Bargain Prices on Elephant Gun

Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Center | www.art-tounta.gr

"Rolling" , mixed media on aluminum, 105 x 140 cm, 2008.

"House in paradise" , mixed media on wood, 75 x 150 cm, 2008.

If I was young, I'd flee this town I'd bury my dreams underground As did I, we drink to die, we drink tonight

…Far from home, elephant gun Let's take them down one by one We'll lay it down, it's not been found, it's not around… …And it rips through the silence of our camp at night And it rips through the silence, all that is left is all that I hide.. (from the song,Elephant Gun, by Beirut)

BARGAIN PRICES ON ELEPHANT GUN  is a commentary on how the individual adapts to the requirements of contemporary society. Contemporary forms of social relations develop in the space of the old antinomy between the personal and the collective, or social. Though individual freedom is by now a well-established principle of social organization, society continues to reproduce itself on the basis of rules and laws that eventually force it into a state of crisis, reducing it to a mere product of social mediation. Contemporary lifestyles, generally aimed toward consumption, challenge the sense of identity and ultimately the integrity of individuals exposed to them.

The notion of interdependence is of particular importance in this context: what, in other words, is the relation between individual perspectives on contemporary lifestyles and individual action? To what extent are our present choices our own? If the past determines the future, what, or who, determines our present?

The artists participating in this exhibition tell their personal stories about resistance or compliance, about defying the workings of the system or finding ways to exist alongside it, about our choices with respect to what we leave behind and what we stick to in our effort to move ahead.

Works in the exhibition explore areas where there are no rigid distinctions between theory and practice; where the boundaries between the two seem to blur. They conjure up a universe of individual worlds that invoke contemporary awareness and use it as a prism through which to look upon how we experience reality. We all try to survive amidst the chaos of contemporary life. The exhibition poses questions regarding our sense of unease and anxiety, the individual’s incorporation into the social body, the call for freedom, the possibility or impossibility of a coexistence of the personal and the collective, the desire for change.

 Katerina Nikou

Duration | Διάρκεια: 09/10/2008 - 15/11/2008

Curating | Επιμέλεια: 

Katerina Nikou |Κατερίνα Νίκου

Artists

Yves Ackermann, Dimitris Andreadis, Dimitris Antonitsis, Dimitris Baboulis, Vassili Balatsos, Petros Chrisostomou, Dimitris Foutris, Ry Fyan, Jenny Marketou, Eleni Kamma, Thanos Klonaris, Caroline May,  Maro Michalakakos, Eva Mitala, Tereza Papamichali, Antonis Pittas, Angelo Plessas, Dimitris Tsoumplekas, Kostis Velonis, Maria Zervou.