Synapse 2: Rethinking Institutional Critique – A View from the South
April 15-24 2016

The Athens Biennale 2015 – 2017 "OMONOIA" continues its trek on 15-24 April, 2016 with Synapse 2: Rethinking Institutional Critique – A View from the South, an ongoing collective experiment, which will transform the Omonoia area, once again, into a social laboratory of ideas with the contribution of activists, anthropologists, civic organisations, independent researchers, academics, artists, and self-managed groups. A decisive and invaluable boost and assistance to the formation and the extension of this laboratory is the generous assignment of municipal buildings across the Varvakeios Market until 2017 to the Athens Biennale. This has been made possible by a decision of the Municipal Council. These sites will be used by AB5to6 in order to host a wide array of art projects, discussions and outdoor screenings. This novel use of the buildings will be instrumental to a new and constant presence of young people in the area.

This time, the International Summit will explore the role of art institutions and cultural organizations in the current political and economic context of global dispossession, austerity and inequality. What kind of institutions should art biennials be? Where should they look for their public and political constituencies? What kind of practices should they nurture? What forms of sociability, relationality and political imaginaries should they foster? Where shall they draw the boundaries, if any, between their inside and their outside? Questions about the formation of new biennials, common praxis and practices, regionalism and body politics will be discussed by a group of international scholars, artists, activists and cultural organisations.

Massimiliano Mollona, the Programme Director of the Athens Biennale 2015 – 2017 "OMONOIA" (Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology, Goldsmiths College, London) is interested in "how art can contribute to broader political and economic debates and create a bridge between social research and civic engagement".

Synapse 2, the second peak of the Athens Biennale 2015 – 2017 "Omonoia" hosts a new international summit, bringing together again participants from European cultural institutions, scholars, art historians, curators, and launches a series of events and activities at Bageion.

Bageion, Omonoia square, November 2015, Athens (video still). Courtesy of VICE: Thodoris Konstantinou, photography director | Ionas Katrakazos, drone operator | Tryfonas Karatzinas, montage.

International Summit | 15 & 16 April 2016

Structured in four theoretical strands ("Why, What, And For Whom? Making a Biennial", "Common Praxis", "Regionalism and the New South", "Acting Out: On the Body Politic") the summit will explore issues such as the prospects and limitations of the formation of new art organisations, the new, activist - based curatorial approaches, the geopolitical significance of Greece as a crossroads and the wide, but certain concept of personhood.

The summit will take place on the 15th of April at the National Theatre - New Rex and on the 16th of April at Bageion respectively.

Co - Programming: Massimiliano Mollona and Stephanie Bailey

The international summit of Synapse 2: Rethinking Institutional Critique – A View from the South will be conceptually bridged to a two-day symposium which will be co-organised by the Onassis Cultural Centre and the Athens Biennale with the generous support of the Onassis Foundation within the frame of the OCC's Fast Forward Festival.

Venues:
Friday, April 15 | 11am - 5.15pm
National Theatre - New Rex | 48, Panepistimiou str., Athens
Saturday, April 16 | 10am - 6.30pm
Bageion | 18 Omonoia sqr., Athens

Programme of the International Summit here

Activities at Bageion | 15-24 April 2016

From April 15th to 24th, 2016, the Athens Biennale 2015 – 2017 "OMONOIA" continues its trek as it unfolds part of its programme at the empty building of Bageion, presenting a new set of artistic events and collaborations inside the now abandoned building. This way, it creates an amalgamate of the very essence of the historical decay of the South with the inherent force of advancement that the Athens Biennale creates.

Participants: Avtonomi Akadimia, Beton7, Bhive (Gerasimos Avlamis), Campus Novel, Anna Christodoulopoulou, Contemporary Art Showcase Athens (C.A.S.A.), Enterprise Projects (Danai Giannoglou & Vasilis Papageorgiou), FOKIDOS (Sofia Stevi), Geopoetics Project, Fanis Kafantaris, Christos Karakepelis, Katayoun Karami, Athanasios Karanikolas, Aris Laskos, Grigoris Liakopoulos, Lo and Behold, Ektoras Lygizos, National Theatre - Experimental Stage [-1], Netting the Work, Ohi Pezoume Performing Arts company, OPENSHOWSTUDIO (Sofia Touboura), Kity Paitazoglou, Perpetuum Mobile, Playroom, Laure Prouvost, Neda Razavipour, Residents of Mets Initiative, Sofia Simaki, SNEHTA RESIDENCY (Avgoustos Veinoglou), Katerina Stasinopoulou, State of Concept, Eleana Stravodimou, Kuba Szreder, Tinos Quarry Platform (Petros Touloudis), Anna Tzakou.

Bageion | 18, Omonoia square, Athens
Opening hours:
Mon - Fri, 2pm-10pm
Sat - Sun, 12pm-10pm

For this edition the Athens Biennale decided to break the temporality of the event and invite the public to participate in an ongoing process over the next two years. Rather than hold an exhibition on a biannual basis, the Athens Biennale invites academics and researchers from the fields of anthropology, feminism, activism and political science, in a creative fermentation with artists and groups who work and self-organise in Athens today.

Programme of Bageion here