ΕMΣT is pleased to present the first in-depth presentation of Mikhail Karikis’ work in Greece. Karikis, a prominent representative of Greece’s cultural diaspora, was born in Thessaloniki. He currently lives and works between London and Lisbon. Though the artist has shown in many important international exhibitions, his work in Greece is less known. Karikis combines moving image and sound, with collaborative practices, to draw attention to social, political and environmental issues, both past and present. Working with groups of students, workers, pensioners, activists and drawing inspiration from global industrial and political history, literature and avant-garde music, the artist creates musical and vocal events that shine a ray of hope on an ominous future.
The exhibition is structured around six key audio-visual installations from Karikis’s work over the last decade: Weather Orchestra (2022), Surging Seas (2022), Ferocious Love (2020), No Ordinary Protest (2018), Children of Unquiet (2014) and Sounds from Beneath (2011-2012). These installations are complemented by selected smaller works, photographs, and texts. What they all share is a sense of polyphonic poetics in which separate narratives connect groups brought together by a sense of solidarity in their struggles for a better future.
Curated by Stamatis Schizakis
ARTIST'S BIOGRAPHY
Karikis has exhibited widely internationally, including at the EKO 8 International Triennale of Art and Environment, Slovenia (2021), the 2nd Riga Biennial (2020), the European Capital of Culture Aarhus (2017), the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2016), the British Art Show 8 (2015-2017), the Steirischer Herbst, Graz, Austria (2015), the 5th Thessaloniki Biennial and Witte de With, Rotterdam (2015), Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2014-15), 19th Sydney Biennale (2014), Mediacity Seoul/SeMA Biennale, Seoul (2014), Videonale 14, Bonn (2013), 2nd Aichi Triennale, Nagoya, Japan (2013), Manifesta 9 (2012), and the Danish npavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011), the last two having been curated by Katerina Gregos.
Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at TATE Liverpool, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, MIMA Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, UK, Turku Art Museum, Finland, Aarhus European Capital of Culture, Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art Contemporain, Villa Romana, Florence, and Arnolfini, Bristol.
Karikis has performed internationally, including at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Barbican Theatre, London. His sound works have been published worldwide by Bjork, DJ Spooky, UNICEF, MIT, the record labels Sub Rosa and One Little Independent Records, and have been broadcast on radio and television on a variety of European national radio stations including BBC Radio & Television, RAI, RTL and Radio France.
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