Street Report: ReMapping Art in Athens

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ReMap 2 είναι μία διεθνής πλατφόρμα σύγχρονης τέχνης που αντλεί από την ενέργεια, τις πολιτισμικές ιδιαιτερότητες, το μεταιχμιακό χαρακτήρα και τον καλλιτεχνικό δυναμισμό της πιο ενδιαφέρουσας, αυτήν τη στιγμή, περιοχής στο κέντρο της ελληνικής πρωτεύουσας: του Κεραμεικού και του Μεταξουργείου (ΚΜ). Translation: Athens isn’t just crumbly old buildings and emptied Olympic stadiums. A new contemporary arts program called ReMap is taking to the streets with guerilla-style artwork that blurs the lines between public property, commercial art practice, and vandalism.

Street art is sprinkled throughout the Kerameikos/Metaxourgeio district of Athens, described by The Art Newspaper as a mix of “empty lots, run-down early 20th-century neoclassical apartment buildings and flimsy post-war tenements, many occupied by brothels, drug dealers and immigrant squatters.” The neighborhood is slowly gentrifying, and the planners behind ReMap imagine that cutting-edge art and architecture will solidify KM’s transformation into a “culturally vibrant catalyst” for the city’s renaissance. Concurrent with the Athens Biennale, on display until October 4, ReMap presents independent public works in addition to gallery exhibitions from the likes of Peres Projects, Johann Koenig, Ibid Projects, The Breeder, Andersen’s Contemporary, and Rebecca Camhi Gallery.

Two untitled Manolis Baboussis pieces in ReMap 2

Forgiving Architecture installation by Gianni Pettena

Emma Hammaren, Birds (2009), at Thermopilon 27.

Tzatziki by FOS (Thomas Poulsen), 2005, at Andersen’s Contemporary.

Jannis Varelas, Mount Ventoux, 2008, at The Breeder Gallery.

aBox installation from 2007, photo by Maria Antlakis.

Athens graffiti.

For the latest on ReMap 2, check out the blog diary written by artist and KM resident Katerina Kata.