Port cities Art -markets and their curatorial methodologies
Conversation led by Marina Fokidis (Kunsthalle Athena, South as a State of Mind), with Stamatia Dimitrakopoulos (Art Athina), Jérôme Pantalacci (Art-o-rama) and Anissa Touati (Paris Internationale) on the new markets and the position of contemporary art fairs in the South of Europe.
First session of a discussion initiated in the framework of the Art-o-rama – Art Athina partnership
Grand Plateau, Saturday, August 27, 3 pm-4:30 pm
What makes an art fair different from another, if not site-sensitivity and most probably size? How can trans-local collaboration flourish amidst parallel forces?
Marina Fokidis
Marina Fokidis, is a curator, writer, lecturer and institution-maker based in Athens Greece. Her methodology of challenging the prevalent monetary economy with a love economy harnesses the power of trans-cultural friendships while emphasizing site-sensitivity and sharing. In 2010, amidst the Greek economic crisis, she founded the independent space Kunsthalle Athena to reflect on the “social role of art institutions in the 21st century,” while in 2012, she founded South as a State of Mind magazine, a biannual arts and culture journal that creates unexpected dialogues between distinct neighborhoods, cities, regions and approaches. In 2014, she was invited to become part of the core team for documenta 14 by artistic director Adam Szymczyk. She is since 2021 curator of the public program for Salzburg International Summer Academy for Fine Arts while in 2020 she was the curator for Vanderbilt University’s EADJ (Engine of Art Democracy and Justice) year-long program Living in Common in the Precarious Souths, for which she received a curatorial award of excellence by the Association of Art Museum Curators (US). In 2001, she was one of the curators of the 1st Tirana Biennial while in 2003 she was both the commissionaire and the curator for the Greek Pavilion in the 50th Biennale di Venezia, and in 2011, she co-curated the 3rd Thessaloniki Biennial, (A Rock and a Hard Place) together with Paolo Colombo and Mahita El Bacha Urieta Between 2013 and 2014 she was the curator of exhibitions, public programs and also initiated the curators’ residency for Schwarz Foundation -Art Space Pythagorion in Samos, Greece. As an independent curator she has curated multiple exhibitions internationally including Her/Histories, (Museum of Cycladic Art , Athens), The Gesture, (MOMUs, Thessaloniki, Quarter Florence) Anathena (Deste Foundation, Athens) WIR/We , curated by 2020 (Christine Konig Gallery, Vienna) Epistemologies of the Sun, (Rebecca Camhi Gallery , Athens) among many others. She is currently appointed as curator of the main thematic section in Arco 2023, Madrid, where she will focus on the Mediterranean region.
Stamatia Dimitrakopolos
Stamatia Dimitrakopolos is the Artistic Director of the International Art Fair of Contemporary Art, Art Athina (2017-) and the Founder of Mum Institute (2020), a non-profit organisation that aims to support youth living in institutional care. Stamatia Dimitrakopoulos graduated from the Department of Media Communication and Culture of Panteion University, with postgraduate studies at the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens.In the past, she has organised curatorials and has collaborated with organisations such as The Breeder Gallery (Residency Program Director, 2015-2017), SOMA (SOMA SUMMER Fellow and Curator of the Annual Group Exhibition, 2016, Mexico City), Greek Participation in the 56th Venice Biennale (Project Manager, 2015, Venice), Museum Vienna Contemporary Art (Archivist, 2013-2015), Palais de Tokyo (Assistant Curator, 2012, Paris).As an art editor, Stamatia Dimitrakopoulos has curated art reviews, essays and interviews in catalogues, publications and online platforms, such as: Kaleidoscope Magazine, Kennedy Magazine (contributing art editor 2013-2017), Dapper Dan, Conceptual Fine Arts independent & international art critic blog (contributing art editor 2013-2016), vice.com (columnist 2015-2017), Lifo Newspaper and lifo.gr (columnist 2011-2015), Foundations Magazine, DESTE PRIZE: AN ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION, 1999-2015, by Deste Foundation , DUE publication of Architectural Association School of Architecture.
Anissa Touati
Anissa Touati is a French exhibition maker and an independent curator trained as an archeologist. She also serves as the founding director of the cultural organization Octavia. She is the Curator-at-large of Paris Internationale, the artistic director of the pavilion for a Mediterranean nation of the Biennial of Lagos 2023 (Nigeria) and the guest curator of the Thalie Foundation in Brussels, the curator in chief of the launch of the Thalie Foundation in Arles. She is the former artistic director of Contemporary Istanbul, for which she built a program reflecting on the question of Mediterraneism and the former associate director of the Chalet Society in Paris. Since 2021, She is a committee member of the MAH Geneva, a member of the acquisition committee of the FRAC Corse, a member of the final jury of Paris-Malaquais higher school of architecture and a jury member of the Pujade-Lauraine Art Prize.