THESSALONIKI – Video Art Miden collaborates with ToPikap in Thessaloniki, presenting the video art program ‘Frozen’, curated by Gioula and Olga Papadopoulou, on Saturday, February 4. Exhibition space and screening hours: To Pikap Kato, 57 Olympou Street in Thessaloniki, 6-11 PM. More information is available online: https://www.topikap.gr/copy-of-the-room.

Weird things happen and nothing is as it seems. The world(s) seem frozen in another space and time, in multiple parallel realities. Is it the calmness before destruction? Or is it the stillness that follows it, before a new beginning?

Video Art Miden presents the video art program ‘Frozen’ with works by 11 artists from 10 countries (Italy, Spain, France, Brazil, UK, Germany, Thailand, Armenia, Israel, and Greece), selected by Gioula and Olga Papadopoulou. Weird personal worlds, surreal narratives and small (or bigger) dystopias arising from disturbing details, unexpected situations and twists, compose a symbolic micrograph of our world and our time, reminding us that everything is under an undefinable threat, on the verge of explosion and on the brink of a disaster creeping in from many different directions. The works compose a universe that oscillates between Kafkaesque entrapment, Orwellian control and sci-fi dystopias, while at the same time, somewhere between shaking walls and collapsing systems, the reassuring expression “it’s OK” which appears in Ubu Kung’s work (Touchstone No.1) increases the sense of restlessness.

The screening includes:

Yiorgos Drosos, The boss’s chair, Greece 2013, 1.05
Antonello Matarazzo, BUG, Italy 2019, 6.40
Francisco Jose Fargas, La Femme Cerf (The deer woman), Spain 2018, 7.52
Sandrine Deumier, Realness – Cloud and Dust, France 2018, 8.00
Javier Galan Rico, El Cobertizo, Spain 2019, 1.00
Sávio Leite, lacrimosa, Brazil 2019, 3.00
Ubu Kung, Touchstone No.1, UK and UAE 2019, 3.08
Beatrice Schuett Moumdjian, Documentation Report (No. 0617 – 0918), Germany/Bulgaria 2019, 4.50
Methas Chantawongs, Interference, Thailand 2016, 7.51
Anna Grigorian, Unsettled, Armenia/Canada 2018, 7.18
Shahar Marcus, El-Rujm, Israel 2019, 9.40
Program duration: One hour (will be screened in a loop).
Admission is free.

More info: www.festivalmiden.gr.

Video Art Miden is an independent organization for the exploration and promotion of video art. Founded by an independent group of Greek artists in Kalamata in 2005 (initiated by Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos, Gioula Papadopoulou and Margarita Stavraki), it has been one of the earliest specialized video-art festivals in Greece and builded an international festival identity, presenting an annual video art festival for a decade. Since 2015, Miden continues its work ona biennial basis, changing its form to a more flexible and broadened event programming in Greece and abroad, setting as basic aims to stimulate the creation of original video art, to help spread it and develop relevant networks and research.

Through collaborations and exchanges with major international festivals and organizations, it has been recognized as one of the most successful and interesting video art platforms internationally and as an important cultural exchange point for Greek and international video art. It also provides an alternative meeting point for emerging and established artists in Greece and a communication hub between artists, organizations, festivals and art spaces around the world.

Miden screening programs have traveled in many cities of Greece and all over the world, and they are hosted by significant festivals, museums and institutions globally.
(‘Miden’ means ‘zero’ in Greek.)

Art direction: Gioula Papadopoulou and Olga Papadopoulou
Info: www.festivalmiden.gr
Facebook: www.facebook.com/videoartmiden
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videoart_miden/