At a time when the financial crisis in Greece and elsewhere is reaching a highpoint, the 4th Athens Biennale (AB4) cannot but respond to this bleak situation through a pertinent question: Now what?

In response to the current social and economic conditions, this year Biennale will set out to explore creative alternatives to a state of bankruptcy by setting in motion a collaborative process in producing an exhibition.

Titled AGORA, the exhibition proposed by AB4 (as an answer to the question Now what?) will be held in an emblematic building at 8-10 Sofokleous street, property of the National Bank of Greece, historically known for its former use as the Athens Stock Exchange. It will be realized by a nameless and ephemeral group of artists, curators, theorists and practitioners in the creative industries. AGORA is thus a collective experiment, the result of a process of fermentation between professionals from different backgrounds. What matters most to those who participate in such an experiment is a shared sense of responsibility and an urge to co-produce meaning.

Using the empty building of Sofokleous str. as its main venue, AB4 proposes AGORA not only as a place of exchange and interaction, but also as an ideal setting for critique and a radical re-orientation in thinking. As a contested space where multiple theses and doctrines emerge, this AGORA cannot be taken for granted: it aims for pleasure and purpose; it opts for the carnivalesque and the ambiguous, for the significant as much as the insignificant.

AGORA is formulated through a succession of objects, collaborative events, performances, roundtable discussions, film screenings, workshops and educational programs. In AGORA works and theses evoke that which is urgently needed at this particular moment: an unearthing of timely attitudes, a reevaluation of artistic and lifetime strategies, a deconstruction of dominant myths in order to discover new, functional approaches and attitudes.

SAVE THE DATE:
4TH ATHENS BIENNALE
2013 AGORA | 29th September - 1st December 2013
Preview 28th September
8-10 Sofokleous str

In the current precarious state of crisis and numbness, where we witness the collapse of long-established social structures and the tangible degeneration of values that we have accepted as given, we find ourselves facing a persistent, latent question: Now what?

By bringing into play the collaborative process in producing an exhibition, the 4th Athens Biennale answers this question by creating the conditions for the creative contribution of everyone who seeks to develop operational approaches and attitudes in today's critical time. We invite you to contribute with your creative support. The 4th Athens Biennale 2013 AGORA contains a web-base platform for hosting proposals as an organic element. Internet is not an extension of reality, it is real and this new challenge is embebed in AGORA. Our aspiration is to produce much more than an art exhibition, we want to create the circumstances for people to gather, to exchange, to connect, to govern, to trade - the AGORA.

The Athens Biennale is looking for volunteers who will contribute to the realization of the 4th Athens Biennale 2013 AGORA. You can find more information here.

Additional information and images can be accessed through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, Vimeo pages.

Download our press release here

The application forms for the Press Accreditation are now online. Please visit the Press Office page of the 4th Athens Biennale 2013 AGORA site to apply for Press passes.

For high resolution images please visit the press page on the 4th Athens Bienalle AGORA website.