Between 1973 and 1975, Niki Kanagini would create a tri-part work titled Still Life from the Space of Nascent Consumer Society – a trilogy of installations made for three spaces, each with a distinct social character. This body of work occupies a pivotal place in her oeuvre, exploring sociological perspectives and the very function of the artwork within varied – and often conflicting – societal contexts.
She first presented drawings and three constructions with this title in 1973 as part of her solo exhibition at Desmos Gallery. The works were originally set to be exhibited in a home furnishings shop window on Stadiou Street in Athens in 1972, thus situating the artwork within consumerist public space and subverting the boundaries between artistic practice and everyday life. In 1974, the piece’s second part was installed at a luxury villa complex in Porto Rafti. Colourful lengths of hosepipe affixed to the buildings’ exterior walls traced the structural forms of the architecture, creeping across the surfaces like climbing plants, while the installation was further developed each day by means of the artist’s interventions. The piece’s third part was presented in 1975 at the Izola Home Appliances Factory in Thebes, transferring her artistic practice into the sphere of manufacture. The installation included a refrigerator filled with food alongside another that was empty, with various consumer goods set out on tables. In an accompanying text, Kanagini invited visitors to add their own interventions to the work by painting on the assemblages or by writing slogans and their names on them.
