Stoa 42 is pleased to present the exhibition Beauty Temple by Eriphyli Veneri & Naira Stergiou.
*δέηση
αινώς αθανάτησι θεής εις ώπα έοικεν
φρικτά με τις αθάνατες θεές μοιάζει στην όψη.
η ομορφιά θα σώσει τον κόσμο
η ομορφιά θα πρέπει να σώσει τον κόσμο
αχ. ας σώσει η ομορφιά τον κόσμο
με μυστήριο υπέρ.
δέομαι. εγώ
άκου. εσύ
και δέξου. δέηση.*
The artistic installation “Beauty Temple” by Eriphyli Veneri and Naira Stergiou is composed in different sculptures, devoted to the Sanctity of Beauty.
The invocation of the beautiful-Beautiful, the demonization of the horrible-Beautiful and the desire of the unattainable-Beautiful, mutate into tangible entities and acquire materiality through flexible imitations of leather, shiny pearls, gold coins, along with materials for memorials, colourful butterflies and incense.
The aesthetic objects of the installation, arranged in a dramaturgic, almost ritual narration, display their double quality as literal objects and as significant marks, fetish objects. As ritual references with metaphysical powers, magic thoughts and wishes for the discharge of the agony and the fulfillment of the deeper wishes and desires.
Toiletries and jewellery, crowns, gloves that cannot be worn, are dedicated for appeasing; prayers, ex-votos, offerings, spells, donations. Sacrifices. Everyone is welcome.
In the Temple of Beauty the Goddess is standing, listening. And demands.
Eriphyli Veneri (1983, Athens) studied Painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts and undertook postgraduate studies at the Public Art and New Artistic Strategies program of the Bauhaus University Weimar in Germany with the support of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. She also completed second postgraduate studies at the MA Art in Context program at the University of Arts Berlin with the support of the Basil & Eliza Goulandris Foundation. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Architecture of the University of Thessaly with the support of the Greek State Scholarship Foundation.
Naira Stergiou (1984, Athens) studied Painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts and undertook her first postgraduate studies at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, Belgium (MFA). She completed second postgraduate studies at Campus Sint Lucas Antwerp (Master of Research in Art & Design). She also attended courses of Theology at the Orthodox Onderwijs, Theologisch, Instituut Saint-Serge in Gent, and then proceeded to her third postgraduate studies in Modern Greek Literature at the University of Crete. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Athens School of Fine Arts.
www.eriphyliveneri.com/
www.nairastergiou.com/
Stoa 42 is a non profit, experimental cultural space with aim to support emergent artists. At the edge between private and public space, Stoa 42 invites each time one artist or a group of artists to show one work.