By Venia Pastaka

Art Historian

The trauma created by the destruction, theft and the illegal trafficking of cultural goods from Middle Eastern countries is the main theme of the exhibition Allspice, which opens on 13 May 2025 in the temporary exhibition space of the Acropolis Museum in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, the Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens and the NEON organization.

This is the first part of a trilogy that is to be completed in May 2026 at the old Acropolis Museum on the Holy Rock, which will reopen its doors to the public. Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz (or Arab-Jewish as he prefers to be called) is known for his works that deal with the themes of cultural loss, the need for memory and colonialism. Using scarce materials, mostly food wrappers from the Middle East, he re-creates works that have been destroyed by warfare, making a powerful commentary on the need to preserve the cultural heritage of each culture.

The title of the exhibition is inspired by the recipes of the artist’s mother who, in order to achieve the authentic taste of her home country, and due to the lack of authentic ingredients in America, mixes various spices as substitutes to achieve the best possible rendering of the original taste experience.

Rakowitz’s works also function as substitutes, as he conceptually uses his lowly materials, which to most people are trash, to reconstruct works of art that no longer exist or have been snatched to be traded in the illegal antiquities trade. As the artist himself says, the destruction and illegal trafficking of any people’s cultural goods is a profound blow to his collective mind.

The exhibition seems to be extremely appropriate in a museum such as the Acropolis, which is designed in such a way as to emphasise another rapture, that of the Parthenon sculptures. The artist’s political commentary on the destruction of his own cultural heritage becomes timely for the host of the exhibition as well, as the preservation and respect of historical memory are issues that concern us all.