Silke Storjohann + Kathrine Nielsen, an artist duo from Hamburg, uses photography as a means to trigger thoughts and associations. In their Athens series, Storjohann and Nielsen turn Exarcheia - a down town Athens neighborhood known for its intellectuals and artists scene, as well as for the destructrive 2008 riots - into an "art field" to transplant their photographic impressions of Athens and Eleusina and provoke curiosity, surprise, confusion, dialogue.

 

The Open Air show "Through Athens" reflects the rich historical and social stratification of Greece's capital and the early 20h century flaneur movement which turned the own vicinity into an object of anthropological exploration. The show exists as long as it is discovered or even "rearranged" by its visitors, for it remains unprotected from wind, rain, human intervention or appropriation. The photographs - in various sizes and print qualities - are placed in unconventional places: cafe's, bookstores, shops, house entrances, columns or are part of the huge wall collage made of revolutionary posters and concert programmes, which is a distinctive feature of the visual language of Exarcheia.

 

The artists walk with the public through the places of the show and outline their own tourist-free labyrinth of Athens' most controversial neighborhood. "Through Athens" can also be read as a punk or rebellious challenge against the institutional classification and evaluation. Freedom lives on the road! The anarchists' slogan echoes the spirit of the show.

 

Silke Storjohann + Kathrine Nielsen are Artists In Residence at the ONE+ONE/FaveLAB residency programme. FaveLAB is an interdisciplinary platform and art lab based in Athens/Greece.