The exhibition “Pareidolia” approaches the phenomenon of seeing things when they’re not there, which results from our brain’s ability to create familiar patterns out of abstract sensory information. Ten visual artists explore the visual, verbal and auditory aspects of pareidolia through sculpture and drawing. The exhibition is taking place at Talc Studio, a design office in Psyrri, Athens.

The press release in full:

“My curiosity awakened and astonished, I began to experiment indifferently and to question, utilizing the same means, all sorts of materials to be found in my visual field: leaves and their veins, the ragged edges of a bit of linen, the brushstrokes of a "modern" painting, the unwound thread from a spool, etc. There my eyes discovered human heads, animals, a battle that ended with a kiss (the bride of the wind), rocks, the sea and the rain, earthquakes, the sphinx in her stable, the little tables around the earth, the palette of Caesar, false positions, a shawl of frost flowers, the pampas…” — Max Ernst, Cahiers d'art, 1937

That which is not perceptible, does not exist. A "meta" statement resulting from the constant demand for the overexposure of ones self. If I’m not apparent, I do not exist. But what happens in the opposite case, when the non-existent develops a conceivable presence, and which is the realization of this visible absence?

Ten artists approach the familiar phenomenon of pareidolia, the visual hiccup, the verbal derailment, the sense of vastness of the world around us which is revealed when we recognize images, shapes or sounds in random things.

Idea-Realisation: Vasiliki Panagiotopoulou

Participating artists: Giannis Cheimonakis, Apollonas Glykas, Giannis Kokkalis, Panos Mattheou, Rena Papaspyrou, Ilias Sipsas, Gogo Smili, Constantinos Sotiriou, Erato Tagaridi, Eva Tsagaraki