The elements that dominate the exhibition organized by the Municipal Art Gallery of Patras, in collaboration with the National Museum of Contemporary Art, entitled “Irene Vourloumi. In the same space: a photographic dialogue with the painter Andreas Vourloumis”, were presented on the morning of Monday, April 24, during a press conference, given by the president of the Cultural Organization, Katerina Geropanayiotis, the artist Yiannis Papadopoulos, and the director of the gallery, Gianna Panagopoulou.

The opening of the exhibition will take place at 7.30 p.m. on Friday, April 28. The exhibition will run until Saturday, July 29.

The president of the Cultural Organization, referring to the exhibition, stressed that ” in 1929 Konstantinos Cavafy wrote in his poem “in the same place”: “the environment of the house, the centers, the neighborhood / where I see and where I walk; years and years. / I created thee in joy and in sorrow: / with so many incidents, with so many things. / And you felt whole, for me.”
On the occasion of the above verses and borrowing as the title of the exhibition the title of the poem of the great Alexandrian poet, the photographer Irene Vourloumi unfolds in front of us a special artistic “dialogue”, a conversation with the painting of her paternal grandfather, Andreas Vourloumi. As she says in an interview: “this poem characterizes my grandfather’s approach, ultimately mine: a perpetual walker and observer of the city who feels it by capturing it on a block or a photograph. I always like to say this short poem, which is for me a summary of how I see things around me, and I am shocked that another observer, a great poet, perceives the city in this way.”

The urban landscape in all its manifestations, but above all its multiple interactions with man, crosses as a red thread the exhibition presented for the first time in 2022 at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, curated by Stamatis Schizakis and included in the exhibition Statecraft: shaping the state.
We have the honor and pleasure to present this exhibition at the Municipal Art Gallery of Patras, continuing an important collaboration with EMST.  In this context, we believe that through this exhibition, the position of the Municipal Gallery in the visual and cultural life of our country is further enhanced.
Its extroversion strengthens, as it is once again emerging in practice as one of the most important cultural institutions, not only in Patras, but in the wider region of western Greece.
This exhibition gives us the opportunity to think, and reflect more generally on the urban landscape and what it encompasses and signals for each and every one of us in our daily lives. It invites us to reflect on the city we live in, the conditions we live in, but also on the city, the urban landscape, and the conditions we want, dream of, and need to live in.
In the final analysis, we are confronted with the decisive role of man and all aspects of his life, which, whether he is a permanent resident or a visitor, inevitably leaves its own mark on the formation and physiognomy of the urban landscape.

It is in this light that we see the fourth. Not as something static, outside the life of its inhabitants, but as a living organism, that daily fights against the dark tonalities of the problems we all face, seeking the light, the color, and ultimately the very life we deserve. That is why, as a municipal authority, we put people at the center of our planning for the city, first and foremost. A city is beautiful not only because of its natural landscape, its buildings, or its culture. A city is beautiful, it inspires you, and it gives you the impetus and motivation to live in it when it does not have unemployment and poverty, homeless people, or people looking in the garbage to eat. When everyone who lives in them has equal rights to education, health, culture, and sport. When the public spaces, parks, and squares exist or are shaped in such a way that the lives of their inhabitants can breathe , unfold without hindrance and away from the logic of “pay to have access”.

For his part, the artist – professor of the art workshop Yiannis Papadopoulos presented the identity of the exhibition, noting that it is an exhibition that has already been held at the National Museum of Contemporary Art and is being adapted for the Municipal Gallery of Patras.
This adaptation is not only spatial but also part of the fact that the exhibition takes place in Patras. One of the reasons why the exhibition was decided to take place in Patras is the location of Andreas Vourloumis, the possession of works by Andreas Vourloumis by the Municipal Gallery, and the strengthening of the opening of the gallery to a program that looks to the future.

The theme of the exhibition is everyday life and the city itself. At the same time, we will see paintings by the grandfather and photographs by the granddaughter, which constitute a dialogue between means of visual expression and generations. Therefore, this exhibition brings together the artistic means of expression, the seasons, and the contexts.

The director of the Municipal Gallery, Gianna Panagopoulou, referred to the comprehensive funding request of the Municipal Gallery submitted to the ministry by the Cultural Organization, the digitization of the works of the gallery, and a series of important events that have been planned.