Published: 2012-10-30
ISBN:
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
This paper aspires to comment on the idea of suggesting an alternative scenario concerning the national narrative about Modern Greek Art; in the context of the curatorial approach I personally followed for the exhibition
Versions of Greek modernism: experiences and ideological trajectories (actually one of the sections of a broader temporary exhibitional project; entitled
Unknown Treasures from the National Gallery Collections; that took place in the National Gallery-Alexandros Soutzos Museum in Athens from October 2011 to January 2012).
Choosing the works for this particular section I was responsible for; was a great opportunity to challenge the certainties of linear presentation adopted in the permanent exhibition of the museum and the rather outdated historiographical scheme it is based on. More specifically; instead of continuing the reproduction of long perpetuated stereotypes; motivated by a sometimes compulsive need to showcase masterpieces; to demonstrate an unbroken continuity in space and time; exclusively based on superficial formal comparison of the output of the Greek visual arts production and its international counterparts; I suggest it is about time that we enrich the issues posed and focus on broader cultural; historical contexts.
In other words it is essential to discuss the terms of modernity in Greece wondering about the specific artistic production and reception conditions; the broader social and institutional reality; the viewing of art itself as a means of constructing certain social identities; the connection of various social and national identities; the notions connected with image production; the creation eventually of le champ artistique (to borrow Pierre Bourdieu’s term).
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