Shared Sacred Sites
in the Balkans and the Mediterranean

SATURDAY 23.09.2017, opening
20:00 / Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
The exhibition will be inaugurated by the Mayor of Thessaloniki, Mr. Yiannis Boutaris
22:00 / Yeni Camii – Concert of Savina Yannatou

SUNDAY 24.09.2017
International Workshop
09.30-19.00 / Thessaloniki Museum of Photography

TUESDAY 26.09.2017
20.00 / Yeni Camii, Performance by Marios Chatziprokopiou “In a corner of the corridor”: a performative lecture on lament and love.

The three-part exhibition is being organized by the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art and the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, in collaboration with the Municipality of Thessaloniki.

Venues
Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
Thessaloniki Museum of Photography
Yeni Camii

Duration:
September 23 – December 31, 2017

The exhibition
As they have done in the past for centuries, several Christians, Jews and Muslims may pray today in sanctuaries belonging to another religion. The presence of shared sacred sites is a well-established phenomenon in the Mediterranean, revealing the permeability of the frontiers between religious communities. Despite theological differences, the three religions share a number of elements in terms of beliefs, rites, holy figures and places. These crossovers, however, are not devoid of ambiguity and can sometimes also lead to conflict. The Mediterranean world thus offers many examples of sharing, but also of partition and division.
The three-part exhibition “Shared Sacred Sites” explores this phenomenon by locating it through various examples in different contexts and by bringing forward the entangled places and practices, symbols and figures that define it.
Τhessaloniki is ideally positioned to tell the story of “Shared Sacred Sites” as the three monotheistic religions have historically flourished here, but also because today it finds itself at the Mediterranean crossroads of migration. The three-part exhibition, designed as a sort of ‘pilgrimage’ in the city, reveals both historical and contemporary aspects of “sharing the sacred.”
In Thessaloniki, the exhibition is constituted of three venues: Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki Photography Museum and Yeni Camii (old Archaeological Museum). The Thessaloniki version of the exhibition “Shared Sacred Sites” is the result of a deep reconceptualization that includes many new elements: archival materials, photographs, films and contemporary art that are meant to highlight the local peregrinations of this topic.
Based on anthropological field research, different versions of this exhibition were first held at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations (MuCEM) in Marseille (2015), then at the Bardo Museum in Tunis (2016). Further exhibitions are planned in Paris, Marrakech, New York and Istanbul.

Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
The Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art exhibition provides the visitor with an experience that blends anthropological research and contemporary art. The anthropological encounter tells of shrines dedicated to prophets and patriarchs, to Mary and shared saints.
The works of contemporary art, present a different locus for notions of sharing the sacred. Photographs, works of art, icons, and anthropological evidence are interwoven to evoke religious coexistence. With contemporary art, the exhibition raises questions concerning the power of religious symbols and practices that stand simultaneously at the core or at the edge of religion and faith.

Artists
Αλέξης Ακριθάκης / Alexis Akrithakis (GR)
Benji Boyadjian (PS)
Τάσος Βρεττός / Tassos Vrettos (GR)
Φίλιππος Γκούτζος / Filippos Gkoutzos (GR)
Λυδία Δαμπασίνα / Lydia Dambassina (GR/FR)
Μάριος Ελευθεριάδης / Marios Eleftheriadis (GR)
Thierry Fournier (FR)
Ragna Ingadottir (IS)
Μαρία Κομπατσιάρη / Maria Kompatsiari (GR)
Δημήτρης Κοντός / Dimitris Condos (GR)
Lino Mannocci (IT)
Νατάσσα Μαρκίδου / Natassa Markidou (GR)
Βιργινία Μαστρογιαννάκη / Virginia Mastrogiannaki (GR)
Δημήτρης Μεράντζας / Dimitris Merantzas (GR)
Μανόλης Μπαμπούσης / Manolis Baboussis (GR)
Γιάννος Οικονόμου / Yiannos Economou (CY)
Θεόδωρος Παπαγιάννης / Theodoros Papagiannis (GR)
Λήδα Παπακωνσταντίνου / Leda Papaconstantinou (GR)
Manoël Pénicaud (FR)
Nira Pereg (IL)
Νάνα Σαχίνη / Nana Sachini (GR)
Niki de Saint Phalle (FR)
Γιώργος Τσακίρης / Yorgos Tsakiris (GR)
Στέλιος Φαϊτάκης / Stelios Faitakis (GR)
Μάριος Χατζηπροκοπίου / Marios Chatziprokopiou (GR)
Έλλη Χρυσίδου / Elli Chryssidou (GR)

Thessaloniki Museum of Photography
At the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography the exhibition presents a visual journey through the diverse geographies and communities of the Mediterranean. Places of coexistence and active sharing are revealed, next to cases where territorial disputes lead to conflict and physical separation. We visit these sites through a panorama of multiple photographic approaches, where archival material meets contemporary documentary photography and scientific fieldwork research blends with the vernacular photo keepsakes of the pilgrims and devotees themselves.

Artists
Αλέξανδρος Αβραμίδης / Alexandros Avramidis (GR)
Yeosf Alraheel (SY)
Μάριος Βερβέρης / Marios Ververis (GR)
Τάσος Βρεττός / Tassos Vrettos (GR)
Faraj Chammas (SY)
Manuel Çitak (TR)
Magali Corouge (FR)
Gianni Berengo Gardin (IT) © Contrasto
Χάρης Γεωργούσης / Harris Georgoussis (GR)
Christophe Goussard (FR) © Agence VU
Nele Gülck & Nikolai Antoniadis (DΕ)
Robert Jankuloski & Elizabeta Koneska (FYROM)
Izzet Keribar (TR)
Sara Kuehn (DΕ)
Ludovic Maisant (FR) © Getty Images
Jean-Luc Manaud (FR) © Gamma-Rapho-Keystone
Diàna Markosian (AM–US)
Cécile Massie (FR)
Γιώργος Μαυρομμάτης, Αγγελική Ροβάτσου & Μιράντα Τερζοπούλου
/ Giorgios Mavrommatis, Aggeliki Rovatsou & Miranda Terzopoulou (GR)
Andrea Merli (IT)
Ηλίας Μιχαλάκης / Ilias Michalakis (GR)
Εύα Νταραρά / Eva Darara (GR)
Αβραάμ Παυλίδης / Avraam Pavlidis (GR)
Manoël Pénicaud (FR)
Πάρις Πετρίδης / Paris Petridis (GR)
Franck Pourcel (FR)
Antonio Pusceddu (IT)
Guy Raivitz (IL)
Ivo Saglietti (IT)
Φανή Σαρρή / Fanny Sarri (GR)
David Sauveur (FR) © Agence VU
Ahikam Seri (IL) © Panos Pictures
Laramie Shubber (UK)
Νικολέττα Τζιανουδάκη / Nikoletta Tzianoudaki (GR)
Jeff Vanderpool (GR–US)

Yeni Camii
At Yeni Camii, the exhibition presents an historical narrative of Thessaloniki, privileging a religious osmosis that occurred between the three religions as they accommodated to living together. Daily contacts, popular religious interactions, testimonies of travelers and the co-existence in particular sacred spaces and iconic monuments of the city are highlighted as treasured fragments of an experience now lost and a memory largely erased: that of Thessaloniki as a city once shared by different ethnic and religious communities.

Curation
Concept–Curatorial supervision
Dionigi Albera
IDEMEC, CNRS–Aix–Marseille University, France
Karen Barkey
University of California, Berkeley, USA
Dimitris C. Papadopoulos, PhD
Department of Anthropoly, Western Michigan University, USA
Manoël Pénicaud
IDEMEC, CNRS–Aix–Marseille University, France

■ MMCA
Curator: Thouli Misirloglou
Assistant curator: Miguel Fernandez Belmonte
● ThMP
Curator: Stergios Karavatos
Assistant curator: Danaë Tezapsidou
Research: Olga Moutsianou
Scientific consultant: Giorgios Mavrommatis
▲ YENI CAMII
Curator: Thouli Misirloglou
Assistant curator: Miguel Fernandez Belmonte
Research: Charis Raitsinis
Scientific consultant: Panayiotis Poulos

Collaborating Institutions
Cartographic Heritage Archives
British School of Athens
Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki
ELIA-MIET
ELIA-ΜΙΕΤ Thessaloniki
IDEMEC, CNRS
Museum of Byzantine Culture
Benaki Museum
Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations
Central Library of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
State Museum of Contemporary Art
Thessaloniki History Centre
SATIS, Aix-Marseille University

Major Donor

Stavros Niarchos Foundation

Sponsors

Nicholas J. and Anna K. Bouras Foundation

TIFF-Helexpo

Supporter

Robert Bosch Stiftung

Communication Sponsors

ΕΡΤ3, 95.8FM, 102FM, TV100, FM100, Η Καθημερινή, Μακεδονία, ΕΠΙΛΟΓΕΣ, makthes.gr, parallaxi, Athens Voice, Μήνυμα 107.7

The exhibition is part of the Parallel Program of the 6th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art “Imagined Homes” (30.09.2017-14.01.2018 / www.thessalonikibiennale.gr). The Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund)

The exhibition is also part of the Parallel Program of 52th Dimitria Festival

Educational programs and guided tours will be realized throughout the exhibition.

Venues and opening hours:
Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art
Εgnatia 154 (TIF-Helexpo), 546 36 Thessaloniki
T: +30 2310-240002
mmcart@mmca.org.gr
www.mmca.org.gr
Thursday 10:00-22:00, Friday & Saturday 10:00-18:00, Sunday 11:00-15:00, Monday to Wednesday closed

Thessaloniki Museum of Photography
Warehouse A’, Port of Thessaloniki
T: +30 2310566716
info.thmp@culture.gr / press.thmp@culture.gr
www.thmphoto.gr
Opening hours: Tuesday/Wednesday/ Thursday/Saturday/ Sunday 11:00–19:00, Friday 11:00–22:00, Monday closed

Yeni Camii (Old Archaeological Museum)
Arch. Museum 30 str, 546 41 Thessaloniki
T: +30 2310857978
pinakothiki@thessa¬loniki.gr
www.thessaloniki.gr
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 10:00-18:00, Saturday 11:00-15:00, Sunday & Monday closed