URBANOGRAPHY

The life of the city in the 1950s-1970s

Main Building – Hall of Periodical Exhibitions

Duration: 21 June 2023 – 3 March 2024

In collaboration with the Greek Film Archive of Greece

Conception – Curator.SyragoTsiara

The new exhibition entitled  URBANOGRAPHY. The life of the city in the 1950s-1970s”, presented to the public at the National Gallery – Alexandros Museum, in the Hall of Periodic Exhibitions, has the broad form of ‘urban photography’, but this time it is examined through the prism of the visual arts and cinema that developed in the background of these decades.

Παπασπύρου Ρένα (Αθήνα 1938-), Επεισόδια στην ύλη

The originality in its conception by the Director of the National Gallery and curator of the exhibition, SyragoTsiara, lies in the characteristic feature that it takes the form of a free personal tour through the ‘urban landscape’ of the three decades of the rapid transformation of post-war Greece. The visitor has the opportunity to get to know the conception of the exhibition which “treats the city as an experience, examining urbanization, reconstruction and migration in the context of the rapid changes that occurred in Greek society after the war”, as Mrs. Tsiara herself states in her introductory note.

The identity of the city in progress, its urbanization, its everyday life and the adversities within it are revealed through a panorama of artistic works, placing the visual arts – painting, sculpture, engraving, installations, photography, drawings and posters – in a multidimensional dialogue with excerpts from popular Greek cinema and important films of critical realism, which demonstrated the social dimension of the era.

Τέτσης Παναγιώτης (Ύδρα 1925-Αθήνα 2016), Οικοδομή

The artists compose an image of the city where in some cases a nostalgia for the past is inherent, which gives way to the present.

The life of the city emerges through different visual and cinematic writings and it is the urban experience that shapes identities.

The artistic representations of urban transformation are listed and leave free frames of interpretation through the experiences that the city cultivates as “Scenography”, as “Nostalgia”, but also through the “Yapi” that is distinguished as the main characteristic of construction, the “Close Plan” in the interiors of the houses, the “Spectacle” that develops in the city, the “Dreams and Conflicts” that take place in the city and the “Materialities” that define it radically, as the sections of the exhibition with these titles indicate.

Βακιρτζής Γεώργιος (Μυτιλήνη 1923-Αθήνα 1988), Αφίσα από την ταινία Η λεοπάρδαλις της Σικελίας

The work that welcomes the viewer to the exhibition is the installation “Arrivederci willkommen” by VlassisKaniaris, created by the artist in the 1970s, an important and highly symbolic work for the path of people and their pursuit of settlement in the city.  “The experience of migration is very, very basic, as are other aspects of the city such as its architecture, pleasures, urban culture, entertainment, spectacle. The giant posters by George Vakirtzis are the main link between the visual arts and cinema, since one of the main aims of the curatorial narrative of the exhibition is to connect the two arts,” Ms. Tsiara said during the presentation of the exhibition at the press conference.

The complexity of the urban experience can be seen in the photographic work of Maria Chroussaki, a photograph that views the city from above, while many works in the exhibition present the city from different points of view, both spatially and socially classed. AgenorAsteriadis sees the city in a scenographic way, depicting it by presenting realistic snapshots as an imaginary interpretation in the work “Maroussi”, while in the work “Neon” by YannisTsarouchis, a “scene” of the city is formed, a theatrical set.

Παραλής Γιώργος (Πολύγυρος Χαλκιδικής 1908-Θεσσαλονίκη 1975), Ο νεροχύτης της Βαρβάρας

In the works of Giorgos Ioannou, the pop version of the city is presented with elements of critical realism, while the photographs of Stelios Kasimatis talk about everyday life and movement. The human forms of the city also emerge in works such as those of YannisGaitis, who emphasizes, through representation and form, the uniformity and repetitiveness that characterizes the city.

The exhibition as a whole is characterized by the constant movement from the big picture, to the close-up, to the detail of everyday life in urban life.

Κοντόπουλος Αλέκος (Λαμία 1904-Αθήνα 1975), Αθήνα

The Yapi puts us at the core of the city’s evolution, thanks to the rapid reconstruction of the city at the time, and we observe this in works such as Panagiotis Tetsis’ “Building”.  Because people build in the city, Diamantis Diamantopoulos captures the theme of builders through geometry and simplification. In a work by Chronis Botsoglou the narrative involves social criticism, it is the depiction and the unfortunate outcome of a work accident on a construction site.

The highlighting of everyday life in cities, the close-ups, the focus on detail and the interiors of houses is important. Here too, the changes in the city become apparent. The interior “still lifes” of YannisPsychopedis and Cleopatra Diga convey the everyday experience through representations of urban objects.

Καπράλος Χρήστος (Παναιτώλιο Αγρινίου 1909-Αθήνα 1993), Η πλύστρα (παραλλαγή)

The city is not only about everyday life and its pleasures but also about the social inequalities within its neighbourhoods. During the 1960s the phenomenon of critical realism emerged, with the young Greek realists. YannisPsychopedis depicts in an ironic, lyrical way – like a postcard – the fragmented nature of the city as a public space of contradictions and adversities, but also the illusion created by the urban landscape, and ChrysaRomanou critiques through all the contradictions that make up the life of the city in her dynamic collages that judge the myths that make up the life of the city.

The important issue of refugeeism and the need to create housing for the lower classes appears in Demosthenes Kokkinidis’ work “Settlements”.

At the end of the exhibition we move to the city of the 1970s, a period of change and intense construction that brings to the fore the importance of materiality.  The city as material and as surface is the theme explored by Rena Papaspyrou, who captures her journeys and her relationship with the city through her highly experiential photographic prints. GiorgosLazogas expresses materiality through personal experience, the gas fireplace as a personal object, but also the gas fireplace as an element of subversion and instrumental use in coexistence with his personal correspondence, while the deeply symbolic work “Honour on the walls of Athens” by VlassisKaniaris expresses the relationship between the city and its inhabitants and its materiality, with all the contrasts and conflicts that surround it.

Μαρία Χρουσάκη (1899-1972), Χριστούγεννα 1951, Αθήνα

As part of the narrative of the stenography, popular films as well as excerpts from films of those decades, such as “Stella” by Michalis Cacoyannis, “The Woman Fearing the Man” by GiorgosTzavellas, “John and the Road” by Tonia Marketaki, are shown on three different screens as a vital element of the “whole”.

The films depict the conditions of the time and shape the perceptions of its inhabitants.  Folk cinema of acting was particularly accepted and admired in the first post-war decades and the exhibition creatively highlights the function of Greek films in shaping developments.

These titles list the sections of the exhibition, which are not strictly distinguished from one another, but are listed under these headings. Ms. Tsiara defines in keywords a free tour of the exhibition – the architectural design of which is by Maria Maneta and the organization of the exhibition by IriniSapka – seeking to view through an “open route”, a condition of open viewing like a walk through the city itself as the viewer would like to define it by making his own associations through keys of approach.

The exhibition includes 202 works of art, half of which come from the collection of the National Gallery and the rest are included in the exhibition on loan from public and private collections. The exhibition includes 22 films (extracts from 18 feature films and 4 full-length short films).

The public programme of parallel activities accompanying the exhibition – guided tours, educational programmes, public actions of a theoretical and intercultural nature, etc. – will also be announced shortly, and the exhibition catalogue, a publication in Greek and English, will be presented.

Creators: IoannisAvramidis, Theodoros Angelopoulos, TheodorosAdamopoulos, AlekosAlexandrakis, AchilleasApergis, Minos Argyrakis, Michalis Arfaras, AgenorAsteriadis, Georgios Vakirtzis, Spyros Vassiliou, George Velissarides, LoukasVenetoulias, Nikola Ventouras, PantelisVoulgaris, Andreas Vourloumis, YannisGaitis, Daniel Gounaridis, Gregory Gregoriou, Daniel (Panagopoulos), DinosDimopoulos, Diamantis Diamantopoulos, Cleopatra Diga, Nikos Engonopoulos, George Ioannou, Michael Cacoyannis, LefterisKanakakis, VlasisKaniaris, Christos Kapralos, NikiKaragatsis, Stelios Kasimatis, TakisKatsoulides, Nikos Kessanlis, KlearchosKonitsiotis, Demosthenes Kokkinidis, AlekosKontopoulos, Alexandros Korogiannakis, Nikos Koundouros, PanosKoutroubousis, AristeaKritsotaki, George Lazogas, YulikaLakeridou, Konstantinos Malamos, Robert Manthoulis, Georgios Manousakis, Tonia Marketaki, Dimitris Megalidis, YannisMigadis, YannisMichas, YannisMoralis, Chronis Botsoglou, Eva Bulgoura, Dimitris Mytaras, Nikos Nikolaides, Ira Economidou, KleanthisPandias, Rena Papaspyrou, George Paralis, Maria Plyta, ChrysaRomanou, AlekosSakellarios, George Skalenakis, Demos (Demosthenes) Skoulakis, VassilisSperantzas, YannisSpyropoulos, AspaStasinopoulou, Dimitris Stavrakas, PavlosTasios, Tassos (AlevizosAnastasios), Panagiotis Tetsis, GiorgosTzavellas, GiorgosTougias, Giannis Tsarouchis, AlekosFasianos, Kostas Ferris, Dimitris Harisiadis, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Gikas, Maria Chrousaki, Giannis Psychopedis.

The emblematic building of the Historical Archive – Museum of Hydra hosts a number of events for the “Cultural Summer of Hydra 2023”. The programme covers the whole summer period from June to the end of September. Visitors and residents of the island will have the opportunity to attend painting exhibitions, speeches, theatre, a tribute to Nikos Kazantzakis, film screenings, concerts, book presentations and so on.