plásmata: refik anadol, SpY, tony oursler + more exhibit public digital artworks in athens

‘plásmata: bodies, dreams, and data’ IN ATHENS

From now until July 10, 2022, Onassis Stegi presents ‘Plásmata: Bodies, Dreams, and Data’, a public digital art exhibition at Pedion tou Areos Park in Athens, Greece. Bringing together 25 international pieces by artists such as Refik Anadol, SpY, Tony Oursler and more, the exhibition explores the body, be it individual or collective, human, non-human, or – ultimately – planetary. The artworks are situated in various locations across the park, and include an artificial moon created 70 meters above the ground using laser beams by night (Another Moon by Kimchi and Chips); a humanoid handing out medicine in an abandoned pharmacy at the edge of the park (Dries Verhoeven’s Happiness); and a huge red planet that reminds us of our overheating Earth and of our inability to formulate a collective political subjectivity (SpY’s DIVIDED).

Refik Anadol, Quantum Memories – Probability | image © Stelios Tzetzias

DIGITAL ART EXHIBITION AT PEDION TOU AREOS PARK by Onassis Stegi

‘Plásmata: Bodies, Dreams, and Data’ unfolds as a series of curated journeys taking place through Pedion tou Areos, Athens’ largest public park. The team at Onassis Stegi decided on this particular location – a space that started out as an army training ground before becoming a recreation ground for the city’s inhabitants – in order to ‘speak about the body not just as the locus of subjectivity, but also as the field of identitive, political, and social conflict, as the core of both pleasure and pain, and ultimately of our very existence.’ The exhibition gathers work by an international group of artists that explore themes and ideas around bodies after technology, constructed worlds, identities and boundaries, but also imagining new territories, connections and places of co-existence. ‘In a series of curated journeys unfolding through Pedion tou Areos park, the exhibition “Plásmata: Bodies, Dreams, and Data” – which brings together site-specific, interactive, and performative installations by artists from across the globe – invites us to explore how technologies and technologically constructed worlds shape and influence our bodies and identities, as well as to reflect on what spaces we would like to inhabit,’ notes Irini Mirena Papadimitriou, Creative Director of FutureEverything, and ‘Plásmata: Bodies, Dreams, and Data’ Exhibition Curator.

‘We experience, perceive, move, think, feel, and explore the world with and through our bodies, but since technology has imbued our lives, it has been changing the way we behave and interact, the way we regard ourselves, and how we are being perceived by others. Our bodies are measured against societal expectations presented through digital worlds, advertising, and social media platforms. They are constantly policed and surveilled, objectified, measured, and quantified, whereas certain bodies are valued more than others. The ‘creatures’ (i.e. plásmata) that one encounters in the park reveal to us a view of the human experience as a blending of material and immaterial, organic and machinic, social and physical. How could these imaginaries, hybrid forms of human, animal, plant, bacteria, and other species, these fluid and flexible identities help us envision post-anthropocentric perspectives that enable kinship, equity, and relationships across all forms of life, a collective and interconnected body?’

Refik Anadol, Quantum Memories – Probability| Image © Pinelopi Gerasimou

The public art exhibition brings together 25 international pieces, new commissions, more than 250 sqm LED works, and 40 solar batteries that collect the energy of the Greek sun to light up the installations. It opens at the statue of King Constantine I and reaches all the way to the Alsos Theater and the pine forest that lies beyond. Curated routes invite visitors to discover parts of the park that are not, in the main, known to the general public. ‘This is a conscious curatorial approach that allows visitors to engage with the exhibition in Pedion tou Areos’ most popular areas before being invited to lose themselves within the park in order to discover startling exhibits, collective activities, and events.’ 

Tony Oursler, Eclipse | © Stelios Tzetzias

SpY, DIVIDED I image © Pinelopi Gerasimou

Maria Papadimitriou, Diamond of Otherness – Kaleidoscope of the motions of the soul | image © Stelios Tzetzias

Marshmallow Laser Feast, We Live in an Ocean of Air | image © Stelios Tzetzias

Kimchi and Chips, Another Moon | image © Pinelopi Gerasimou

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SUPERFLEX, Vertical Migration | image © Pinelopi Gerasimou

SUPERFLEX, Vertical Migration | image © Stelios Tzetzias

Frederik Heyman, Virtual Embalming| image © Stelios Tzetzias

Eva Papamargariti, Among Us, Among Others | image © Stelios Tzetzias

Dries Verhoeven, Happiness | image © Pinelopi Gerasimou

project info:

name: Plásmata: Bodies, Dreams, and Data

participating artists: Morehshin Allahyari, The Alternative Limb Project, Refik Anadol, Frederik Heyman, Ekene Ijeoma, Keiken x Clifford Sage, Kimchi and Chips, LaTurbo Avedon, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Eva & Franco Mattes, Christian Mio Locklair, Matthew Niederhauser, Elie Zananiri, John Fitzgerald, NOWNESS, Tony Oursler, Maria Papadimitriou, Eva Papamargariti, Annie Saunders, Andrew Schneider, Emma O’Halloran, OpenEndedGroup, SHOWStudio, SpY, SUPERFLEX, Dries Verhoeven, Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm, Saya Woolfalk, Liam Young

commissioned and produced by: Onassis Stegi

location: Pedion tou Areos, Athens, Greece

duration: May 23 – July 10, 2022

admission: free

curatorial and production team

curatorial direction: Afroditi Panagiotakou
curation: Irini Mirena Papadimitriou, FutureEverything
executive direction, scientific advisor: Prodromos Tsiavos

exhibition design: Studioentropia Architects_ (Yota Passia, Panagiotis Roupas)

head of production: Dimitra Dernikou

producer: Vassilis Panagiotakopoulos

production coordination: Katerina Varda, Heracles Papatheodorou

head of line production: Despina Sifniadou

line production: Sia Sourmeli, George Stergiou, Dimitra Bouzani

line production assistance: Froso Tsipopoulou, Spyridoula Gkerazi, George Papageorgiou, Mariana Antzoulatou

research assistance: Katerina Varda

technical director: Lefteris Karabilas

technical production manager: Philip Hills