AFP Agency
Greece / 12.17.2023 08:12:00
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens (EMST) dedicates a series of exhibitions to women artistsin a pioneering initiative titled “What if women ran the world?”
“For ten months, the entire museum will be in the hands of women artists,” celebrated Katerina Gregos, artistic director of the museum, one of the main ones in the Greek capital.
The permanent exhibition of this museum installed in an old brewery has been remodeled in order to bring to light 25 women artists from all generations and origins: painters, sculptors and photographers such as Diana Al-Hadid (Syria), Eleni Kamma (Greek), Annette Messager (French) and Cornelia Parker (English).
Museum of contemporary art in Greece with the exhibition “What if women ruled the world?” | AFP expand
Another 15 temporary exhibitions will follow
Until now only 37% of the artists represented in the permanent exhibition were women.
“It is the first time, it seems to me, that a large public museum dedicates its entire programming for ten months to women artists,” explains Gregos.
“Women artists remain underrepresented in most aspects of the art world,” she continues.
“We wanted to reverse the trend and see what a museum would be like if, instead of a few symbolic pieces, works by female artists made up the majority,” she adds, looking at one of her favorite works in the exhibition, two paintings by the Iranian Tala Madani, exiled in New York and that questions masculinity and dysfunctional families.
A different world
In the collections of 18 major museums in the United States, 87% of the works were carried out by men. In Greece there are no statistics.
During the visit, works are discovered that question stereotypes of female beauty, issues of violence against women and the poverty that affects them hardest.
Three Greek artists are exhibited in the first part. Among them, Leda Papaconstantinou, 78 years old, one of the most important contemporary artists, who He had never had an exhibition dedicated to his work in a museum in Greece.
Along with his works are those of Chryssa Romanos (1931-2006), known for her political collages – in which she denounces consumerism and inequalities -, and those of Dan Anesiadou, contemporary artist from the Greek diaspora, who grew up in Belgium and He is mainly dedicated to collage and sculpture.
“In a country like Greece, where there has never been an organized feminist movement in the visual arts and where women artists have been systematically marginalized for decades, this initiative is an important message and the repair of a great inequality,” highlights Gregos.
At the beginning of the permanent exhibition, a frieze describes advances in the cause of women in Greece and remembers that they did not have the right to vote until the early 1950s. He also remembers that in marriages, the dowry was not abolished until 1983.
“What if women ran the world?” | AFP expand
The title of the museum’s exhibition cycle, “What if women ran the world?” is inspired by a play by the Israeli Yael Bartana (2017).
“Most wars and destruction are orchestrated mostly by men,” says Gregos.
“Maybe there would be less violence, more commitment and more equality if women led. It wouldn’t be a perfect world, but it would certainly be different,” she reflects.
The exhibitions were considerably enriched on the occasion of this cycle thanks to a very important donation from businessman Dimitris Daskalopoulos, who made his fortune in the agri-food industries and finance.
The contemporary art museum was supposed to open its doors in 2012, but it did not It was fully inaugurated until 2021.
We recommend you
2023-12-18 02:07:09
#Greek #Museum #dedicates #art #exhibition #women #artists
