01/11- 23/12, 2023, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
Re/member your House – Works by the collective Døcumatism, Menelaos Karamaghiolis’s solo exhibition, curated by Andrea Bellini
The Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève organised an exhibition across three floors, presenting works created by the Døcumatism collective and Menelaos Karamaghiolis as part of the Greek artist’s first major European retrospective, curated by the museum’s director, Andrea Bellini.
The ground and first floors hosted the ongoing collective community project the AfroGreeks, featuring video installations, visual artworks, a digital audiovisual archive, and public actions curated by Grace Nwoke.
The other two floors presented video installations from the ongoing collective project Greekies, alongside films screened in the specially designed Cinema Dynamo space, together with five paintings by Stelios Faitakis, creating a dialogue with the works of Døcumatism and Karamaghiolis.
The exhibition explored the collective’s practice, in which the moving image becomes a starting point for public actions that provide a platform for expression and visibility around critical social issues, overlooked landscapes, and marginalised figures, with the aim of creating freely accessible audiovisual archives.
The artistic practice represented in these works encompasses fiction films, documentaries, installations, and creative social interventions, united by a common focus on bringing to light the stories of unsung heroes of everyday life. These stories are often connected to the ongoing crises that shape the social fabric of Greece; ultimately, however, they speak to European society as a whole.
“…the intimacy and empathy of the works towards their protagonists have the power to transform everyday scenes into something mysterious and extraordinary. The collective’s unique approach makes it possible to reconsider the impact of cinema on society, while at the same time inspiring audiences to engage with the cinematic experience through interactive and participatory forms…” Andrea Bellini
2nd Floor and Ground Floor
Bembo Fountain, 1900-1902, painted Roman statue, Crete, photo by Giuseppe Gerola
To make a house a home, photos from family archives selected by the protagonists
the AfroGreeks – prologue, 2015-2019, digital video, single channel, colour, stereo sound, 14’
the AfroGreeks Live Events highlights, 2019-2023, digital video, single channel, colour, stereo sound, 14’ 04’’
Our names (so far), 2009-2023, written on the wall by the Afro-Greek anthropologist and performer Grace Nwoke
Chalikoutides à Crete, selection of photos documenting the African Diaspora in Crete, the so-called Chalikoutides, who lived there between 1669 and 1967
Audiovisual research on the last 4 centuries of African Diaspora in Crete, Thrace and the Mediterranean, 2015-2023, texts, photographies & videos
Archives the AfroGreeks, 2009-2023, audiovisual presentation of the timeline including texts, photos, videos
Dreaming of a black Evzone, 2020, the AfroGreeks – Live Event, watercolour paintings by students of the African Diaspora in Kypseli, created during a workshop as part of the project
Introducing Afrofuturism, 2022, the AfroGreeks – Live event, Afrofuturist carton masks created by students during a workshop in Alexandroupoli with artist Nikos Kabasele
SINGING IN ATHENS, 2011-2023, digital video, 2 channels, colour, stereo sound, 20’ 24’’
the AfroGreeks – Jessica, 2019-2020, digital video, 3 channels, colour, stereo sound, 7’ 22’’
the AfroGreeks – Aggelos, 2020-2022, digital video, 3 channels, colour, stereo sound, 9’ 53’’
3rd Floor
In Search of a Cage, 2023, slide projection, 80 slides in dia carousel.
A Bird in Search of a Cage, 2012-2019, digital video, single channel, colour, stereo sound, duration: 11′ 26”
Blind Goalpost, 2012-2019, digital video, colour, no sound, single channel, duration: 11′ 26”
City Divers, 2022, video installation: 82 slides, video projection and mobile phone, Kinesia Paradoxa practice
No one will kill you, any more than if you were a corpse (redux), 2011-2019, digital video, colour, stereo sound, duration: 1′ 37”
MY POV vs YOUR LENS, 2011, duration: 4′ 30”, digital video, stereo sound.
On the same floor, as a tribute to the artist Stelios Faitakis (1976–2023), whose life was cut short, Menelaos Karamaghiolis organized, on the day of his death, a tribute to his work, continuing their dialogue around their shared passion for Byzantine art and the enduring sense of social and political responsibility expressed through their artistic practices.
Mixed media on canvas:
The War, 2020
Fallacy, 2013
Untitled, 2012
Mixed media on wood:
It All Depends, 2018
Courtesy of Philippos Tsangrides Panagopoulos Collection, Athens.
4th Floor
Film Retrospective of Menelaos Karamaghiolis’s Films at Cinema Dynamo
Feature films:
Rom, 1989,16mm film, color, stereo sound, 75’
Black Out p.s. Red Out, 1998, 35mm film, black & white and color, stereo sound, 160’
J.A.C.E. – Just Another Confused Elephant, 2011-12, color, dolby digital sound, 146’
Gloria Olivae, 1986, film 16mm, color, stereo sound, 60’
Short Films:
…Mrs Dankbar speaks through me…, 1986 – 2023, 16mm film transferred to digital video, colour, stereo sound, 5’ 90’’
COME DOWN MY RIGHT HAND, DEPICT WHAT DEMONIACALLY TORMENTS YOU… (a prayer), 1985-2023, 16 mm film transferred to digital video, colour, stereo sound, 5’ 57’’
Reminiscences of an Unprocessed Leather Technician, 2015, digital video, color, stereo sound, 16’
No one will kill you, any more than if you were a corpse, 2019, digital video, color, stereo sound, 14’
#noborders, 2019, digital video, color, stereo sound, 3’ 14’’
THE GREEK DREAM – MY HOME UNDER THE BRIDGE, 2012, digital video, color, stereo sound, 9’ 54’’
the AfroGreeks – prologue (video installation), digital video, color, stereo sound, 2015-2023, 14’
the AfroGreeks – Mikel (video installation), 2020, digital video, color, stereo sound, 7’ 15’’
© Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève. Photo: Julien Gremaud
