The DESTE Foundation presents the group exhibition Anathena, proposed by curators Marina Fokidis and Marina Gioti for the program of DESTE’s “Yellow Project Room.” Following an open call for proposals, Anathena was selected by a committee comprising of DESTE, Deitch Projects, and The Wrong Gallery.
Featuring Athens-based artists and young creatives, Anathena highlights a dynamic aspect of local contemporary artistic production that has its affinities with street and music culture. It presents works largely unknown to the city’s mainstream art world, as these artists have long been using their own self-devised production and distribution mechanisms and channels. Most of the participating artists work professionally in diverse areas, such as graphic and web design, film, and music. Their work draws from different aspects of what is broadly termed “visual contemporary culture” and is frequently community-based, growing from social networks and friendships, common influences, and taste. Their work does not represent a movement or a self-manifested scene, but rather artistic undercurrents. They do not necessarily work together and the majority of them do not insist on labelling what they do as “art.” This self-exclusion from the local art establishment is, in a way, an “anathema.” Lacking the polemic and anger usually related to the term, this “anathema” is gentle, and suggests more an attitude of romantic indifference rather than one of dogmatic denouncement.
Special projects running parallel to the exhibition include an electronic fanzine designed by Angelo Plessas, live music performances by Lo-Fi and Fantastikoi Hxoi, and “Anathena Zone”, a web radio program featuring DJ sets, poetry readings, and talk shows by the participating artists, organized in collaboration with the Vinyl Microstore – a music store that acts as a meeting, discussion, and creative venue for some artists of this community.
Sponsored by Gauloises and LIFO magazine
