Geometries, Synergies and Resilience

Geometries is an exhibition curated by Locus Athens and produced and organized by the Onassis Cultural Centre (OCC) as a result of an initiative taken by the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA). The exhibition features paintings, sculptures, installations, video works, cinema projections and an extensive range of workshops, lectures and urban art projects. It takes place throughout the grounds of the AUA, which is a hidden oasis in the urban fabric of Athens.

But it is also much more than all this. To start with, it represents an interesting type of in-situ project, one that grows organically from within its context, and where those who work or study in the space out of which the art-works develop are actively involved in the project rather than being simply guarantors of some kind of “authenticity” that provides legitimation.

At another level, it is an excellent example of synergy between a public higher education institution and a private foundation. The OCC attaches great importance to such collaborations and is or has been engaged in projects with a number of Universities locally and further afield in Europe. Universities – including ones ostensibly far removed from the art world such as the AUA – are ideal partners for cultural projects because they enable interesting cross-disciplinary work to emerge, they can galvanise communities on and around campus in ways that open new perspectives for future creative projects and they represent an organic way to develop and engage new audiences for contemporary art of all kinds.

Finally, it shows specific ways in which art projects can boost the resilience of cities: it engages citizens in a reflection on the quality of the urban environment; it gives the floor to a range of grass-roots organisations and activists to raise issues that impact the community at large; it opens up areas of the city that were never on peoples’ mental maps creating new bonds with these spaces.

For more information and visiting hours see: https://www.sgt.gr/eng/SPG2017/