Exhibition: 1,2,3, b4

The title of the exhibition refers to the Biennales that took place in the city of Thessaloniki in 2007, 2009 and 2011, while the pun b4 (= before) refers to the upcoming 4th Biennale of Contemporary Art, which will be hosted in the city by September 18th, 2013 at various venues with numerous exhibitions and events.

The exhibition

The artworks presented in the exhibition were productions of the previous Central and Parallel Programs of the organization (the three International Young Artists’ Workshops, as well as the last Performance Festival and the Public Screen Project). The works are donations from the artists to the collection of the State Museum of Contemporary Art and to the city of Thessaloniki. The artworks selected and included in the exhibition now get into a completely new context and they are connected in a different exhibition scenography. 

Artists from different countries and backgrounds coexist in a project preparing the ground for the fourth year's edition of this successful event. All works/projects reflect the ideological content of the previous Biennales, apart from reflecting their individual and international sociopolitical ideas and concepts.

Abandoned places-“heterotopias”, social and labor inequalities, images of modern Greece and the Mediterranean, symbols of oppression, ecological disasters, gender and identity issues are a few of the ideas that coexist and interact.

The exhibition, apart from summing up all the previous events so far, is in addition the documentation of an important project that is closely linked to Thessaloniki, continuing to offer to the city’s life influential cultural wealth, as well as important international visibility.

The artists and projects included:

Dimitris Ameladiotis, Untitled, installation, 2011

Elina Ioannou, Composition with fence and plastic bags, installation, 2011

Helen Mouzakiti, Untitled, photographic series, 2005-7

Theo Prodromidis, The magnificent capital, video, 2007

Chryse Tsiota, Locus Suspectus, video installation and photographs, 2007

Vahram Aghasyan, Ghost Town, photographic series, 2005

Tursun Ali, Life in Aral, photograph, 2006

Victor An, Requiem, photograph, 1989

Nadia Ayari, Without Walls: The new paintings of Thessaloniki, portable murals pasted on wood and photographs 2011

Andrei Filippov,Saw, photomontage, 2006

Omid Salehi, Cane Land, photographic series, 2003

Azat Sargsyan, Public Constructivism, photographic series, 2008

Guram Tsibakhasvili, Interiors, photographic series, 2000

Yang Yongliang, Untitled, photographic series, 2009

The project Public Screen, 2007

Selected documented performances form the Thessaloniki Performance Festival, 2011

Curators: Areti Leopoulou, Thodoris Markoglou, At Historians & Curators SMCA/ CACT 

Museographer: Gianna Stavroulaki, Architect