Arty Farty party (or Αρτι-Φάρτι Πάρτυ) A party + the exhibition We and Us

(we kindly ask you not to take art too seriously)

Curated by Sofia Mavroudis and Alexios Papazacharias

5 April 2009 at OBI Uptown (Skouleniou 2 & Ag. Theodoron square), 2nd floor, Athens

With the artists Konstantinos Patsios, Christos Delidimos, Georgios Sourmelis and Theodora Malamou interpreting Max Ernst painting Au Rendez-vous des Amis. DJ- Konstantinos Dagritzikos + friends

The idea was an exhibition in a bar. Already done and not that interesting. Better to throw a party. For our friends. Even better to make an exhibition with our friends for the party for our friends. Immediately we thought of a painting of Max Ernst, Au rendez-vous des amis. In 1922 Ernst painted a fantastic gathering with his “friends”, artists and writers, surrealists and not, living or dead. Personalities that was important for the artist. With this painting Ernst creates a picture of himself through the depiction of his friends and the persons he admire. Our social surrounding is following us, pursues us and supports us. We meet, get to know and are finally defined by people around us. We asked four of our artist friends to give their interpretation of meetings through the painting of Ernst, as he himself were the inspiration to the academic tradition of Friendship Painting.

In a place of meetings - in a bar.

Note - due to a fire at the exhibition space, the exhibition only lasted for the opening party and the next day.

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prints (fingerprints/footprints/impressions). We and Us after the fire (thoughts, notes):

- 4:33 minutes of silence. john cage. trace of music, even though the music is not there.

negative space, recollection, anticipation. 

- memory. of something that was. that left an imprint, an impression. 

- “ingenting är beståndigt. allt är förgängligt”

- to fill in something that has been. our brains add what is missing. 

- not really negative space - where the space around an object creates a pattern -

here, the object itself creates an imprint. "Showing everything around the subject but not the subject itself"...

- the silence between the music tracks. 

- shadow.

- traces of different civilizations.

- to put meaning into something meaningless.

- we all want to leave something after we disappear from this world…

- to miss an exhibition (or an event, or anything else) and only see the traces of it (on social media) (flickr)

- traces, footprints, evidence of life in apartments after somebody have moved out,

Todd Hido - "Foreclosed homes" (photographs-interiors --> homepage)  

...

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Photos by Giorgos Makkas and Sofia Mavroudis