Along with prisons, working factories are the institutions of modern societies that deserve, more than any other, the designation "untouchable". Rarely do those without a professional connection to the site have the opportunity to enter one of the remaining "modern cathedrals" of our time.
In the "hideaways" of the Mouzaki textile industry
Thus, the group exhibition " The Butterfly Effect " is a first-class opportunity for the public to enter the underworld of the textile industry El. D. Mouzakis - "Butterfly" , in the area of Eleonas, next to, encased, feu, Kifissos. The exhibition, organized by artefact athens , curated by Kostas Prapoglou , is probably the first to be hosted in an operating factory.
Forty-one artists participate in this contemporary art exhibition, with works that speak directly to the space (site-specific) and attempt to respond to the conceptual framework set by the curator, which is nothing more than a poetic and allegorical transfer of "butterfly effect": According to chaos theory, an infinitesimal change in the flow of events ("the flight of a butterfly in Beijing") leads, over time, to an evolution dramatically different from that which would have taken place, if the change hadn't happened ("...may cause a storm in New York").
Journey to Elefsina
The participants interact with the factory's industrial environment and mechanical equipment, while many use the yarn produced there as raw material for their works, either in its physical or symbolic form. On the contrary, the impact of human work seems to be small, either as a daily relationship (the relationship par excellence!) inside the factory or as a memory and lived experience.
The exhibition narrative creates for the visitor a path, conscious and emotional , from Above to the Underworld, from the ground level to the dark basement, which turns out to be emotionally much richer. After all, Kostas Prapoglou 's obsession with the path to Elefsina and its Mysteries, with the Sacred Way and with places of transition in general had become evident in the two previous group exhibitions he edited, at the Psychiatric Hospital of Dafniou ("Reality Check » I and II, 2021 and 2022, respectively).
Eozen Agopian, "In Process Twice"
In the factory yard
Rigorously structured, the exhibition narrative follows a route that begins in the factory yard, where the visitor is greeted by Eozen Hagopian's large-scale work of thread, fabric and painted canvas (" In Process Twice"), which was completed on site, with clear references to chrysalis and metamorphosis.
Then, a series of works are placed next to the mechanical equipment of the factory, focusing on time ( Christina Anid , "Vortex"), evolution and transformation ( Alison Woods, "Chrysalis"), but also roots ( Anna Petranaki , "Antennas").
Alison Woods, "Chrysalis"
Conversing with the spinners
Now entering the area of the spinning mills, we encounter the sound installation of Nikos Tranos ("Wall Tapestry for the Blind"), which partially exploits materials found in the factory itself, or the large-scale installation of Dimitra Skandali's ("Weaving the valleys of love" ), which uses a variety of materials, from threads to seaweed, bamboo and more. In the opposite room, Susan Daboll's photographic "stained glass windows" ("Iterations") prepare the visitor's eye for what will follow in the rest of the journey.
Dimitras Skandali, "Weaving the valleys of love"
The works exhibited in the area of the dyehouse, from where the viewer will be led to what one perceives to be the main area of the exhibition – since most of the works are also presented there – have a character of preparation, as, according to the archaeological testimonies, they also had the stages that preceded the entrance of the mystics into the area of the Telestirium, in Eleusis. Whether it is the light construction of Heliodora Margellou or the liturgical sculptural installation "Some Notes on Urnes" by Sandra Osborne, but also the futuristic light installation "Complexions" by Marianna Konstantis , which opens the portal to the descent into the underground warehouses of factory.
Lydia Andrioti
Entrance to the Underworld
There, in this peculiar Underworld or, more correctly, Purgatory, since it remains a place of transition, no longer mixing with the day-to-day operations of production – although its traces are visible everywhere – most of the works in the exhibition "nest". Large-scale installations spread out between the shelves create atmospheric images, such as that of Lydia Andriotis, who uses spools and metal sheets, along with neon lighting and sounds, drawing the viewer into a hypnotic maze; or the combination of an old loom with analogue telephones from Eva Nathena, which refers to traditional connections at a time when technology invades every aspect of our lives.
Maria Andromachi Hatzinikolaou "Thread of Life"
In one of the corridors is the work of Maria Andromachis Hatzinikolaou "Thread of Life", a series of photographs where women's hands are depicted, referring both to the concept of female work, dominant in a factory like this, but also to that of the manual worker , also intertwined with women's domestic work; besides, many working hands, framed, stand on the opposite wall. It is one of the few works that focuses not on the material or the machine, as in most cases, but on human labor.
Theodoros Noutsos, "New Life"
Small pilgrimages
As the visitor progresses through the semi-darkness, the works presented have an increasingly liturgical character – small or larger shrines in corners that workers use for rest or totemic constructions, such as the sculptural installation made of used clothes by Theodoros Noutsos ("New Life").
Klitsa Antoniou "The Declaration of Feelings and other stories"
The climax (because the exhibition narrative follows an escalating path) awaits the visitor shortly before the exit, on the one hand, with the "Birth of Venus", by Dimitris Skurogiannis , which in many ways overturns Botticelli's work and the gender stereotypes it triggers, on the other hand, with Klitsa Antoniou's four-channel video installation "The Declaration of Sentiments and other stories", which is masterfully projected onto the cardboard boxes of the warehouse, while a porcelain teapot refers to a historical event from the struggle of American women for women's suffrage .
Ada Petranaki
Participating Artists
Eozen Agopian (Greece), Lydia Andrioti (Greece), Christina Anid (France/Greece/Lebanon), Anna Antarti (Greece), KlitsaAntoniou (Cyprus), Ruth Asawa (America), Orit Ben Shitrit (Israel/USA/Morocco), Robert Cahen (France), Irene Carvajal (Costa Rica/America), Irini Gonou (Greece), Susan Daboll (America), Lydia Dambasina (Greece), Sophia Zarari (Greece), Eleni Zouni (Greece), Michal Heiman (Israel), Kiana Honarmand (Iran/America), Pushpakaran Kadappath (India), Anita Kalimeri (Greece), Marianna Konstantis (Cyprus), Maria Loizidou (Cyprus), Iliodora Margelou (Greece), Despina Meimaroglou (Greece), Stella Meletopoulou (Greece), Manolis Babousis (Greece), Eva Nathena (Greece), Theodoros Noutsos (Greece), Sandra Osborne (America), Ada Petranaki (Greece), Leah Petrou (Greece), Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland), Evi Savvaidi (Greece), Ismeni Samanidi (England/Greece), Dimitra Skandali (Greece), Dimitris Skourogiannis (Greece), Franca Sonnino & Maria Jole Serreli (Italy), Marianna Strapatsaki (Greece), Nikos Tranos (Greece), Claire Tsalouchidou - Chatzimina (Greece), Alison Woods (USA), Maria Andromachi Chatzinikolaou (Greece).
Anna Antarti
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