Sozita Goudouna: The top curator of New York and the platform that promotes Greek culture
CULTURE
Sozita Gudouna: The top curator of New York and the platform that promotes Greek culture
Sozita Guduna, one of America’s most prominent Greek curators
Katerina Poulopoulou
19/01/2021 11:19
An innovative platform promotes the knowledge of modern and ancient Greek culture abroad with the signature of Sozita Goudouna.
The cultural platform GREECE IN USA is a global organization that promotes Greek culture abroad and promotes international cultural cooperation.
Founded in New York by the internationally renowned Greek visual artist and assistant professor at New York University CUNY Sozita Gudouna, one of America’s most prominent artists and curators.
GREECE IN USA is making an impressive opening amid a pandemic, launching, with the support of the Greek Ministry of Culture, the group exhibition “The Right to Silence? »/” The Right to Silence? “ on the penitentiary system, prison and incarceration regimes and the reform of criminal justice, in different geographical and political contexts. The first phase of the exhibition is currently being presented at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, City University of New York with the participation of 43 Greek and Cypriot Artists, while the second parallel action is expected in February at “Undercurrent”, one of the most influential exhibition Brooklyn-based locations worldwide.
What is GREECE IN USA ?
GREECE IN USA is a non-profit organization of global scope, which promotes the knowledge of modern and ancient Greek culture abroad and promotes international cultural cooperation and social participation. The platform focuses on the dissemination of innovative and unique programs in the field of art and education, exploring the evolving diversity and richness of Greek culture, seeks to create and provoke new (original) thinking about the arts and to promote intercultural dialogue through and “new” expression platforms.
GREECE IN USA makes an impressive opening amid a pandemic, launching, with the support of the Greek Ministry of Culture, the group exhibition “The Right to Silence?” / “The Right to Silence?” on the subject of the penitentiary system
It focuses on a number of cultural activities , including the development and support of creative, academic research with an emphasis on cultural policy and the extroversion of Greek culture. As well as in the production of cultural works and festivals in collaboration with prominent US cultural partners, as well as the organization of conferences, seminars, workshops and cultural exchanges through ‘art residencies’ hosting programs.
GREECE IN USA presents Greek-American and Greek contemporary productions focusing on visual arts, performing arts (theater), experimental cinema, cinema, new media, architecture and dance. The organization develops productions that meet the needs of spaces (on-site-specific) and new and intermediate media (new media & intermedia).
The promotion of the international exchange of practices and knowledge in the arts, the exploration of the methods used in theatrical and curatorial practices and the points of intersection between the arts, society and the public sphere through interventions, collective actions, educational programs and publications, is in progress. of interest to the organization.
The Board of Directors of GREECE IN USA consists of, among others, prominent personalities from Giannis Kaplanis, General Manager of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival and Andreas Takis, President of MoMUS.
What are the goals of the GREECE IN USA platform
GREECE IN USA aims to collaborate and build long-term partnerships with leading institutions and individuals active in Greece and its culture and to transfer a comprehensive representation of Greece and Cyprus through the production of cultural and educational programs that encourage interdisciplinary and allow cultural participation.
The main objectives are:
• To shape and envision the image of modern Greece in the United States beyond existing stereotypes
• To support the inspired cultural practices of Greece, welcoming and cultivating new ideas and influences
• To present contemporary Greek culture
• To promote Greek cultural research and culture in the American educational system
• The development of a transatlantic network for the exchange of cultures and ideas
• Enhancing the development of structures in cultural policy and the promotion of global mobility.
The platform is founded in New York by the internationally renowned Greek visual artist and assistant professor at New York University CUNY Sozita Gudouna, one of the most prominent artists and curators in America
The man behind the GREECE IN USA platform
The Sozita Gkountouna is empnefstria, founder and artistic director of GREECE IN USA, head of the Institute of Raymond Pettibon, one of the most prominent artists in America and assistant professor at NYU CUNY.
He holds a PhD in Art History and is the author of Beckett’s Breath: Anti-Theatricality and the Visual Arts, published by Edinburgh and Oxford University Press. She was selected as the first Andrew W. Mellon Curator at the Institute and the New York Biennale Performa, teaching at New York University. He has curated programs and exhibitions at the New Museum of New York, Documents, Onassis Cultural Center in New York, etc. He taught in the Postgraduate Program entitled “Management & Promotion of Cultural Heritage & Environment”, of the Department of History, Archeology & Cultural Heritage Management of the School of Humanities & Cultural Studies of the University of Peloponnese. He studied Philosophy, Theater (NE) and Directing in London (MA: RADA Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts & Kings College London). He holds a PhD from the University of London on the relationship between the visual arts and the performing arts.
As artistic director of the first official European program for hosting artists in Athens (2013–2015) under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture Athens Art Residency, she curated a series of solo art exhibitions such as Martin Creed, Santiago Sierra, Lynda Benglis, Marie Voignier, Roy Ascott and collaborated for the production of Marina Abramovic “Seven Deaths”. In 2008 he founded the company outoftheboxintermedia in London with productions at EMST, Benaki Museum, Tate Modern, Frieze London, Shunt Vaults, Hunterian Museum, French Institute. He is a member and was elected in 2015 as treasurer of the Greek Section of the International Association of Art Critics, AICA and was a member of the board of the Greek Section of the ITI International Theater Institute of Unesco.
The cultural organization Out of the Box Intermedia (www.outoftheboxintermedia.org) which he founded in 2008 in London and Athens, specializes in the research and production of cross-sectoral projects with the international collaboration of universities, artistic groups and scientific institutes and organizes for the last 12 years artistic productions, educational programs, conferences and publications. It has been supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Tourism, the European Foundation for Culture, the British Council, the French Institute, the NEON Foundation and private companies. Out Of The Box productions examine structural correlations between the visual arts, cinema, architecture, science and choreography and have been presented at the New Museum, Ionian Parliament, Documents, EMST, Benaki Museum, Byzantine, Christian & Christian Vaults London,
The opening exhibition “The Right to Silence?” / “The Right to Silence?”
GREECE IN USA captures and creates projects that build long-term collaborations with leading institutions and individuals who are actively associated with Greece. In this context, the inaugural report entitled “The Right to Silence?” (The Right to Silence?) Raises issues of criminal justice and is based on research and two parallel streams that deal with different geographical and political contexts, focusing on Greece and Cyprus.
The group exhibition is curated by Sozita Guduna. John Jay is joined by artists Margarita Athanassiou, Maria Adelman, Steven Antonakos, Klitsa Antoniou, Kenji Aoki, Lydia Venieri, Vangelis Vlachos, Antonis Volanakis, Alexandros Georgiou, Eva Giannakopoulou, Klio Gizelis, Z. , Georgia Kotretsos, Lappas Aristidis, Manolis Lemos-Daskalakis, Irini Linardaki, Aristidis Logothetis, Marion Iglesi, Olga Miliaresi-Fokal & Despina Damaskou for SPAGHETTO, Bapis Papas Spyrou, Marilia Stagouraki, Giorgos Stamatakis, Chrysan Stathakos, Panos Tsagaris, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Nagia Frangouli, Nikos Charalambidis, Gioula Chatzigeorgiou, Despina Hatzipavlidou & Anthio Mouriatou, Timou Mouriatou B, Kourou DKaren Finley, Geyer Andrea & Sharon Hayes, Steve C Harvey, Ashley Hunt, Richard Kamler, Renee Magnati, Ilan Manouach, Daina Mattis, Juli Susin, Mischa Twitchin, while in Undercurrent participate the artists Chloe Akrithaki, Alexis Vasilikos, Eugenia Vereli, Maria Georgoula, Eleni Glinou, Lydia Dampasina, Martha Dimitropoulou, Irini Karagiannopoulou, Ismini Karyotaki, Elias Cohen, Anna Laskari, Jenny Marketou, Maro Michalakakos, Phryni Mouzakitou, Manolis Bamis, Manolis Bamis Evripidis Papadopetrakis, Natassa Papadopoulou, Elias Papailiakis, Teresa Papamichali, Emilia Papafilippou, Georgia Sagri, Katerina Sarra, Christina Sgouromyti, Vouvoula Skoura, Evangelia Spiliopoulou, Ztonis Toniis, AntonisΔιονύσης Χριστοφυλογιαννακης, Elaine Angelopoulos, Blind Spot, Rafika Chawishe, Mat Chivers, Delia Gonzalez, Ashley Hunt, James Lane, John Newsom, OCD Ensemble, Anastasia Pelias, Irene Ragusini, Duke Riley, Martin Sexton.
GREECE IN USA also invited professor and curator Thalia Vrachopoulos to address the issue by inviting artists from Asia, and curator Tressa Berman with a historic American artist. The ‘Greece in USA’ platform invites artists, curators and academics to respond to “The Right to Silence?” The next events in other cultural venues of New York will be announced during 2021.
The prison regime and the culture platform
“ Despite the fact that many contemporary visual compositions seem to deny the presence of the spectator in their layout, what is of primary importance for the canon of art today is the dialogue with the spectator. “Recognizing the presence of the spectator and the ‘visibility’ (viewing) of works of art also has a decisive contribution to the ongoing dialogue on the aesthetics of the modern movement, “ said Sozita Gudouna.
“But how can the limits of this ‘rule’ be tested in relation to society at large. What happens when viewers remain hidden from the public and can not be in any dialogue with the artwork. “When they can only see one wall closed in a cube without windows or when they are blindfolded in absolute silence, waiting for an investigator.”
“A constituent element of prison is the silencing, the silencing of the prisoner’s life, often of justice, the silencing of pain or political expression.
Mass imprisonment has been discussed in terms of degrees of invisibility, but not so much in terms of the range of processes that reveal the boundary between the representation of silence and visibility. Is silence connected to the invisible in a cause-and-effect relationship?
Prisoners, ex-prisoners, their families, social activists, academics and professionals, founded in the 1970s an organization that aimed to dramatically reform the penitentiary system by giving a “voice” to the very foundations of the prison. The organization was named GIP (or Prison Information Group) and aimed to reveal to the public the real experiences of the detainees.
“The status of prison as a silent and invisible space has been challenged and continues to be challenged today, mainly by former imprisoned artists working in communities most affected by America’s penitentiary system and policing to consider prison privatization and economic policy. increase in the prison population since the 1970s in the USA.
The group report will explore the penitentiary system to see if art and aesthetics can break the silence on critical political issues such as mass imprisonment and criminal justice reform, as well as corruption / ill-treatment and gender rights, and the rights of minors in prisons.
The report will also address issues related to international coronavirus decrees and extensions of house arrest .
Recognizing the impact of programs that encourage the general public to become aware of prisoners through art or the ways in which art can heal prisoners, the report draws on forms of representation that have the potential to show beyond themselves in unacceptable and inaccessible “concludes Sozita Gudouna
Source : iefimerida.gr — https://www.iefimerida.gr/politismos/platforma-proagei-elliniko-politismo
