NEWS

Artist Diohandi gets Venice ticket

Even though Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos has not signed the official announcement, sources said earlier this week that the artist known as Diohandi will be representing Greece at this year’s Venice Biennale, which will take place from June 4 to November 27. The choice of this particular artist, who plays with light and shade in her paintings and sculptures, is not just ideal in terms of the theme of event this year, which is «Illuminations.» Her candidacy also represents the recognition of this low-key artist’s lengthy career. Her most recent exhibition, held last autumn in Elefsina, was one of the best we have seen in recent years. Diohandi was nominated by art critic Maria Marangou, and a panel at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism chose her to represent the country from among 18 artists. Among those who were also vying for the coveted candidacy were Manolis Babousis, Lydia Dabasina, Kyriakos Katzourakis, Babis Venetopoulos, Giorgos Harvalias, Nikos Tranos, Angelos Papadimitriou, Christiana Soulou, Kyrillos Sarris and Panos Haralambous, as well as a handful of non-Greek artists. The panel that judged the artists’ portfolios and ended up voting unanimously for Diohandi, comprised Anna Kafetsi, director of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Maria Tsantsanoglou from the Thessaloniki-based State Museum of Contemporary Art, Denys Zacharopoulos from the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, art critic Nikos Xydakis and artist Giorgos Hadzimichalis. Swiss art historian and curator Bice Curiger has been named visual arts director of the event. Diohandi’s proposal for the Venice Biennale is an in situ work that will grace the interior of the Greek pavilion, composed of light sculptures representing moments in the history of the Italian city and also of the nations that have passed through it over the centuries.

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