Inv. No. 4098, Art Archive, National Museum of Contemporary Art
Concealment card, Dimitris Alithinos
Donated by Zafos Xagoraris, 2001
India, 1994. Dimitris Alithinos holds his 41st concealment in a temple precinct in Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) on the 25th of March. He ritually hides his work in the earth, carrying out another symbolic “concealment of memory” for the sake of the future. His anxiety about the extinction of the human species, diachronic but even more relevant today, is what prompted him in 1981 to begin the “Concealments”, an ongoing project that is being redefined over the years. To date, 218 concealments have been realised across the globe. The cards that the artist sends to a specific number of recipients reveal the place name and the time and constitute the only evidence of the concealment. Sometimes the artist chooses to enrich them with an element that is connected to the specific place. The vignette on the card from India depicts a Hindu female deity, possibly Saraswati, goddess of art, knowledge and science.
Dimitris Alitheinos (Athens, 1945) studied at the School of Fine Arts in Athens, at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome and at the École Speciale d’ Architecture in Paris. In his multidimensional and daring work, the transcultural character is evident. He lives and works on the planet. His works are in the EMST Collection.
