COMOTIRIO (hairdressing salon in Greek) is the co-working scheme between Athens-based artists Eriphyli Veneri and Naira Stergiou. A major part of the duo’s collaborative practice is the curation and organising of art events in unconventional venues around Athens, with the participation of local artists. Previous projects include an intervention at the flower shops on the sidewalk next to the parliament building, a group exhibition at the garbage truck depot of the Municipality of Athens’s waste collection service, and a one-night reactivation of a legendary and now abandoned disco club in Kypseli.
For their new art-event collaboration Veneri and Stergiou are bringing works by eight artists to a pet shop in Holargos, a suburb just northeast of the city centre. Inspired by the myth of the hunter Actaeon and his tragic transformation into a deer by the goddess Artemis, the one-night exhibition at The Creatures pet shop ang grooming salon explores the concept of chimeric creatures, beings that are of a mixed nature, monstrous and beautiful at the same time. Works in sculpture, sound art, installation and drawing are exploring the idea of groomed beasts, heterogenous bodies, beauty and trauma, and the aestheticization of violence. During the event, the pet parlour will be open as usual, grooming dogs.
Participating artists: Spyros Aggelopoulos, Yannis Economides, Rebecca Giannopoulou, Periklis Pravitas, Thalia Raftopoulou, Naira Stergiou, Eriphyli Veneri, Stathis-Alexandros Zoulias