MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts, in collaboration with MOMus-Photography Museum of Thessaloniki in the framework of the exhibition HerStories. Photographic Practices, 1974-2024, and with the participation of invited researchers, curators and artists, presents Accelerating to the Future, a series of autonomous actions, dedicated to the investigation of feminist practices and their connection to contemporary visual creation.
Through screenings, presentations, performances and discussions focusing on activist and alternative artistic practices as well as theoretical approaches, an attempt is made to promote and communicate to the public crucial issues and concerns which, more than ever before, express the need of contemporary society for visibility, inclusion, acceptance and diversity.
Parallel Events Programme
MOMus-Experimental Center for the Arts (Warehouse B1, Pier A’, Thessaloniki port)
2nd action: Talk-presentation & Performance
Thursday, June 13, 2024 @ 19:00 & 20:30
19:00-20:15
Glafki Gotsi: “Feminist narratives in Greek History of Art.”
Description: The talk presents issues of women and gender that have been raised in the study of Greek History of Art of the 19th and 20th centuries, especially the period between 1850 and 1970. Aiming to show the importance of feminist approaches to history, topics such as the female gaze in the second half of the 19th century, artists' collectives in the Interwar and Early Post-war Years, the discourse of feminists on creation and the position of women in visual present and past are under study. We examine the opinions expressed by subjects such as Kallirroi Parren, Myrsini Kleanthous-Papadimitriou, Hariklia Alexandridou-Stefanopoulou and Diana Antonakatou, we follow the initiatives undertaken by groups such as the Women's Association of Letters and Arts and the Artistic Association of Greek Women, and we interpret texts that discuss the presence and contribution of women in art. In parallel, we attempt to analyze a number of women artists' works aiming to promote an alternative feminist reading.
Glafki Gotsi is Assistant Professor in History of Art at School of History and Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AuTh). Her research interests focus on issues of modern and contemporary art mainly from the perspective of the history of women and gender. She co-edited the volumes Gender in History: Historiographical Accounts and Case Studies (Athens: Asini, 2015) and Histories on sexuality (Athens: Themelio, 2020). Since 2013 she co-edits the annual online publication of the Greek Bibliography of Women’s and Gender Historiography, accessible at http://anemi.lib.uoc.gr/metadata/6/6/7/metadata-1382700536-109398-18169.tkl. Her book Female Viewers of Art (1850-1900) was published in 2022 (Thessaloniki: Nissides).
20:30-21:00
COMOTIRIO
PEKTRIES / SAVOIR VIVRE EDITION
Performance
Rules of good conduct, an instructive audiovisual narrative. It is a performative act, in which rules of "good behavior" and savoir vivre are presented, as they are found in manuals adapted to the Greek society of the past decades. The selected excerpts satirize female stereotypes interspersed with contemporary references such as selfies, photo filters, retouching and duck faces.
PEKTRIES is a side-project by COMOTIRIO, an ongoing series of site-specific performative actions adjusted every time anew to the hosting space, its features and its idiosyncracies. The project reflects on the multiplicity of symbolism of hair in relation to cultural and mythological semiology. Πέκω (pek-e/o) > in Greek: to hackle, to comb hair. Πόκος (pokos) > sheep wool. Πέκτρια (pektria) > the woman who cards the sheep wool. A consonant to παίκτριες (paiktries) meaning “the female players”, a spelling error embracing the jesting, gambling and fun element.
COMOTIRIO, meaning "hair salon" in Greek, is the co-working scheme of visual artists Naira Stergiou & Eriphyli Veneri. The scheme being in a constant process of exchanging views and ideas presents collaborations on various levels around the thematics of staged experiencing, myth-making, Beauty and beautification processes. Their main practice is the organization of independent contemporary art exhibitions in places and spaces with historicity and semiology. Selected projects: Let's Supper, Mr. Iolas/Resurrection RE, Villa Iola, Athens (2019, supported by ΝΕΟΝ and Marni Films), Blablablack, Rebound Club, Athens (2019), The Love Boat, Athens Municipal Garbage Trucks’ Depot (2020, supported by the City of Athens’ Europe Direct), Flowers-Plants-Decorations, Syntagma Square Flower shops (2021), Iera Poli I/Eromeni, Salt Museum, Messolonghi (2021, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Hellenic Republic), PETDEMONIUM, The Creatures Pet Shop & Grooming, Cholargos (2021), BFFEAE: Best Friends Forever and Ever, Municipal Gallery of Kallithea Sofia Laskaridou (2022), SĒMAIOSTOLISTIKÉ, Flag production and retail store Simeostolistiki, Athens (2023).
3rd action
Feminist guided tour by the Centre of New Media and Feminist Public Practices, Saturday, 14 | 12:00
Elpida Karaba, art theorist and curator, Ioanna Zouli, visual artist and curator and Valia Papastamou, researcher and architect, researchers of the Centre of New Media and Feminist Public Practices organize and present a feminist guided tour version of the artworks presented in the exhibition HerStories. Photographic Practices, 1974-2024. Based on recent articles, texts and publications expanding on contemporary feminist theory and practice the tour will provide the public with a radical reading of the artworks in order to provoke a broader discussion on the role and position of Greek women artists in contemporary art history.
This is the 3rd action organized in the framework of the public program for 2024 of the MOMus-Experimental Arts Center and the parallel program of the exhibition Her Stories. Photographic practices, 1974-2024, a section of which is presented at MOMus-ECA from May 18 until September 15, 2024.
Τhe Centre of New Media and Feminist Public Practices (CNMFPP) (https://www.centrefeministmedia.arch.uth.gr/) started as a postdoctoral program funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I) and the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation (GSRI) at the University of Thessaly, Department of Architecture (MAT). It has developed beyond an individualized research into an open, situated and multi-faceted prototype institution which is empowering for the local research and production, at the critical intersection of feminism, art and technology. After the completion of its funding in 2022, the CNMFPP, is located at the Department of Architecture, Uth. (TAM) and works as a spectral institution, with no permanent infrastructure, for fundraising, but supported by a strong net of collaborators and kins, undertaking small and medium scale projects. It is evolving into a model–for Greece-project that bridges academic research and theory, cultural, artistic practice and educational work, which are the three main axes of its action. Having so far contributed in various ways to the creation of new works of art and innovative theory and methodology, CNMFPP also focuses on providing expanded pedagogies on these issues, organizing different educational programs. Feminist guided tours are part of these practices.
**Participation in the tour is with the entrance ticket to the site. The ticket can be issued online via the ComeTogether platform ( > https://cometogether.live/event/1296 ) or in person at the Museum Reception, half an hour before the start of the tour, subject to availability.
Programme curated by: Domna Gounari, MOMus curator.