HELBI

We must salute the impressive appearance of the Czech Republic on the Greek cultural scene, as we must note the interest that the country's ambassador, Hana Mottlova, has shown in art. Kathimerini has already written about the photographer Josef Koudelka, who was born in Czechoslovakia and calls himself «stateless,» traveling the world like a Gypsy and photographing people experiencing intense joy, sorrow, deprivation and fear. His black-and-white photographs stamp themselves on our memory with their simplicity. Koudelka was at the retrospective exhibition's inauguration at the Benaki Museum on Wednesday night, as were French Ambassador Christophe Farnaud and Ambassador Mottlova, as co-organizers with the Benaki Museum. Another Czech artist, the painter, cartoonist and set designer Adolf Born, is in Athens for the opening of his exhibition on Thursday, September 25, at the Melina Cultural Center on the corner of Irakleidon and Thessalonikis streets in the Thiseion district. The exhibition, called «Satyrs, Naiads and other Animals,» is being organized by City of Athens's cultural section, the Czech Embassy and the Porphyrogenis Foundation. People, animals, myth and reality all play a leading role in Born's work, where humor and love for the subjects coexist. The exhibition presents 42 lithographs that were inspired by Born's visits to Greece. He and his wife visit our country annually. It is now our turn to pay a visit to his world of paintings that depict Greek landscapes. The exhibition will run until October 5 and will be closed on Sundays and Mondays.