On the occasion of the completion of Antonis Pittas’ exhibition jaune, geel, gelb, yellow: Acts of modernism with Antonis Pittas and Theo van Doesburg, ΕΜΣΤ is hosting a conversation on the political legacy of modernism and the internal contradictions of the major protest movements. The conversation, which will be moderated by Anny Malama, Publications Editor of ΕΜΣΤ, will feature Johan F. Hartle, philosopher and rector of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna (Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien), Panagis Panagiotopoulos, associate professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and Daphne Vitali, curator of ΕΜΣΤ.
2019 marked the onset of the –often violent– “Yellow Vests” protests in France, a grassroots movement asking for more economic justice. For Antonis Pittas, who at that time was an artist in residence at the Van Doesburg House, home of Theo van Doesburg who was a pioneer of the historical avant-garde movement De Stijl, this coincidence was an opportunity for him to investigate the legacy of modernism through a political lens. He photographed the protesters, the police and their altercations on the streets and used their images to produce silhouettes made of reflective yellow foil, a material used in road signs. In his exhibition, Pittas has placed these silhouettes in front of original Van Doesburg’s works that are being exhibited for the first time in Greece. These silhouettes seem to block the way but also to protect his work and legacy.
With the conversation “Acts of Modernism”, ΕΜΣΤ focuses once again on the main issues around Antonis Pittas’ exhibition. What are the philosophical and political contradictions of modernism that have survived to this day? What is the role of the yellow colour in contemporary history of art? Is there a duality in the large-scale protest movements that on the one hand they ask for more justice, equality and prosperity and on the other hand they often advocate political ideologies linked to authoritarianism and irrationality?
PARTICIPANTS
Johan F. Hartle is the rector of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. His research focuses on contemporary art, institutional critique and political aesthetics.
Panagis Panagiotopoulos is an associate professor at the School of Economics and Political Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He has thoroughly studied the modernisation processes and the changes in the middle classes of Greece after the fall of the dictatorial regime (1974).
Antonis Pittas was born in Athens and lives in Amsterdam. He studied at the Athens School of fine Arts, the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam and the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He is currently an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam.
Daphne Vitali is a curator of ΕΜΣΤ and the curator of Antonis Pittas’ exhibition jaune, geel, gelb, yellow: Acts of modernism with Antonis Pittas and Theo van Doesburg.
Dr. Anny Malama is an Art Historian and Publications Editor of ΕΜΣΤ. She is also one of the editors of the publication jaune, geel, gelb, yellow: Acts of modernism with Antonis Pittas and Theo van Doesburg.
DIGITAL PUBLICATION
Following the occasion there will be a presentation of a publication on the artist by ΕΜΣΤ entitled Antonis Pittas_jaune geel gelb yellow_online. The publication is part of the Museum’s new digital publications programme.
ACCESS
Entry is free with admission tickets that will be distributed on a first-come first-served basis half an hour before the event.
More about the exhibition.
