The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (EMST) presents 39 New Acquisitions by 33 artists that were included in the Museum’s collection from 2014 to 2017. A year after the partial operation of the Museum and the opening of its temporary exhibition spaces, the first selection of its New Acquisitions (2014 – 2017) marks the enrichment of the collection and the beginning of a new dialogue with the greater cultural and artistic production inside and outside EMST and brings the Museum closer to the opening of its permanent collection spaces.
EMST, along with its intensive activity in Greece and abroad and the resolution of administrative issues that will soon lead it to the complete opening of its spaces, has expanded its collection by 150 works, reaching the total number of 1150. With long-term loans, generous donations and some acquisitions, the EMST Collection completes its existing sections with news axes and new topics. In this way the Museum “opens” its door to synergies with other international Museums, in the framework of the series EMST in the World, which for a year now has designated the Museum’s intention for extraversion and constant expansion of its “borders”, counting two exhibitions already, as well as with other individual activities.
Movement, forced and violent, fear, humanitarian, social and economic crisis that urges alternative ways of dealing and managing them internally and collectively are themes which the works presented in the exhibition deal with, having a dialectical relationship with what happens in the difficult times we live in.
Transculturality and interaction with the audience were and always will be aspects of an “open” museum, transforming it into a living organization, a platform for culture, dialogue, research and production, as well as of experiential knowledge and entertainment. It regards a constant redefinition of the role of a Museum of contemporary art and a constant dialogue with its era and its audience.
At the same time, at the temporary exhibition space of the Museum on the Ground Floor, the interactive art project Face Forward … into my home, that was inaugurated a few days ago, is presented. The project is realized in collaboration with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and funded by the European Commission.
The necessity of the social role of the Museum and its active participation in top humanitarian and social issues, such as the one with the refugees, converse in many ways with the works of the Museum’s collection.
EMST overcomes obstacles with the assistance of the State, artists, donors, friends and its audience and it is a living example of the actualization of optimism, with its decisive turn towards the world.
Artists
Nikos Alexiou, Francis Alys, Ziad Antar, Eugenia Apostolou, Kutlug Ataman, Manolis Baboussis, Bertille Bak, Kostas Bassanos, Lizzy Calligas, Pantelis Chandris, Chryssa, Lydia Dambassina, Mark Hadjipateras, Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Eleni Kamma, Joseph Kosuth, Jannis Kounellis, Piotr Kowalski, George Lappas, Stathis Logothetis, Maria Loizidou, Andreas Lolis, Eleni Mylonas, Ilias Papailiakis, Artemis Potamianou, Aris Prodromidis, Alexandros Psychoulis, Santiago Sierra, Lina Theodorou, Katerina Thomadaki & Maria Klonaris, Nikos Tranos, Dimitris Tzamouranis, Costas Varotsos
Curatorial team: Katerina Koskina, Director; Eleni Ganiti; Anna Mykoniati; Tina Pandi;
Stamatis Schizakis; Daphne Vitali