May 23, 2017
Today Platforms opened late, so we had a chance to visit Documenta again. First we headed for ASFA, The Athens School of Fine Arts, a beautiful space I visited before during Art Athina. Near ASFA we could also find some other small places with art from Documenta. After that I decided to go to EMST, the new Museum of Contemporary Art, a venue I had wanted to visit for some years. It had once been the FIX-brewery, well known Greek beer had been brewn here. After demolishing half of the building for a new subway-station, what remained was turned into a museum building which was left unused for some time, untill Documenta wanted to make use of it. The building is beautiful and it has nice spaces. It makes me think of the new SF-MOMA, the way the stairway goes up on the side of the building and by the way the facade is put up. I do think the routing is not very clear though, especially in case of a continuïng exhibition like the one I visited now.
Billboard on the way to ASFA
In a house on the way we found a project by Olabong Nkanga, a soap factory named Carved to Flow.
Natural Soap was presented here, this is manufactured with charcoal, water and natural fats like oil and butter from al over the Mediterranian and Africa
Laboratory stuff and a stamp for large pieces
In the house next door a subtle installation was made by Nikhil Chopra. During a performance of three days he made a wall drawing and a number of little artifacts. After this he set of for a road trip through Eastern Europe in the direction of Kassel. On the way he will do performances, public drawings and collaborative events.
The little clay models are moving
and the open sea in clay on the wall is rather overwhelming!
Anna Davcikova: Along the Axis of Affinity, a video installation showing the deveopment of abstract design next to East European building
Anna and Lawrence Halprin: Photographs of the Sea ranch and Driftwood City Workshops 1962-1971
Idem
Lawrence Halprin in interview
Bonita Ely: Plasticus Progressus – Memento Mori – 2017
Artur Zmijewski – Glimpse 2016-2017 A rather confronting video about the refugees in Calais ending up in paris underneath the metro. The director tries to have them integrated by teaching them to wipe the streets with a broom or by having them painting their faces white.
Olaf Holzapfel: Zaun -abstract work with natural materials, like cane or in this case straw. These are normally beïng used for fences or other useful things
Bouchra Khalili: The Tempest Society – talking heads telling about experiences in a strange land with beautiful music in between
Maria Magdalena Campus Pons and Neil Leonard: Matanzas Soundmap
A beautiful installation with efficiënt use of materials
EMST
Maria Eichhorn: Buiding as unowned property – conversion of a buiding’s legal status, legal studies, documents, building and lot at Stavropoulou 15, 11252 Athene
Acknowledgement Documenta 14
Lois Weinberger: Debris Field – 2010-2016 – Objects excavated from the Weinberger Family farmhouse in Austria, photographs, sculptures, works on paper
idem
Forough Farokhzad: The House is Black – 1963 Beautiful movie set in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes “ugliness”, of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude
Stanley Whitney: James Brown Sacrifice to Apollo – 2008
Ernest Mancoba: Untitled – n.d.
Maria Lai: Lenzuolo – 1981
Moyra Davey: Portrait/Landscape – 2017
idem – detail
Kvai Samnang: Preah Konlung – 2017 (eleven masks of woven vines)
Vilja Celmins: untitled
Cecilia Vicuña: Quipu Womb (The story of the red thread, Athens) – 2017
Yael Davids: A Reading that Loves, A Physical Act – 2017 including Death mask of Else Lasker Schüler
Nairy Baghramian: Drawing Table (Homage to Jane Bowles) – 2017
Hans Eijkelboom: from The Street & Modern Life – 2014
Edi Hila: Conversation – 2014
Facade EMST
This beautiful new piece was to be found in the changing booth of the 24 hours project
Frans van Lent en Nico Parlevliet van Unnoticed Art, almost After Hours at Platforms Project
