Spirit of Olympic Games inspires a group of artists in Athenian show
The Olympic Games provide inspiration for both athletes and artists, and the Athinais arts complex in Athens recently inaugurated an exhibition titled «Olympism and Art.» The show is composed of 50 works, on loan from the Olympic Museum of Lausanne, which was created in 1992 – the year of the Summer Games in Barcelona – in celebration of the centenary of the International Olympics Committee (IOC). French art critics Gerard Xyriguera and Francis Parent invited 50 artists from around the world to create engravings based on the Olympic idea – among the participants are Adami, Andrea, Arabis, Arden, Bradley, Cezar, Cremonini, Debre, Paladino, Sol Lewitt, Nam Jun Paik, Soto, Rotella, Velickovic, Tabuchi, Tapies and Oppenheim, as well as three Greeks, Fasianos, Vyzantios and Christoforou. They created an exhibition of silk prints, engravings and mixed-media works, called «Olympic Centennial Suite.» The exhibition was brought to Greece on the initiative of the Panhellenic Women’s Athletic Union (Kallipateira), specifically its president, Agapi Vardinoyannis, and it is co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and the General Secretariat for the Olympic Games. In a recent announcement, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said that the exhibition would be complimented by a number of other cultural events such as a tribute to Dimitris Vikelas, the first IOC president. Also, tomorrow at noon, Athinais will be hosting a round-table discussion on «Movements on Current Engraving Art.» Speakers here include Nikos Grigorakis, director of the Engraving Museum-Grigoraki Gallery; art critic Haris Kambouridis; painter Takis Katsoulidis; National Gallery Director Marina Lambraki-Plaka; and Takis Mavrotas, director of the Pierides Modern Art Gallery as well as curator of the «Olympism and Art» exhibition. «Olympism and Art,» at the Athinais arts complex, 34-36 Kastorias, Votanikos-Gazi, tel 010.381.9781-6, until April 15. Metrosoft Informatics, a member of the Byte Computer group, will distribute IBM printers in Greece, according to a statement yesterday. The deal concerns the Laser Workgroup, IBM Impact Serial, Line Matrix and Thermal series of printers.
