Frappe, cigarettes, seals and paperwork
An exhibition of photographs capturing the surreal side of the public sector at the old Ministry of Commerce in Kaningos Square, central Athens has opened at the French Institute of Thessaloniki.
The pictures were taken by Michalis Patsouras, who was himself a civil servant for a decade at the ministry. He captured approximately 150 images of his workplace from 1993 to 2000, and, depending on how one views the Greek public sector, one can decide whether they are exclusively about the past or whether they also encompass moments of contemporary reality.
“We selected 33 black-and-white photographs, with an eye to exaggeration,’ explains the artistic director of the Photometria Festival and curator of the exhibition, Panagiotis Pappas. The exhibition runs to November 19 as part of the PhotoBiennale.
