Opening: Friday 3 November 2023
Exhibition duration: 3 November – 3 December 2023
Location: Athens School of Fine Arts (Nikos Kessanlis Hall), Athens, Greece
Organization: AICA Hellas (International Association of Art Critics)
Under the support and auspices: Ministry of Culture
25 Art Critics propose 58 Visual Artists!
Peggy Kliafa participates with the artwork “SILENT CELLS” which was proposed by the Curator/Art Historian Stratis Pantazis, together with the artworks of the visual artists Eleni Lyra and Aemilia Papaphilippou
SILENT CELLS
2020, Aluminum pills’ blisters, aluminum sheets, plexiglass, silicone, acrylic transparent tubes filled with aluminum foils (waste of medicines’ packaging), led light, cable, 210 x 85 x 10,5 cm
Curators: Emmanouil Mavromatis, Fay Tzanetoulakou, Elli Levendaki, Niki Papaspyrou
Participating artists: Marina Provatidou proposed by Dionysia Giakoumi, Jonah Sachpazis proposed by Gelly Gryntaki, Annie Kaltsidou proposed by Maria D. Kagiadaki, Kostas Stavropoulos proposed by Katerina Kazolea, Sofia Damala, Dimitris Zouroudis, Ioanna Sideris proposed by Artemis Kardoulaki, Charikleia Papapostolou, Tolis Tatolas proposed by Eva Kekou, Antonis Pavlakis proposed by Alexandra Kouroutaki, Konstantinos Kontogeorgos, Eleni Moraiti proposed by Ellie Leventaki, Ersi Venetsanou, Kostas Vrouvas, Evi Kyrmakidou proposed by Emmanuel Mavrommatis, Filippos Tsitsopoulos proposed by Efi Michalarou, Kostis, Angeliki Loi, Manos Pontikakis proposed by Konstantinos Basios, Aspasia Bourcha proposed by Lambrini Benatsi, Yorgos Drivas, Alexandra Petranaki proposed by Maria Ksypolopoulou, Peggy Kliafa, Eleni Lyra, Aimilia Papafilippou proposed by Stratis Pandazis, Nikos Vrouvas, Despoina Meimaroglou, Vivetta Christouli proposed by Bia Papadopoulou, Fotini Poulia, Dimitris Skourogiannis, Marios Fournaris proposed by Niki Papaspyrou, Nikos Giavropoulos, Maria Maragkoudaki, Labrini Boviatsou proposed by Konstantinos V.Proimos, Antonios Panagopoulos proposed by Irini Savvani, Dimitris Anastasiou, Andreas Deventzis, Ilias Kafouros proposed by Athina Schina, Niki Zachari proposed by Julia Sysalova, Katerina Diakomi, Vasiliki Sagkioti, The Snipers/ Aghios Sevastianos: Yorgos Oybak, Akis Batzianas, Dionisis Christofilogiannis proposed by Faye Tzanetoulakou, Dimitrios Antonitsi, Theodoros Zafeiropoulos, Stefania Strouza proposed by Dimitris Trikas, Andreas Savva, Eva Stefani, Indoors Group: Marigo Kassi, Vallie Nomidou, Spyridoula Politi, Mary Christea proposed by Lina Tsikouta, Christina Thalasa, Katerina Cassavetis, Tassos Triandafyllou proposed by Markella-Elpida Tsichla, Babis Venetopoulos, Gioula Papadopoulou proposed by Anna Chatzigiannaki
CATALOGUE TEXT
Many contemporary artists like Damien Hirst, Joanna Rajkowska and Marc Quinn use materials related to the pharmaceutical industry, in order to comment on the fragile, ephemeral and self-destructive side of human existence, as well as on the relation of society with medicines, which has its roots in the ancient times.
Likewise, Peggy Kliafa works mostly with drugs and their packaging. Her sculpture Silent Cells (2020), created during the COVID-19 pandemic, is a natural size closed prison door, made out of blister packs. Inside the Plexiglass bars of the small window, remains of these packs can be detected. The “strong” door is placed on the wall, and in coordination with the light that comes out of its window, gives the illusion of a space that exists behind it.
The English word “cells” in the title, offers a double meaning to the artwork. It is referred to the prison cells and the body cells. For Kliafa “a door is a limit and a symbol of duality, just as the drugs can be therapeutic and poisonous at the same time.” The work deals with the different forms of confinement and imprisonment, the visible and invisible bars and the bolted doors that isolate us from our environment. The continuous and increasing shift of people to psychotropic drugs and sedatives, on the one hand offers tranquility to the body cells, but on the other, often leads to a cloaked addiction, a form of internal imprisonment.
Kliafa’s door, based on the human scale, reminds us that people are called to rediscover the measure, which according to the philosopher Protagoras from Avdira, has at its center the human being. They have to lean on their own strength, away from substitutes and crutches. The person that “dwells” behind the drugs is the real measure of knowledge and truth, the “light” that spreads inside the cell and fights to come forward.
Stratis Pantazis