3137

It is with great pleasure that 3 137 invites you to the launch of the publication After the explosion you still hear the light (Paraguay, Paris, 2023) taking place at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at 18.00.

On the occasion of the publication’s launch and drawing on issues that the book highlights – the relationship of Greek artists who live (or lived) in Athens with the city of Paris from 1970 to this day, the concept of communication and exchange of ideas through the written word, but also the creation of an artistic language influenced by two different artistic scenes – we present the exhibitionla poste.

Through works that fit in mail envelopes and travel by post, works that lie in an intermediate space between art, poetry, and prose, works that capture orality through material means, works that transport entire places through travel memories, we create an exhibition that unfolds like a diary of a route from one city to the other. We take this journey mentally, over and over again, at different times and periods, in order to discover connections between artists, works, and events. On the one hand, the exhibition deals with existing relationships, while on the other it raises questions about the ways in which history and the experience of an object is transferred from one place to another. The exhibition la poste comprises works by artists who create a bridge between the two countries. Greek artists who have spent time of their lives in Paris, international visual artists related to Greece; works that indicate this relationship, projects that create channels of communication.

The exhibition features works by artists Daniel Gustav Cramer, Diohandi, Mario García Torres, Alexia Karavela, Karolina Krasouli, Nefeli Papadimouli, Aris Prodromidis, Theo Prodromidis, and Constantin Xenakis.

In 2016, in the context of his participation in the exhibition After the explosion… you hear the light, Theo Prodromidis creates a conversation piece together with his father, Aris Prodromidis. The project takes the form of a correspondence, with Theo sending postcards from Paris, where he stayed as a visiting artist at the Cité internationale des arts, and Aris, who was the first video artist to represent the country in Biennale de Paris in 1982, responding from his place in Greece. Their exchange of personal messages takes the shape of an artwork that comes to public view during the exhibition, creating a dialogue in which proximity alternates with distance. In 2017, artist Mario García Torres created a correspondence project for his participation in Phenomenon Anafi. The artist has discovered an ancient Greek sculpture that was made in Anafi, and today is exhibited at the Louvre Museum in Paris. He therefore requests the repatriation of the sculpture through a postcard he made and distributed in the shops of Anafi, a projection-installation set at the School of Anafi, featuring a photographic slide that depicts the sculpture in Louvre, but also through a letter he left to visitors of the island. Daniel Gustav Cramer writes to his friend Javier about the passing of time, their increasingly scarce communication, and their fading friendship. With this work, the artist took part in the exhibition entitled “...”, held at the premises of 3 137 in 2013, and curated by Galini Notti. Karolina Krasouli creates a game of chance with mail envelopes she paints and places in a row. Constantin Xenakis creates compositions with symbols, building his own cryptic yet universal language. Nefeli Papadimouli captures performative gestures on paper, while giving guidelines to invite us to imagine bodies moving in space. Alexia Karavela uses pencil to render on paper a snapshot of François Mitterrand’s visit to Greece in 1982. Diohandi, who visits the FIAC 85 international exhibition in Paris in 1985, films on Super 8 film the participation of the Athens based Dracos Art Center featuring works by four Greek and four international artists.

The audiovisual material by Diohandi belonging to the personal archive of the artist, is central to the exhibition. It will be presented for the first time to an international audience. The material that will be shown is only a part of the artist’s rich and important collection of recordings on Super 8 film that she has made at exhibitions of Greek artists abroad, as well as exhibitions of Greek and international artists in Athens, from 1977 until 1986. The presentation of the material comes as a result of the long-term collaboration between 3 137 and the artist since 2016 to the present day: a conversation that evolves around her artistic work, as well as around the preservation and archiving of materials related to artists of her time, but also of the generation prior to hers.

3 137 would like to thank Iordanis Kerenidis and Piergiorgio Peppe for their support.  

The exhibition was made possible with the support of NEON Organization for Culture and Development