This weekend, our platform celebrates its second birthday with an event hosted by artist-run space Yellow Brick in Nea Ionia, Athens. Organised as part of Yellow Brick’s ACTION series, this two-day event traces back and presents the creative process and methodology behind und. as a contemporary art and publishing platform. The event takes the form of a two-day exhibition with archival material and original content from various und. projects, as well as an open discussion between the und. team, key collaborators and the audience.
For this exhibition, und.’s founding editor Kiriakos Spirou is diving into the platform’s archive in an auto-ethnographic attempt to tell the history of und. through its documents, collected materials and creative collateral. und.’s creative director Natassa Pappa is also contributing to this process with material from her own archive, collected over two years of designing, researching and producing printed material for the platform. Part of the timeline created at Yellow Brick will be the work of guest artists that participated in und. projects, including images from the latest und. campaign created by photographer Giorgos Vitsaropoulos.
The schedule of the event is as follows:
Saturday 13 April
Exhibition opening at 17:00
Open discussion at 19:00
Drinks and birthday cake at 20:00
Sunday 14 April
Exhibition hours 11:00-14:00
und. kicked off as an independent, artist-run publication in April 2017 with the mission to document, promote and support underrepresented artists working in Athens and its wider region. Its first project towards that end was the publication und. Athens, the first art guide of its kind in Greece that features a comprehensive directory of contemporary art spaces in the Greek capital. und. Athens offers the most extensive mapping of independent and artist-run spaces in Athens in printed form to date, covering all areas of the city centre and focusing on emerging artists and alternative venues that are not included in mainstream publications and tourist guides. The publication takes the form of a foldable map that also includes curated self-guided art tours in the city centre, inviting art-curious travellers to explore different parts of the city and meet local artists who work mostly under the radar.
In order to maintain its independent status and offer a comprehensive overview of the Athenian contemporary art scene, und. Athens listings are always free and open to all spaces and artists in Athens. und. partially funds its projects with sponsorships by local businesses that want to support emerging artists and its mission. The first edition of und. Athens was a success, having sold over 800 copies and distributing some 500 more as gifts to journalists, curators and key figures of the industry in Greece and abroad. The second edition was released in September 2018 and is currently being distributed in bookshops, galleries, concept stores and collaborating hotels in Athens and beyond. The third edition is expected in January 2020.
As part of its mission, und. is also publishing an online journal that highlights contemporary artists, projects and events in Athens and its wider region. The journal features interviews with artists, exhibition reviews and critical texts in various formats about contemporary art in the Eastern Mediterranean today. On the und. Calendar readers can find current events and exhibitions. und.’s online content is also distributed through social media in order to reach a wider audience interested in contemporary art in general and the local art scene in particular. The und. Journal also runs a column dedicated to contemporary Greek poets in collaboration with poet, translator and editor Panayotis Ioannidis. und.’s online platform also functions as its main media channel, and is used to promote and advertise independent events through media sponsorships and collaborations.
Being an artist-run platform itself, und. organises exhibitions and other art events focusing on local artists and Athens as a context for contemporary creativity. In April 2017, und. organised its first pop-up showcase inside an abandoned shop in downtown Athens as part of the Athens Intersection programme, with artists Maria Efstathiou and Julius Christian Schreiner. In October 2018 und. organised an all-day event at Sektor30, an artist-run workshop in Neos Kosmos, with the participation of resident and guest artists and a mini concert. In January 2019 und. curated its second pop-up showcase dedicated to Athenian experimental ceramicists, which took place inside a cactus concept store in Exarcheia. Currently und. is preparing an open-air exhibition and a discussion panel as part of its participation in Platforms Project 2019, which will take place between 16-19 May 2019.
