Dialogue between local, foreign artists

Photography Museum of Thessaloniki exhibition making impact

IOTA MYRTSIOTI

The Photography Museum of Thessaloniki is making its presence felt strongly, both domestically and abroad, with two exhibitions this summer, one at its home base, the other in Odessa, Ukraine.

Works by Spanish, Latin American and Greek artists are on show at Thessaloniki port's Warehouse A, assembled as two parallel group exhibitions under one title, «Dialogue Between Ten Artists.» It opened this week and runs through August 4. The show is the latest in a thematic series being staged by the museum, «Dialogues: Greek and Foreign Artists.»

The exhibition's Spanish and Latin American entries were culled by five European curators for a project titled «Cinco miradas Europeas. Fotografia espanola e hispano americana,» through which the Cervantes Institute and PhotoEspana are promoting Spanish culture abroad.

A number of the exhibition's works from abroad have gained international recognition. Matias Costas, for example, is a two-time winner of the World Press Photo prize and recipient of the UNICEF prize in 2000 for his photo essay on the orphans of the Rwanda genocide victims.

«Dialogue Between Ten Artists» includes works by five Greek artists who took part in the Photobiennale's «Portfolio Reviews» at the 20th International Photography Meeting this year. Eleni Mouzakiti, Angeliki Svoronou and Nikos Chrysikakis, as well as Myrto Papadopoulou and Pavlos Fysakis, winners of the «Epson-Exceed Your Vision» prize at the photobiennale, are taking part.

The museum's other exhibition, «Absences and Presences,» is being hosted by the Hellenic Foundation for Culture in Odessa and features work by Stavros Andriotis.

The show's content is based on ancient Greek cities and their environs. The remains of old temples, theaters and statues, and their relevance today, as well as the contrasting concept of absence and presence, provided Andriotis with the inspiration for this show.