Homeless contemporary art museum obtains temporary accommodation
The unfinished Athens Conservatory, a project undertaken by Ioannis Despotopoulos (1903-1992), will serve as a temporary home for the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) beginning September. The museum, currently awaiting completion of renovation work at Fix, an old Athenian brewery, before moving there, will spend an estimated two years at the conservatory. EMST’s new temporary residence will be inaugurated on September 30 with two autumn shows, one by Belgian video artist and photographer David Claerbout, the other by German sculptor Ulrich Ruckriem. As it turns out, the incomplete conservatory, one of the city’s longest-running outstanding works, for which few have shown any interest, has come to offer a temporary solution to EMST’s long quest for a home. The renovation work at Fix, which has dragged way behind schedule, has had serious repercussions on the museum’s ability to organize exhibitions. Rather than focus on its work, the museum’s artistic team has had to seek vacant premises in Athens on a regular basis. The Athens Conservatory, part of a bold public buildings proposal envisioned by former Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis – on the unbuilt, at the time, triangle formed by Vassilissis Sofias and Vassileos Constantinou avenues and Rigillis St in central Athens – is the only aspect of the overall plan that had begun taking shape. It was never completed. Ironically, the lack of progress proved to be a boon for EMST and its director Anna Kafetsi, who spent a difficult winter in search of a temporary base for the homeless museum. As of September, EMST will have 2,000 square meters to work with, most of it on the conservatory’s basement level, which will have two exhibition spaces (designed by 3SK Stylianidis Architects). Lighter colors and brighter lights will be used for one part of the basement, while the other section will be rougher with cement surfaces as the feature. Visitors will be able to access the building from Rigillis St, where a museum shop is also being set up. The museum’s temporary residence will also include a media lounge, between the ground floor and basement. Claerbout’s exhibition will additionally employ an area that was intended to be the conservatory’s amphitheater, where the Association of Sculptors usually organizes exhibitions. Despite the temporary nature of EMST’s stay at the conservatory, Kafetsi, its director, is optimistic about the museum’s prospects over the next two years. As for the Fix building, the project’s developer is expected to deliver the completed construction at the end of 2009.
