North Macedonia artist comments on exhibition incident
Sergej Andreevski, the artist from North Macedonia whose exhibition in a municipal gallery in the Thessaloniki suburb of Kalamaria was disrupted last week by a far-right group, released a statement to the media Monday thanking the municipality, Greek authorities, the public “who stood by art” and commenting on the place of art in today’s world.
The full statement follows:
“To be a creator today – whether it is about living in one’s own world, with an individual script, or about living one’s own dream with motions widely aimed at the world – is not simple.
We live in a time of pandemics, wars, economic turbulence and in general, the restructuring of the planet earth. We are all involved in these changes, some less so than others. Alas, all this especially affects us, the artists. We want a world without borders, people without borders. With my art I have always searched for new, undiscovered landscapes, so that their beauties too can echo through my paintings.
The last incident, which happened during my exhibition in the gallery of the Thessaloniki’s Municipality of Kalamaria, is an occasion for me to address the public. Namely, politics, as many times before, tried to vanquish art.
I want to emphasize that I have no need to use politics as a means of personal affirmation. Even without that, my art has already traveled all over the world. My brushtrokes are enough, they are more exciting, louder, more powerful. That’s why I want to immediately forget the incident, because everything else related to the exhibition left a good memory: the hospitality of the organizers – the Municipality of Kalamaria, the daily meetings with the visitors, fellow artists, including the meeting with the representatives of the Greek services for public security. I sincerely want to emphasize the professional reaction of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and especially the efforts of the Macedonian Consul General in Thessaloniki, Mr. Dejan Djucic, who did everything to make me and my wife feel safe. I am grateful for the support I received and still receive from a large number of artists, intellectuals, citizens and in general the Macedonian, Greek and World public who stood by art.”
Sergej Andreevski
