THE GREEK PARTICIPATION IN THE 18TH VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE 2023: “BODIES OF WATER”
The Greek pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia was inaugurated on 18/5/2023. As emphasized in an announcement by SADAS – Panhellenic Union of Architects, the opening ceremony was attended and spoken by the honorary consul of Greece in Venice Bruno Bernardi, the National Commissioner Efthimios Bakoyannis, Secretary General of Spatial Planning and Urban Environment of the Ministry of the Interior and curators Kostis Panigyris and Andreas Nikolovgenis. Representatives of the Embassy of Greece in Italy, the Metropolitan of Venice, a representative of the Municipality of Venice, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, architects and academics from Greece and abroad were also present. This was followed by a small reception with wines, offered by the Vogiatzis Estate and accompanying preparations with roe, offered by the Municipality of I.P. Messolonghi.
The theme of the Greek participation in this year’s Biennale is Bodies of Water.
Water Bodies feature dams and reservoirs that transform the country. In an already heavily cultivated, but generally arid land, since the 1930s, an extensive and collective water retention program has provided irrigation, water supply and power. A significant number of man-made lakes make up an extensive reverse archipelago scattered across the mountainous terrain. They turn the land into a country, both in the sense of territory and in the etymological origin of the word from the verb chóro, that is, a place that contains the lives, actions, memories and expectations of its inhabitants.
Water Bodies and all related structures such as dams and earthworks are public architecture in the Roman or Vitruvian sense. They are public works of collective emancipation, literally, as agents of sustainability and symbolically, as a result of collective toil and desire for progress. The main exhibits are suspended glass surfaces with bottom drawings of important bodies of water around the country. They hover at various heights, depending on their actual altitude. A podium made of recycled cardboard is presented as a soil laboratory, the country as a construction site. It contains scale models of large dams, reworked land as a permanent reconstruction of the country. Drawings of the country’s man-made lakes and a collection of historical and contemporary photographs are displayed on the walls of the pavilion. The viewer’s movements activate interactive soundscapes recorded in situ. The Greek participation, it is stated in the announcement of SADAS – PEA, is the result of collective effort and moral support of many good friends.
National Commissioner
Efthimios Bakoyannis, General Secretary of Spatial Planning and Urban Environment
Curators
Kostis Panigyris, Andreas Nikolovgenis
Curator team members
Kostas Apostolidis, Spyros Karakostas, Evita Marioglou, Matoula Krustalli (architects), Mary Pantazis, Evi Tarandilis, Marianthi Chimariou (architecture students)
Collaborators
Ilias Kosintas (photography), Dimitris Karageorgos (music), Filippos Theocharidis (sound interaction design), Marinos Kolokotsas / Nowhere Studio (visual identity), Vassilis Kalisperakis, Fotini Adrimi / lost minute studio (architectural representation), Vangelis Brachos (3D terrain models ), Alexandros Papadopoulos / papercuts (paper models), Theodora Papadopoulou, Mina Mantzari / luun (architectural lighting), Dimitra Evkolidou (website), Irini Sapka (exhibition support), Kriton Panigyris (construction)
Advisors
Prodromos Papadopoulos / DOMa (publishers), Nicoletta Tsitsanoudi-Mallidi, Professor Univ. of Ioannina (communication), Dimitris Kourkoumelis, lawyer (legal advisor), Panagiotis Panagiotopoulos, civil engineer (statics), Antonis Zacharopoulos, Nikos Soulis (detail design)
Construction: Epicycle, Metal structures: qoop, Crystals: spatiotis glass & masscolor, Models: papercuts, Prints: apolyto, future format
Cultural Mediators: Marilena Koufoyianni, Katerina Paisiou, Irini Dimitrievic
Texts
Giannis Aisopos, Phoebe Giannis, Zisis Kotionis, Katerina Kotzia-Korina Filoxenidou, George A. Panetsos, Lois Papadopoulos, Leonidas Papalampropoulos-Georgia Syriopoulou, Boulouki.