e.n. & bffeae kit / comotirio version

 site-specific installation in the Municipal Gallery of Kallithea „Sofia Laskaridou”
Laskaridou 120, Kallithea, Athens
mixed materials, dimensions variable
5 - 10.07.2022

The group show BFFEAE (Best Friends Forever and Ever), curated and coordinated by COMOTIRIO, was realized in the Municipal Gallery of Kallithea „Sofia Laskaridou” -former house of the painter and residential work by Ernst Ziller- focusing on the theme of female friendship and collaboration in the context of the contemporary Greek art scene.

Sofia Laskaridou, a painter with studies in Athens, Paris and Munich, achieved equal education for women at the Athens School of Fine Arts, while Thalia Flora-Karavia, having studied painting in Istanbul, Paris and Munich, was a war correspondent for the Alexandrian "Newspaper" in the First Balkan War. Their cosmopolitanism and social emancipation united them as they were breaking norms and stereotypes. They circulated alone in an era where the separation of action spheres between the two sexes prevailed -Laskaridou even carried a weapon to protect herself from thieves while painting in the countryside-, claiming their equal presence in the art world and their self-existent artistic entity.

In 1906 Laskaridou and Flora-Karavia held a joint exhibition at the Parnassos Literary Society in Athens. They were recognized as professional creators, something groundbreaking for the Greek reality of the time. On the occasion of this artistic synergy from 1906, we presented the exhibition BFFEAE, where female collaborating schemes were presented, as well as new artistic collaborations based on the friendship of the creators.

Ε.Ν. & BFFEAE kit / COMOTIRIO version was our common installation in the context of the show consisting of two individual parts, honouring eachother:

E.N. by Eriphyli Veneri

Double portrait. Captures a non-artificial pose, an ordinary, everyday one. Idols in profile, frontal position, profile again. Confirms coexistence, closeness, a relationship, a bond. Delimits a shared space; between us, among us and the spirits. What is left: painting, evaporation, two horses and the irrational.

BFFEAE kit / COMOTIRIO version by Naira Stergiou

A bow, what a bow! Gift kit, anniversary every Documenta, the most stylish wardrobe, we count hair rollers and blow glitter, best wishes! Ftou-ftou skorda-skorda spells, λίντερ.