A new major production by the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art. Co-organized with the Municipality of Thessaloniki and the Dimitria Festival 2018.
Alexandros Iolas: has been characterized as one of the most influential people in art from the 1950s to the late 1970s, who, however, has not been duly honored in Greece, in contrast to what is increasingly happening abroad. This paradox is related to the unfortunate recording of Iolas in the memory of the Greek public in particular, as the intention of donating his collections to the Greek state ultimately did not succeed and very few archives have been saved within Greek territory.
Alexandros Iolas: unconventional, cosmopolitan man of the Greek diaspora, contradictory, passionate, lover of world cultures from Antiquity and the Renaissance to contemporary art, from China to America, from Byzantine art to modernity, lover of eccentric clothes and unique objects.
Alexandros Iolas: the man who united dance with the visual arts, painting with the performing arts, lived great moments in metropolitan artistic centers, came face to face with the Greek "society of the spectacle" and part of the yellow press, in his attempt to transform the aesthetic values of Greek society.
Alexandros Iolas: perhaps the only important link connecting Greek participation in the global events of the visual arts of the 20th century, who was surrounded by the mist and prestige of myth and whose current existence is formed more by secondary individual narratives than primary evidence.
Alexandros Iolas: His collective memory is preserved by the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art.
Thirty years after his death, the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art organizes the exhibition-tribute to Alexandros Iolas entitled “Alexandros Iolas: The Legacy”. Part of the program of the Dimitria Festival 2018 of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, the exhibition will highlight the networking of Alexandros Iolas on an artistic and social level, his activity and personality, through rich visual, research and archival material, some of which is presented for the first time. However, it mainly focuses on his involvement with contemporary art and especially on his revealing relationship with a multitude of artists, very different from each other. From de Chirico to Man Ray, from Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas to Victor Brauner and Takis, from Calder to Jean Tinguely, from Magritte to Pino Pascali and Martial Raysse, from Modigliani to Warhol, the path that Iolas took within the artistic world, reflects not only subjective preferences, but also a sharp gaze, constantly open to artistic expression. With a steadfast love for the work of art as an object, Iolas maintained his reflexes towards artistic pursuits after the war, when the overall goal was the creation of a new visual and cultural reality, in order to transform the climate of disappointment with the development of life. Especially in the 1960s and 1970s, the countless exhibitions he presented demonstrate his decisive action in the international artistic environment, as well as his support for new artistic expression.
The exhibition also presents the rich publishing activity of Alexandros Iolas through a rich archive of catalogs that accompanied his exhibitions, the special design of which documents part of the typographic history, but at the same time highlights his special interest in specific printed materials as autonomous works of art.
In this context, in addition to catalogues, posters, visual, research and archival material, the exhibition includes both the works donated by Iolas to the MCCA (Macedonian Center for Contemporary Art - later MMCA Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art), as well as works by important artists from public and private collections, several of which are being presented publicly for the first time.
As the director of the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thouli Misirloglou, notes, "the man who showed a unique interest in all aspects of culture, ancient, but especially modern, the man who knew no boundaries, not only artistically, but also nationally, a multilingual man, with innumerable identities, will be the honored person of the new exhibition of the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art and Thessaloniki for the fall of 2018. Especially when the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art and Thessaloniki owe him a lot: the donation of works from his collection is what allowed the establishment of the Macedonian Center for Contemporary Art, which evolved into the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art. Iolas' donation was the cornerstone that allowed the first museum of contemporary art in Greece to be 'built' and at the same time the first collective renewal effort and contribution to the revision of cultural and artistic contemporary history.
Thus, Iolas' legacy is clearly not only the material part of his donations, but also his cosmopolitan culture, the renewal of experiences of adventure, boldness, the unpredictable, but also emotion through contemporary art.
The exhibition organized by the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art in the fall of 2018 is the first international extensive exhibition dedicated to this maestro of art and is also the harbinger of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the first museum of contemporary art in Greece, which will be celebrated in 2019. At the same time, the exhibition is also a tribute to a multitude of artists who collaborated with Iolas and continue to enrich the contemporary cultural heritage of Greece to this day.
Press kit material (Press release, Program, Photos): https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4zby05cv9tujvrc/AACS4Hgn3cOTQVN6UY2ELkJLa?dl=0
The exhibition presents almost 100 works by:
Alexis Akrithakis (GR, 1939-1994) / Dimitris Alitheinos (GR, 1945) / Andreas Vousouras (GR, 1957) / Victor Brauner (FR/RO, 1903 –1966) / Alexander Calder (US, 1898-1976) / Giorgio de Chirico (IT, 1888-1978) / Roberto Crippa (IT, 1921-1972) / DAS (Epaminondas Daskalopoulos) (GR, 1952) / Nikos Zoumboulis_Titsa Graikou (GR, 1953_1951) / Opi Zouni (GR, 1941-2008) / Novello Finnotti (IT, 1939) / Lucio Fontana (IT, 1899-1968) / Marina Karella (GR, 1940) / Mara Karetsos (GR, 1944) / Tom Keogh (USA, 1922-1980) / George Lazogas (GR, 1945) / Herbert List (GE, 1903-1975) / René Magritte (FR, 1898 - 1967) / Katerina Marouda (GR, 1958) / Eliseo Mattiacci (IT, 1940) / Richard de Menocal (USA, 1919-1995) / Amedeo Modigliani (IT, 1884-1920) / Giannis Bouteas (GR, 1941) / Dennis Oppenheim (US, 1938-2011) / Kostas Paniaras (GR, 1934-2014) / Pino Pascali (IT, 1935-1968) / Pavlos (GR, 1930) / Petros (GR, 1928) / Robert Rauschenberg (USA, 1925-2008) / Jean-Pierre Raynaud (FR, 1939) / Man Ray (US, 1890-1976) / Martial Raysse (FR, 1936) / Niki de Saint Phalle (FR, 1930-2002) / Lisa Sotilis (GR/IT) / Harold Stevenson (US, 1929) / Takis (GR, 1925) / Jean Tinguely (SE, 1925-1991) / Christos Tzivelos (GR, 1949-1995) / Stergios Tsioumas (GR, 1954) / Kostas Tsoklis (GR, 1930) / Andy Warhol (US 1928-1987) / Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas (GR, 1906-1994)
Exhibition contributors
Curator: Thouli Misirloglou, Director of MMST
Assistant curator, Communications manager: Katerina Syroglou
Advisors:
Nikos Stathoulis, Biographer of Alexandros Iolas
Eva Photiadi, Dr. History and Theory of Contemporary Art, St Joost Academy of Fine and Applied Arts
Texts:
Christina Mavini, Archaeologist
Thouli Misirloglou, Dr. Art History
Miguel Fernandez Belmonte, Dr. History of Art
Translations: Maria Koufou
Architectural Elements Design: Yiannis Katranitsas
Visual Communication: Dimitris Papazoglou / Dimitris Papazoglou Studio
Constructions: Constructivist.gr
Posting of Works: Periklis Galanos
Technical Manager: Stelios Theodoridis
Secretariat: Yianna Mantzarli
Museum Educational Programs: Christina Mavini / Villy Polyzouli
Accounting: Haris Theodoridis / Eftychia Petridou
Reception: Katerina Keleki
Supervision: Anastasia Keltsou, Pantelis Ramatanais
Cleanliness: Yianna Stamatiadou
Audiovisual Support: M-SPIRIT
Transportation of Works of Art: MOVE ART LTD
Insurance of Works of Art: DALIANI LLC-KARAVIAS UNDERWRITING AGENCY