ATHENS
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Weekly supplement by Insider Publications • www.insider-publications.com • No 101 • Friday, May 27, 2016 EXHIBITION SOCRATES NOW
PHOTOGRAPHY ROBERT MCCABE’S GREECE
FESTIVAL FAST FORWARD FESTIVAL 3
(€10 for students), ellinikotheatro.org.
Tel: 229.802.2401, citronne.com
sis Cultural Center, 107-109 Syngrou,Tel: 210.900.5800, sgt.gr
ART & CULTURE
Ai Weiwei The Verdict World-renowned, contemporary Chinese artist Ai Weiwei manages to blend controversial political activism with intriguing aesthetic preoccupations, writes Stella Sevastopoulos, among the first to review his bold new Athens show.
Weiwei’s Royal Academy of Arts exhibition in London (2015), was the cultural phenomenon of the year – attracting thousands of visitors a day. His show in Athens has already caused a stir. ‘Ai Weiwei at Cycladic’, opened on International Museum Day (May 19) at the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art, and runs until October 30. Apart from presenting some of his signature works here, Weiwei also ingeniously explores the issue of the refugee crisis, as experienced during his lengthy stay on Lesbos. His travels to other refugee camps - in Idomeni, the Syrian border, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Gaza - have produced 600 hours of film footage for a forthcoming documentary. In the meantime, let’s walk you through the live-wire of a show in Athens, whilst filling you in on Ai’s adventurous oeuvre. Outside the Cycladic’s grand neoclassical Stathatos Mansion, Ai has hoisted his versions of the flags of Greece and the EU – coloured white and gold, like the emergency blankets used for hypothermia. And there’s another flag, which bears the outline of the Kurdish boy Aylan Kurdi, who drowned in the Aegean Sea in September. Ai was criticised by the press back in February, when he photographed himself in the exact position that the drowned boy was found, thus provoking a debate as to whether the photograph was an insensitive gesture. But that didn’t stop Ai: He then transported 14,000 life-vests (donated by
Photography artists from Amsterdam, Beirut, Brussels, Cape Town, Melbourne and Tel Aviv dissolve any sense of geographic and cultural borders at the 3rd Fast Forward Festival (FFF), from May 16-31, Onas-
Last week to see 50 ageless images of American photography great Robert McCabe, as he documents his Greek love affair in “Aegean Caïques, 1954-1964” (until May 29). Focused on the sea, the photographs reflect postwar Greece. Citronne Gallery, Paralia, Poros,
Sit ringside in the court of ancient Athens as Socrates goes on trial for his life in the smash global hit, Socrates Now, starring Emmy-winner Yannis Simonides, June 25-July 24, University of Athens Museum, Tholou 5, Plaka, entry €15
famed ‘Sunflower Seeds’ installation that wowed the crowds at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall (2010). In the current show, the use of Huali wood and the way it has been crafted harks back to the furniture of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Now to upstairs: Ai’s gift to the museum - the white, marble, life-sized sculpture entitled ‘Standing Figure’ - is inspired by the Cycladic Spedos figurines of the museum’s collection. But there’s a twist: the figure has just dropped a Chinese vase. It is a reference to Ai’s ‘Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn’, in which the artist was photographed smashing a real Chinese antiquity (over 2000 years old). The marble figure’s contemporaneity is created through this interesting merger. (One wonders how the Greeks would feel if a contemporary Greek artist dared smash a few of its own ancient vases.) Ai’s vase smashing was originally intended as a critique of the Chinese State’s anti-cultural antics. Also on the first floor: more marble – immaculately sculpted into life buoys, a surveillance camera, a gas mask, and plants. The show continues in the Neophytou Douka Street annexe, where you encounter bone remains made of porcelain, the juxtaposition of teargas canisters with ancient lachrymatory tear bottles, plus Ai’s documentation of the refugee crisis through thousands of iphone photos. Look out for ‘Study of Perspective’ (2014), where he has photographed himself ‘sticking the finger’ at famous art and architecture (eg the Pompidou, Houses of Parliament, Sydney’s Opera House, the ‘Mona Lisa’). Ai Weiwei in his own words Greece and its Refugee Crisis: “Currently, Greece is in a very sad situation. Europe has to push these people to Turkey and this is very shameful. It’s not lawful and it’s not moral. It’s not going to bring a better future for whoever makes that decision.” I very much respect Greece for opening its arms and letting people in. I think Greece has shown a very elegant and respectful gesture to not push people into the sea which many European nations are trying to suggest, while blaming Greece’s position. I think these decisions will be remembered in history. Greece has a long history of humanity and culture.”
the Mayor of Lesbos) to Berlin, wrapping them round the Konzerthaus’s Ionic columns, during the Berlin Film Festival. He followed up by wrapping guests at the annual Cinema for Peace Gala in emergency blankets, and in Prague, he wrapped an edition of his ‘Zodiac Heads’ with them. Ai also cancelled his show in Denmark, due to the country’s refugee policy. Back to the show: Upon entering the building, your eyes are instantly attracted to the grandiose, dazzling chandelier that resembles a Weeping Willow tree (entitled ‘Chandelier’, 2015). Chandeliers are a symbol of Western extravagance in communist China - it is only the opulent who can afford them. In another room to the right, there’s a series of artistically-shaped wooden coffins. Some wooden stools in an aesthetically-pleasing conflagration are placed in the hall. An exciting contrast is created between glamour, gloom and tragedy. However Reason, classical harmony and symmetry set things straight in the hall on your left, with ‘Divina Proportione’ (2012) - a series of polyhedrons, impeccably carved from Huali wood. Despite the industrial might of modern day China, craftsmanship of all sorts is also trying to stay alive, and Ai seeks out the best craftsmen to collaborate with for his artworks: It took 1,600 artisans of the Jingdezhen village (once renowned Tickets priced at 7 euros. Ten percent of the for its Imperial porcelain), to create the show’s proceeds go to Medecins Sans Fron100,000,000 porcelain seeds for his tieres. www.cycladic.gr
EXHIBITION
TV THIS WEEK NEW GIRL
Cece and Jess try to have a “chill day” celebrating Cece’s bachellorette party. Tuesday @ 21.25
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ART-ATHINA 2016 IS HERE! Not just another art fair! This sophisticated highlight of the Athenian art calendar from May 26-29 should not be missed. Art-Athina, now in its 21st year, is making a bold statement: crises and capital controls have only fed the appetite for illusions of beauty and served as inspiration for a new generation of renaissance artists. With 40,000 visitors last year, and a whopping 92 galleries participating, including several international ones, Alexis Caniaris, the General Manager of Art-Athina, believes the interest in contemporary Greek art has never been stronger. And Athens’ burgeoning creative energy, often compared to post-wall Berlin, will be the focus of discussion at one of the parallel programmes. Art-Athina is staged at the Taekwondo
The past pulls out every weapon it has to keep Jake from reaching Dealey Plaza in time to save Kennedy. If he fails, it could mean death for Jake or others close to him - and if he succeeds, it could create a world in which he loses everything he’s ever known. What is the cost of doing the right thing? Tuesday @ 22.40 Watch FOX Life on NOVA, OTE TV, CYTA
CINEMA THIS WEEK stadium, Faliro Pavillion. This year’s edition also features a retrospective on artist George Lappas. Entry €8, Tel: 210.922.1254 or www.artathina.gr. Visit Insider at booth no.25 and may the creative force be with you!
tRUTH
Newsroom drama detailing the 2004 CBS 60 Minutes report investigating then-President George W. Bush’s military service, and the subsequent firestorm of criticism that cost anchor Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes their careers. With Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Dennis Quaid
The NICE GUYS A mismatched pair of private eyes investigate the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles. With Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice
GASTRONOMY
UPCOMING EVENTS
Community
LAASA’s International Food Festival A lively culinary and cultural voyage around the world, Sunday, May 29 at Moraitis School (from noon). Traditional culinary delights prepared by 30 participating Embassies, cultural and musical performances, organized by LAASA. Entrance €5, children under 12 free. Alexandrou Papanastasiou and Agiou Dimitriou, Palaio Psychiko.
BOOK REVIEW
Unbecoming: A Novel by Rebecca Scherm (Viking) Rebecca Scherm’s debut offering Unbecoming is a psychological thriller layered by love stories. When a young woman’s perfect performance of the Southern girl-next-door is shattered, a crime she commits sends her on the run – and both her husband and her lover to prison. Anti-heroine, Grace, is from a small town in Tennessee. As a child, she was emotionally undernourished by distracted parents and as an adult, she goes to great lengths to find love. For Grace, being lovable is currency. She envies people who do not contort themselves to please, but she has no
Music Blues for Peace Blues served up with social conscience at “Blues for Peace” (May 27-30), hosted by Athens Blues Hall of Fame, and featuring Bob Hall and Hilary Blythe. Supported by UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). MODU, Kolonou 76 & Odysseos 14, Tel: 698.596.4483, jazzonline.gr/en/jazzenda
Theatre Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman is a fine example of Arthur Miller’s political realism and a timeless repudiation of the American Dream that still resonates today. At the National Theatre until June 29. Ag.Konstantinou 22, Tel: 210.528.8100, n-t.gr
choice. She morphs herself into a person she thinks people will like, but betrays her inner character at the same time. Scherm wanted to, ‘’push that idea to its extreme and imagine how the desire to please others might curdle into something less sweet.’’ The New York Times Book Review called it, “Startlingly inventive…As for Grace herself, she’s a real work of art — even if she is a fake.” There are two men in Graces’ life. Her childhood sweetheart (and later husband), Riley, whose well-to-do ‘standin-parents’ accepted and loved her as family, and Alls, Riley’s best friend, with whom Grace is secretly in love. She now leads a double life in the seedy outskirts of Paris where she restores exquisite antiques and gemstone jewellery. Her work mirrors her inner consciousness – she wants to fix own mistakes, but she is unaware how. Unbecoming is a story about the peo-
ple Grace loves, and then later betrays. She was involved in a bungled art heist back home with Riley and Alls and now waits on tenterhooks for their release from prison. When the web of lies, theft, and deceit start to unravel, Grace’s true self is revealed as a femme fatale. Unbecoming was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Reviewed by Anna Roins
* Anna Roins is a lawyer and a freelance journalist who writes articles on social and community issues. She is also a regular contributor to AUTHORLINK, assigned to conduct interviews with bestselling global authors.
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St’Astra Blue Roof Garden
Reaching for the stars Aptly named for the canopy of stars it has for a ceiling, St’Astra Blue, perched on the 8th floor of the Radisson Blu Park Hotel, not only offers some of the most spectacular views of Athens’ most discernible landmarks, it’s also a temple of innovative and geographicallyinteresting dining, under award-winning chef Yiannis Liokas.
reveal the itinerant culinary passions of the chef. Among his special creations: Seared Tuna served with cream and salad of chickpeas with yuzu vinaigrette and miso mayonnaise, Rib eye Black Angus, mashed potatoes, roasted shallots and Szechuan pepper sauce, or Sea bass with artichoke puree, black roe tomato confit and herbs.
gianduja lollipop and the unique Galaktoboureko souffle flavoured with a citrus yuzu syrup. A great setting just to sip on one of its several signature cocktails to the sounds of ethnic funky jazz, St’Astra Blue is also a perfect venue for private parties and receptions. Free parking for its customers is another compelling drawcard!
St’ Astra Blue Roof Garden, Radisson Blu Park Hotel, Alexandras Ave 10, Liokas marries quality ingredients with If you’d like to indulge your sweet tooth, Tel: 210-8894500 haute cuisine techniques to create try the sinfully delightful Hazelnut fon- www.rbathenspark.com, dishes you really want to eat – and that dant with green apple sorbet and info@rbathenspark.com