Geometries

Athina Ioannou

Silver-Plated Gardens | Hanging Gardens | Rhodon

This iconic site-specific work was created for the group exhibition Geometries, curated by Locus Athens in collaboration with the Agricultural University of Athens andsponsored by the Onassis Foundation.

Ioannou’s work is a project of profound importance for the public university, as it makes historical and social reference to the cottage industry of Athens during the period of financial crisis.

Inspired by this condition, the project symbolically highlights– as a rose in full bloom – the material used in the production of a once flourishing Greek cottage industry. The artist researched and used textiles left over in central Athenswarehouses.

Installed in the window of the staircase that leads to the Rector’s office, above the white-marble stairs, this large-scale (9m × 9m) allegorical work interacts with the gaze of the viewers, whether visitors or faculty members, becoming a permanent fixture on the university campus.

Thanks to the qualities of its medium and the pictorialinterventions on the fabrics, covered in linoleum, AthinaIoannou’s Rodon organically interacts in time, functioning like a stained-glass window constantly changing with the light.