katalogue colorsminds

Colors Minds

Basaglia».

«Franco Basaglia»

―Introduction

Any psychosocial difficulty is a condition of constant change, not only of the personal characteristics and thoughts of people, but also of their daily life. With the aim of strengthening the feeling of “belonging”, maximizing functionality and cultivating the abovementioned individuals’ special skills, the purpose of the experiential art programme to familiarize young people with the psychosocial sector -entitled Colors & Minds- was to make beneficial the use of art as a vehicle of communication, coexistence and creation between the wider population and the beneficiaries of mental health services.

Colors & Minds was jointly organized by the following entities: the ΕΜΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens the Association of Social Responsibility for Children and Youth (SKEP), the Association for Regional Development and Mental Health (EPAPSY) and the voluntary artistic initiative Talks & Crafts created by Marina Tsironi. The programme was supervised by the EPAPSY “Franco Basaglia” Day Centre.

Inspired by Vlassis Caniaris’ work Hopscotch (1974), students from the Athens School of Fine Arts, postgraduates students of the Centre of Art and Psychotherapy, as well as beneficiaries of the EPAPSY “Franco Basaglia” Day Centre, artistically defined within themselves the concept of the “immigrant”, as an outcome of psychoemotional factors that makes one feel like an “immigrant” in his own life.

The workshops focused on the creation of a character. The participants, adopting various artistic means, were able to express and capture thoughts and personal experiences around the term “immigrant”. Thus by shaping a hero, presenting his emotions in three dimensions and animating him in a sculptural/artistic form, they finally embodied him, bringing the hero into being. All together, they redefined and reinvented the role of art, as a tool leading to a cultural reality, that is open and accessible for all.

The exhibition presents the participants’ collective artworks, which were created from October 2023 to May 2024 in EΜΣΤ’s art room.

DAAD (1973-75).

―Inspiration

Installation

6 human figures, 9 suitcases, 1 cage, a tar paper base and a hopscotch chalk drawing 155x440x600cm

Vlassis Caniaris Hopscotch, 1974

Vlassis Caniaris, one of the most important artists of post-war art in Greece, created Hopscotch (1974) as part of the series of works entitled Immigrants (1971-76), first developed in Paris and later in Berlin thanks to a grant from the organization DAAD (1973-75). It was presented in a traveling exhibition entitled Gastarbeiter–Fremdarbeiter (Guest workers – Foreign workers) which was presented at numerous German institutions between 1975 and 1976. Caniaris, who since the late 1950s lived in Rome and Paris, returned to Greece in 1967 after the military coup, but left again two years later.

Hopscotch is an environment consisting of headless dummies standing on a court with the design of the game “hopscotch” where instead of numbers, various words have been inscribed in chalk that allude to stages and mechanisms of labor immigration policy. Caniaris focuses on diverse stories, voices, gestures, as well as everyday objects relating to the working and living conditions of “guest workers” – the immigrants who worked in Western European countries under the context of transnational agreements since the late 1950s. The work reflects the uncertain reality of territorial displacement, social exclusion, national identity and contested citizenship.

Tina Pandi, text from the permanent exhibition guide ENTER EMST: Collection & History, A short guide, Αthens, EMΣΤ, 2020

―Ταύτιση

―Identification

Having as a tool the processing and understanding of the conceptual aspects of the specific work, the participants of Colors & Minds will shape, through the individual and group artworks they will create, a new artistic vision based on the connection between modern reality and contemporary art. At the same time, their individual expression, co-creation and interaction are elements reinforced by the structure of the 8 workshops and inspired by Vlassis Caniaris’ Hopscotch The workshops will allow the participants to become experientially familiar with contemporary artistic means and to approach social issues such as exclusion, identity, reality, experience, personal history and collective experience. Through concepts inherent to those that Caniaris introduced in his work, the participants will draw inspiration to develop a shared field of artistic creation that is welcoming, open and more friendly for all.

―Meetings

05/10/2023and11/11/2023

On 05/10/2023 the first meeting of the experiential artistic programme Colors & Minds was held together with mental health services recipients from the ΕPAPSY (Regional Development and Mental Health Company) “Franco Basaglia” Day Centre, students from the Athens School of Fine Arts (3rd Sculpture Workshop) and postgraduate students from the Art and Psychotherapy Centre. The purpose of the meeting was to begin a creative journey through the study and discussion of the work Hopscotch (1974) by Vlassis Caniaris and for the participants to become inspired and design their own characters.

At the second workshop (11/11/2023) with the students of the Athens School of Fine Arts from the 3rd Sculpture Workshop, all participating teams collaborated to create 3D models that represented a character of their own making, inhabiting an environment that mirrored their personal traits and quest.

Students

of the 3rd Sculpture Workshop, ASFA

Professor: Ioannis Melanitis, Artist, Vice-Rector for International Relations and Extroversion, Associate Professor, Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA)

Workshops: Character design & model creation

Colors & Minds 2023-2024

―Meetings

07/12/2023and11/01/2024

During the workshops that took place on 07/12/2023 and 11/01/2024, small groups consisting of members from ΕPAPSY, students from the 9th Painting Workshop of ASFA, postgraduate students from the Art and Psychotherapy Centre along with SKEP (Association of Social Responsibility for Children and Youth) President Ms. Athena Kritikou and its Communication Director Ms. Ileana Vasdeki, began to construct their own “luggage”, which conveys the feelings and thoughts of the heroes that they created in the first two meetings.

The construction of the luggage as well as the inclusion of personal items allowed the members of the groups to externalise the personal feelings of the four heroes. Interpreting the symbols that their luggage carried in them, the participants spoke –both indirectly and directly– about what they attempted to convey as creators, concluding that: “by seeing art as a game, we can connect with the artwork, with our co-creators, but much more with our own self”.

Students of the 9th Painting Workshop, ASFA

Professor: Nikos Navridis, Visual artist, Professor, Head of the 9th Workshop of ASFA

Στο πέμπτο (01/02/2024) και έκτο (07/03/2024)

―Meetings

01/02/2024and07/03/2024

At the fifth (01/02/2024) and sixth (07/03/2024) workshop of Colors & Minds, students from the Athens School of Fine Arts Master’s Degree and Irene Trombeta, SKEP’s Head of Communication with Mainstream and Special Education Schools worked together artistically with EPAPSY’S beneficiaries.

At these workshops the participants created their own mannequin versions inspired by the hero that each group had developed in previous meetings. Each Master’s Degree student introduced himself/herself/ theirselves through one of their artworks, proposing a basic material of their artistic practice around which each group constructed their mannequins.

Postgraduate Students, ASFA

Professor: Marios Spiliopoulos, Professor of ASFA, Head of the 3rd Workshop of Athens School of Fine Arts and Director of the Master of Fine Arts

Workshop: Mannequin creation

―Συναντήσεις04/04/2024και16/05/2024

―Meetings

04/04/2024and16/05/2024

Motivated by the works that were created during the 8-month Colors & Minds workshops, beneficiaries from the EPAPSY «Franco Basaglia» Day Centre, students from the Art and Psychotherapy Centre, students from ASFA and SKEP’s Head of Communication with Mainstream and Special Education Schools, Irene Trombeta, utilized elements which they interpreted into concepts and then transcribed them into movement in order to create a performance.

In this way, each participant was able to explore the potential of their own body, unlock themselves and connect non-verbally and creatively with the rest of the group.

Students of the Performance Workshop, ASFA

Professor-Direction: Georgia Sagri, visual artist and Associate Professor, ASFA

Colors & Minds 2023-2024

Workshop: Character Embodiment through Movement

Basaglia»

«Franco Basaglia»

―Credits

Artisitic Direction

Katerina Gregos

Financial- Administrative Direction

Athina Ioannou

Scientific Supervision

EPAPSY “Franco Basaglia” Day Centre

Coordination and Supervision of Workshops

Marina Tsironi (Talks & Crafts)

Elisabeth Ioannides, Dimitris Kannas (ΕΜΣΤ)

Evgenia Thymianou (EPAPSY)

SKEP’s Co-organizers

Athena Kritikou, Ileana Vasdeki

Exhibition Curators

Elisabeth Ioannides, Dimitris Kannas, Marina Tsironi

Photography Coverage

The Krank

Mar Efstathiadi

Video Coverage

The Krank

ΕΜΣΤ Exhibition Production

Iro Nikolakea

Communication

Kassiani Benou, Head of Communication

Sergio Zalmas, Social Media

Participants

EPAPSY Day Centre “Franco Basaglia” 9 participants

Athens School of Fine Arts

Melina Kouvaki, Ellie Leventeri, Alexandros Lernis, Fay Skardi, Nafsika Tzanoulinou

• Ioannis Melanitis: Artist, Vice-Rector for International Relations and Extroversion, Associate Professor, Athens School of Fine Arts

Sophia Damouli – Palaini, Elina Karadima, Dimitris Mantadakis, Eva Chileti

• Nikos Navridis: Visual artist, Professor, Head of 9 th Workshop of Athens School of Fine Arts

Dimitris Geroukalis, Giorgos Georgiou, Vassilis Georgoulas, Christina-Sylvia Simantira, Shenike Naidi,

• Marios Spiliopoulos: Professor of ASFA, Head of the 3rd Workshop of Athens School of Fine Arts and Director of the Master of Fine Arts

Kalfas Xenon, Kourkoulou Christine, Theocharopoulou Maria, Xenarios Mark

• Georgia Sagri: Performer, Visual Artist and Head Professor of the Performance Workshop of Athens School of Fine Arts)

Art and Psychotherapy Centre

Georgia Georgopoulou, Zoe Kollia, Aggeliki Papachristou