16 Oct 2008

2nd Athens Biennale 2009 HEAVEN

2nd Athens Biennale 2009 HEAVEN

Curators: Dimitris Papaioannou & Zafos Xagoraris, Chus Martínez, Cay Sophie Rabinowitz, Nadja Argyropoulou, Christopher Marinos, Diana Baldon

Artistic Directors: XYZ

Exhibition Design: Andreas Angelidakis

The 2nd Athens Biennale 2009 will take place from June 15th to October 4th 2009. The exhibitions and events of the biennale will unfold along the coastline of Palaio Faliro, at a short distance from the city centre, the public beach called 'Eden', in various buildings and public spaces.

The 2nd Athens Biennale 2009 HEAVEN is designed as a multi-faceted contemporary art event, comprising of several exhibitions, actions, music and theatre performances, film screenings, symposia, etc, with the participation of more than 100 international artists.

Artistic directors XYZ, who curated the 1st Athens Biennale 2007, have invited an eclectic group of curators to contemplate the subject of Heaven. Heaven as a wide topic touches upon notions such as lost innocence, nature and ecology, utopias and ideal communities. From this premise, a creative dialogue begins, which will reflect upon the theme itself as well as the methodology surrounding large-scale periodical exhibitions. The diverse approaches of the 2nd Athens Biennale 2009 team of curators will retain their autonomy, while interconnecting creatively and claiming a narrative cohesion which will be further reflected in the exhibition design, by architect Andreas Angelidakis. The multiple visual art and performative interventions in the public spaces will be curated by Dimitris Papaioannou and Zafos Xagoraris. Exhibitions, installations, public interventions, screening programmes, and symposia, will be curated by Nadja Argyropoulou, Diana Baldon, Christopher Marinos, Chus Martínez, and Cay Sophie Rabinowitz.

Andreas Angelidakis is an architect who has lectured in Europe, US and Asia. His work has been exhibited in Centre d' art contemporain, Grenoble; MU Foundation, Eindhoven; Fargfabriken, Stockholm; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens; Sao Paolo Biennial (2002), Venice Biennale (2000), et al. In 2008 Damdi Architectural publishing in Korea published the first monograph on his work, entitled Internet Suburbia.

Nadja Argyropoulou is an independent curator. From 1993 to 2001 she was the Director of Cultural Programming and Public Affairs of the Hellenic American Union in Athens. She was assistant curator for the Greek Pavilion at the 2005 and 2007 Venice Biennales. Recently she curated What remains is future (Patras European Capital of Culture, 2006), and I Syghroni Elliniki Skini, (Art Athina, 2007). Since 2007 she collaborates with the DESTE Foundation.

Diana Baldon is a curator and writer. Recently she curated Left Pop (Moscow Biennale 2007) and Marietjca Potrc/Kyong Park (Cubitt Gallery, London). In 2007-08 she was Curator in Residence at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. She regularly contributes to international art periodicals and critical readers. She is Associate Curator of the group exhibition A Question of Evidence, opening in November 2008 at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary.

Christopher Marinos is a writer and curator. He is the founder and co-editor of the online art magazine kaput. In 2005-06, he worked as an art historian/researcher for the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens. He is the Athens correspondent for Flash Art International and Modern Painters, and a founding member of the Reading Group.

Chus Martínez is the chief curator of MACBA and the director of Frankfurter Kunstverein. From 2002 to 2005 she was the artistic director of Sala Rekalde. She has curated numerous exhibitions, among which The Invisible Insurrection of a Million Minds (with Lars Bang Larsen and Carles Guerra, 2005). She was commissioner of the Cyprus Pavilion for the 51st Venice Biennale (2005).

Dimitris Papaioannou has worked as a painter, performer, comic book creator, choreographer and stage director. He founded Edafos Dance Theatre and created all the company's works. He conceived and directed the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. In 2006 he created the stage production '2'.

Cay Sophie Rabinowitz is a regular contributor to periodicals, such as Art in America, Art Papers, Texte zur Kunst and Boiler, as well as the Financial Times and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Since 2001 she has been on the faculty at Parsons, the New School of Design. From 1999 until 2007 she was Senior Editor of Parkett, and until recently she served as Artistic Director for Art Basel.

Zafos Xagoraris is an artist who teaches at the Athens School of Fine Arts and was the co-curator of the Greek Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2004). Recent shows include Distant Sounds, Manifesta 7, Rovereto (2008); Bienal Fin del Mundo, the 1st Biennial of the End of the World, Ushuaia (2007); How to leave together, 27th Sao Paolo Biennial (2006).

XYZ are Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, Poka-Yio and Augustine Zenakos, a curatorial trio that founded the Athens Biennale in 2005. They curated the 1st Athens Biennale 2007 DESTROY ATHENS.

The 2nd Athens Biennale 2009 Preview Days are June 13th & 14th 2009.

Under the aegis of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Palaio Faliro and the Municipality of Kallithea | With the support of the Friends of the Athens Biennale

www.athensbiennial.org