ΕΜΣΤ holds the national collection of contemporary Greek art as well as work by international contemporary artists. As a museum that was founded in 2000, it highlights art of the 21st century, though it also collects Greek art of the post-war era that is representative of the basic stages in the development of the avant-garde in the country and abroad. The focus is on conceptual art as well as works of a socio-political orientation. There are over 1400 works in the collection to date.
The future collection policy under the new artistic direction of Katerina Gregos will maintain core socio-political character of the collection and will continue systematically enriching the collection with Greek artists of different generations, offering multiple perspectives across the genealogies of the country’s political and cultural life, but also the tools to understand and place them in relation to the ever-changing international context.
At the same time, the new collection policy will take into consideration Greece’s position in the southeastern edge of Europe, bordering Turkey and within the Balkans, its proximity to the Middle East and North Africa. This makes ΕΜΣΤ uniquely positioned to become a leading museum in the region and one that reflects the rich multicultural, historic and socio-political universe of the Mediterranean, Southern Europe and the former Levant. Many parts of the region continue to be terra incognita as a result of Ottoman occupation, long-standing resulting conflicts, geo-political tensions and power struggles which have played out in a battle between master and marginalised narratives, with many stories sidelined by predominant narratives of nation-building and progress. Today, new, more diverse and inclusive narratives need to be brought forward, including ones that reflect the roots of Greece’s own tumultuous history and the cosmopolitanism of its diaspora. Μyths need to be dismantled and minority voices heard. The museum’s future acquisitions policy will be based on these axes.
The entirety of a museum collection can never be permanently on show, as its size invariably exceeds the available exhibition space. Changing the presentation of the collection is necessary to renew the works, to showcase those that have not been seen before, and to demonstrate that a museum, as well as its collection, are lively entities, and not moribund apothecaries of the past. Moreover, as history is neither fixed, nor singular, the acquisitions policy of a museum of contemporary art should reflect this.
2nd FLOOR
A selection of over 90 works from the museum’s collection is on view on the second and third floor of the building. The collection unravels and interweaves multiple narrative threads: the post-war social and political struggles in Greece and the critique of institutions and power; the precarious conditions created by borders and exclusionary politics, from South Africa to the Middle East; the limits of the self and the social body; the formal adventures of abstraction and the dynamic use of materials; the concept of negotiation as a field for the expression of social conflicts.
Based on the curatorial plan of the museum’s former director, Katerina Koskina, this exhibition was put together under the interim direction of Dimitris Antonakakis and Syrago Tsiara and made possible by the efforts of the EMΣT curatorial team: Daphne Vitali, Anna Mykoniati, Tina Pandi and Stamatis Schizakis, as well as the museum’s art conservators Fotini Alexopoulou and Elina Kavalieratou, architect Iro Nikolakea and EMΣΤ registrar Maria Drakou. This presentation of the collection will be on view until the end of 2022. It will then be completely reconfigured to include part of a major donation this year from the D.Daskalopoulos Collection, the most significant donation in the museum’s history. In the future, EMΣT will continue to systematically renew the collection presentation.
The National Museum of Contemporary Art began operating in 2000. Its establishment and development would not have been possible without the perseverance, vision and dedica- tion of its founding director Anna Kafetsi, who made it the leading contemporary art institution in Greece that it is today.
Vital to EMST’s creative continuity was a €3,000,000 grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), announced in July 2018, which enabled completion of the works necessary for the Museum to operate to its fullest potential. This grant helped the Museum outfit its exhibition spaces and prepare and transport its permanent collection. SNF supported the procurement of essential equipment and contributed to the establishment and upgrade of various Museum spaces, including the Media Lounge, the Conservation Laboratory, the Library and Artistic Archive, and the Screening Room.
ARTISTS
Dimitris Alithinos, Francis Alÿs, Kutlug Ataman, Chronis Botsoglou, Andrea Bowers, Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Vlassis Caniaris, Ivan Grubanov, Koken Ergun, Makis Faros, Kendell Geers, Mona Hatoum, Emily Jacir, Nikos Kessanlis, Panos Kokkinias, Dimosthenis Kokkinidis, Jannis Kounellis, Jannis Psyshopedis, Walid Raad and the Atlas Group, Allan Sekula, Aspa Stasinopoulou, Theodoros,sculptor, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Kostis Velonis
3rd FLOOR
The exhibition WOMEN, together is the first rehang of the museum’s collection in its permanent home, the former FIX brewery, since the initial presentation in 2019.
To address a major issue confronting all museums today: the under-representation of women and the urgency regarding gender equality – one of the main shared concerns underlying all ‘waves’ of feminism over the years, no matter how different – EMΣΤ has decided to make a bold statement with this exhibition and highlight exclusively the work of women artists in its collection.
Curated by Katerina Gregos and Eleni Koukou, WOMEN, together features works from EMΣΤ’s collection, including the first presentation of a number of works from the D.Daskalopoulos Collection Gift to EMΣΤ, the most important and generous donation in the museum’s history.
There are a total of 49 works by 25 artists of different generations, ten of which are Greek. Twelve artists and 24 works are from the D.Daskalopoulos Collection Gift, while twelve artists and 25 works are from the existing collection of ΕΜΣΤ. The exhibition also includes seven new acquisitions, as well as a new long-term loan of a major work by Etel Adnan (Lebanon), courtesy of the Saradar Collection (Paris/Beirut).
Although there is no single thematic narrative, as that would be restrictive within the framework of a collection exhibition, there are many common points of reference and dialogue as well as conceptual and aesthetic affinities between the works on view. The artists are preoccupied with a variety of issues, both related to gender and identity, as well as to social and political issues, and the entanglements between them. They also predominantly share an interest in materiality and the handcrafted, and the ephemeral nature of all things.
There are several works that incorporate and re-signify objects and materials extracted from the domestic/everyday environment which are transformed through meticulous manual sculptural processes, and fragile gestures. A preoccupation with the complexity of human existence is evident in several works, as is an interest in entropy, breakdown, decay, and fragility, reflecting the current state of uncertainty widely prevalent today. There are enquiries into the body as a site of contestation and the multiple renderings of its meaning in relation to domesticity, work, sexuality, and self-representation. While the majority of works are not focused on the female condition per se, there is an underlying preoccupation with questions of equity or oppression and difference.
Finally, there are artists who probe issues regarding history, memory and collective/cultural identities centering around the critical geopolitical position of Greece and its immediate geographic surrounds in South East Europe, the Middle East and the former Levant. These are the territories of the former Ottoman Empire, and with them come a multitude of suppressed or marginalised histories that lay dormant in the wake of new nation building. The legacy of this history and the current history of this wider region with its rich historical, cultural, and socio-political narratives lie at the heart of EMΣΤ’s renewed collection policy.
ARTISTS
Artists featured in WOMEN, together include: Etel Adnan (1925, Beirut, Lebanon), Diana Al-Hadid (1981, Aleppo, Syria), Ghada Amer (1963, Cairo, Egypt), Helene Appel (1976, Karlsruhe, Germany), Bertille Bak (1983, Arras, France), Karla Black (1972, Alexandria, UK), Hera Büyüktaşciyan (1984, Istanbul, Turkey), Christina Dimitriadis (1967, Thessaloniki, Greece), Marina Gioti (1972, Athens, Greece), Eleni Kamma (1973, Athens, Greece), Maria Loizidou (1958, Limassol, Cyprus), Tala Madani (1981, Tehran, Iran), Despina Meimaroglou (1944, Alexandria, Egypt), Annette Messager (1943, Berck-Sur-Mer, France), Tracey Moffatt (1960, Brisbane, Australia), Eleni Mylonas (1944, Athens, Greece), Rivane Neuenschwander (1967, Belo Horizonte, Brazil), Cornelia Parker (1956, Cheshire, UK), Agnieszka Polska (1985, Lublin, Poland), Christiana Soulou (1961, Athens, Greece), Aspa Stassinopoulou (1935–2017, Athens, Greece), Maria Tsagkari (1981, Piraeus, Greece), Paky Vlassopoulou (1985, Athens, Greece), Aleksandra Waliszewska (1976, Warsaw, Poland), and Gillian Wearing (1963, Birmingham, UK).
In the context of the exhibition WOMEN, together the group This is not a feminist project (invited by ΕΜΣΤ) created and presents a timeline of the course of the feminist movement in Greece from 1979 until today. It is based on the existing digital timeline of the online platform of This is not a feminist project and includes archival material from the following institutions, initiatives, individuals and groups: Women’s Archive “Delfys”, the General Secretariat for Family Policy and Gender Equality, the Center for Gender Studies of Panteion University, Kiouri@, Beaver, Gender Panic, Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou, Emantes, Queer Ink, Ntizeza, Sex Harass Map, Orlando LGBT+ mental health beyond the stigma, Assembly for the 8th of March, Strap-On Unicorns, G – All, Historians on Research in the History of Women and Gender, Center of New Media and Feminist Public Practices.
This is not a feminist project (Vasia Ntoulia & Mare Spanoudaki) is a collaborative artistic/curatorial scheme between 2 women based in Athens, with a focus on feminist issues. Through the combination of different practices, it highlights neglected histories and memories, while amplifying voices of contemporary femininities in order to subvert deep-rooted stereotypes and dominant narratives associated with patriarchy.
ARTWORKS OF THE COLLECTION EXHIBITION
PRESS MATERIAL-WOMEN, Together
ΕΜΣΤ SPONSORS
