PLEASURE
Thursday 16th of June - 9th of July 2011
at
ABOUT:
Participants
Yannis Malegiannakis // Nikos Papadopoulos // Tereza Papamichali // Lila Polenaki // Theo Prodromidis // Daphni Rokou // Vassileia Stylianidou
Opening: Thursday, 16th of June 2011, at 20.00
Opening hours: Wednesday – Friday 17.00 – 21.00, Saturday 12.00 – 16.00
Curator: Margarita Kataga
An essay by the Italian philosopher Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837), entitled The Theory of Pleasure, inspired the idea of a project for recording and studying the concept of “pleasure”, which for many centuries was a central issue for the human psyche. However, the excesses related to pleasure and its two-fold nature may turn it into a trap for human nature.
Leopardi writes with a prophetic pen, raising issues that are still of interest:
“In this life, the most certain pleasure is the futile pleasure of illusions”. And in another passage he states: “Illusions, though degraded and denounced by reason, still exist in this world and constitute the biggest part of life”.
Since in today’s consumerist society reality is defined by simulacra –described by French philosopher, J.Baudrillard, as the conjunction of reality and its image- how real can pleasure be? How is it defined? And in which degree can subjectivity support its manifestations?
Seven visual artists present and critically review the “masks” of pleasure and the boundaries between its essential meaning and the theatricality that sometimes accompanies its manifestations.
At the same time, drawing from humans’ relation to nature and the notion of collectivity within a societal context, the artists juxtapose their counter-suggestions regarding pleasure’s fake existence.
The associations and interrelations created among the presented works, raise important issues regarding enjoyment and the subjective dimension of pleasure.
installation views of
SERENADE TO SPECTACLE, 2006,16mm to DVCAM,stereo,6’30”
Opening hours: Wednesday – Friday 17.00 – 21.00, Saturday 12.00 – 16.00
Curator: Margarita Kataga
An essay by the Italian philosopher Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837), entitled The Theory of Pleasure, inspired the idea of a project for recording and studying the concept of “pleasure”, which for many centuries was a central issue for the human psyche. However, the excesses related to pleasure and its two-fold nature may turn it into a trap for human nature.
Leopardi writes with a prophetic pen, raising issues that are still of interest:
“In this life, the most certain pleasure is the futile pleasure of illusions”. And in another passage he states: “Illusions, though degraded and denounced by reason, still exist in this world and constitute the biggest part of life”.
Since in today’s consumerist society reality is defined by simulacra –described by French philosopher, J.Baudrillard, as the conjunction of reality and its image- how real can pleasure be? How is it defined? And in which degree can subjectivity support its manifestations?
Seven visual artists present and critically review the “masks” of pleasure and the boundaries between its essential meaning and the theatricality that sometimes accompanies its manifestations.
At the same time, drawing from humans’ relation to nature and the notion of collectivity within a societal context, the artists juxtapose their counter-suggestions regarding pleasure’s fake existence.
The associations and interrelations created among the presented works, raise important issues regarding enjoyment and the subjective dimension of pleasure.
installation views of
SERENADE TO SPECTACLE, 2006,16mm to DVCAM,stereo,6’30”
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