Exhibition Curated by: Gabriel Bauret, Vangelis Ioakimidis
At the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, Warehouse A’, 1st floor, Port of Thessaloniki
Documentary photographs, realistic or symbolic. Images of fiction and snapshots of fantasy. They all have in common the element of water. Water is present in all forms as well as in its deafening absence. Water-currents is the first important exhibition inaugurating the cycle “The four elements of nature and man”.
The exhibition includes different currents of photography, as they are expressed in the works of the Prix Pictet, but also in the group exhibition by Greek and foreign artists.
In one part of the show the works presented are by the short listed artists of Prix Pictet and the issues dealt concern sustainability, the social and environmental dimension of the element. The Prix Pictet, created by Pictet & Cie in association with the Financial Times as global media partner, is the world’s first prize dedicated to photography and sustainability. Its mandate is to use the power of photography to communicate vital messages to a global audience. It is a unique goal – art of the highest order, applied to confront the social and environmental challenges faced by humanity in the early 21st century.
For 2008 the topic was water. It is after all through water that we are seeing the earliest and most devastating manifestations of the climate change: threats to our food supply, to our health, to fragile ecosystems, to the ground on which we live and even our peace and security. The first prize was awarded to Benoit Aquin from Canada and the Pictet Commission to record a Water Aid project in Bangladesh was awarded to Munem Wasif.
A slide show projection with the works by more than 200 participating artists for the Prix Pictet will also be included in the exhibition.
The Shortlist Prix Pictet 2008:
1) Benoit Aquin
2)Edward Burtynsky
3)Jesus Abad Colorado
4)Thomas Joshua Cooper
5)Sebastian Copeland
6)Christian Cravo
7)Lynn Davis
8)Reza Deghati
9)Susan Derges
10)Malcolm Hutcheson
11)Chris Jordan
12)Carl De Keyzer
13)David Maisel
14)Mary Mattingly
15)Robert Polidori
16)Roman Signer
17)Jules Spinatsch
18)Munem Wasif
In the other part of the exhibition, there works presented are by Greek and foreign artists which transmit images of fiction, contemplation and frivolity through water. Here different views assemble: landscapes, still life, directed images. The creators express themselves through the transparent language of water conveying the oppositions which it includes: the element which unites and separates us, which evokes floods or soothes us. The water in all its forms; ice, vapour, clouds, river, currents.
Participating artists
1.Lucie and Simon
2.Lucille Reyboz
3.Patrick Taberna
4.Alexey Titarenko
5.Jacqueline Salmon
6.Gabriele Basilico
7.Jordi Bernado
8.Giorgia Fiorio
9.Susanna Majuri
10.Carlos and Jason Sanchez
11.Mark Power
12.Αlessandra Spanzi
13.Krystyna Ziach
14.Bill Viola / video-installation
15.Yiorgis Yerolymbos
16.Sotiris Danezis
17.Yannis Thedoropoulos
18.Stratos Kalafatis
19.Evangelia Kranioti
20.Kostas Kolokythas
21.Nikos Markou
22.Manolis Baboussis
23.Venia Behraki
24.Paris Petridis
25.Danae Stratou / video-installation
The exhibition is realized as part of the sub-project 3 of the Operational Program “Culture”.
