: “THE IMAGINARY MUSEUM- The concept of space as expressed in the plastic arts – Space and Time Shifts – The opening of the imaginary field” and “EMERGENCY UNITS – the intermediation as a communicative character of construction – Old Oil Mill Factory of Eleusis”.
THE SPACE
Eleusis was chosen as a reference space and case study and more particularly the proximity area of the archeological site (the point where there was one of the most important temples of the Ancient World) and the Old Oil Mill, a factory of the industrial period of the Modern Greek State. The fact that the concept of the sacred is an important ingredient of Eleusis, gave rise to the architects to approach the issue of the sanctuary, which has been pushed aside for decades by the Architecture, the Urban Design and till some point by Arts, as it was considered to belong to an abstract and irrational sphere. The city’s origins as an eminently political space are directly related to the foundation of the sacred space. The Sanctuary, a very discrete space and simultaneously a safe meeting point of different groups, was essentially a space of coexistence. This dialectic of meeting many people and groups, the openness and exclusion that is implied in the sacred spaces is one of the oldest manifestations of the political element.
THE PROCEDURE
The research is focusing on the exploration of the concept of coexistence as a determining element of the modern museum. The book by André Malraux “The Imaginary Museum” was the central reference, a book where is recognized the seminal reason of Walter Benjamin, the time when the issue of archiving influenced profoundly the postmodern thought and the visual arts. Alongside the artwork “Mnemosyne Atlas by Aby Warburg became the ultimate example for the visual arts, allowing through visual montage the re-association of space with time.
Through this spatio-temporal approach it was made possible the understanding of global art. If the museum was once an affirmation, the Imaginary Museum today is a questioning, as it hasn’t stopped more than a century imposing the suffer on each of the expressions which collects and it is wondering which is the one that collects. In the eyes’ pleasure, the consciousness of passionate search for reconstruction has been added.
THE PROPOSAL
The proposals’ aim was the designing of spatial structures which would function as intermediaries’ spaces, incorporating elements which are drawn from the source of this vast range that is provided by the natural, historical and mythical existence of the city.
Through the researching approach are opened new mental connections, from the individual to the collective experience, from the ancient to the industrial and modern character of the city. Eventually through the emergence of multiple methodologies, intensifies and extends the semantic depth of cognitive and natural signs, bringing to light hidden identities of the city, organizing new connections and networks.
uratοrs
Vana Xenou, Giorgos Parmenidis
Collaborating Curators, Exhibition & Graphic Design
Yota Passia, Panayotis Roupas
Coordination
Chryssoula Karadima, Dimitra Mpouzani
Exhibits’ Construction
Thodoris Vagenas, Katerina Konstantopoulos
Participants
Argyropoulou Paraskevi, Volioti Michelina, Zampopoulos Dimitris, Ioannidou-Lemonidou Athena, Kaleris Aristotelis, Kalitsi Penelope, Karafili Maria, Karafili Christina, Karpouzis Yannis, Karystinaiou-Efthymiatou Ernestina, Kastrouni Maria Ilia, Korre Fwteini, Koufos Panayiotis, Kyriakou Panagiota, Konstantaras Kimon, Lainaki Nektaria, Liakopoulou Katerina-Christina, Mallakou Eirini, Maniatis Stefanos, Michalenas Vasilis, Basdanis Thanos, Batalha Penny, Neopoulou Kelly, Dinou Stefania, Papaderou Katerina, Papadimitriou Thanasis, Passia Yota, Patsiaouras Konstantinos, Plytas Savvas, Retsinas Costas, Roupas Panagiotis, Roussos Theofanis, Spanolios Isidoros, Spendou Elli, Smponias Giorgos, Stiakaki Magda, Tzavla Maria Despina, Chavakis Kyriakos, Hatzopoulos Giorgos, Christakou Vicky, Psychogyios Stefanos.
OPENING: Friday, June 3rd, 20.00
DURATION: 03.06-19.06.2016
VISITING HOURS:
Daily: 18: 00-22:00
Saturday Sunday: 10: 00-13: 00 and 18:00-22: 00
Closed: Monday.
Venue: Headquarters of the Old Oil Mill Factory, Eleusis
