PROGRAM 2023
5th Photopolis Agrinio Photo Festival
Festival 2023 includes Pre-Festival and Main events, as well as a thematic exhibition.
It is oriented mainly towards contemporary photography and focuses on an exploratory and critical way of thinking on the issues and concerns of today’s social reality.
Art Direction: Eleni Mouzakiti
Pre-festival events
Pre-festival events include:
- Two international photography competitions
- An international short film competition
- A local photo contest
- Photo exhibition in the municipality of Thermo (August 2023)
- Screening of 22 selected short films in a two-day screening at the municipal cinema.
Central events
The main events (27/10-8/11/2023) include:
- 15 individual photography exhibitions
- 2 group photo exhibitions
- Multimedia presentation – video projection
- Masterclass – Photobooks
- Portfolio reviews
- Three musical events
Thematic exhibition
Exhibition of collectible analog photography and cinema equipment (December 2023).
Pre-festival events
Photo exhibition “Mountain Trichonida”
Co-organization with the Municipality of Thermo and IDEAPTH.
40 selected photos, from the respective competition, will be exhibited in the premises of the Thermos Town Hall building.
Curation: Panos Kaltsas
Duration: 13-24/8/2023
Short films
22 short films, selected through a competitive process, will be screened.
The screening of the films will take place at the municipal cinema “ANESIS”, 30 & 31 October 2023.
Central eventsς 27/10-8/11/2023
Individual exhibitions
Curation: Eleni Mouzakiti
Location: Old Municipal Market
“Six degrees of separation”, Loukas Vassilikos
«According to the theory of six degrees of separation, any person on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries…», (Hercules Papaioannou).
“The gaze of eternity”, Ilias Bourgiotis
Backstage of Theo Angelopoulos’ films and mainly of his unfinished film “The Other Sea”. The photographer tries to capture the timelessness of Angelopoulos’ thought and work, which brought contemporary Greek culture back to the world stage.
Curation: Panos Kaltsas
Location: Central square
“Mauve”, Dimitris Mytas
MAUVE does not constitute any random tone of the colour palette. It represents a modern color, the first synthetic dye in history. Furthermore, psychology science labels it as “mysterious”: the lighter edges of its spectrum exude power, superiority and lavishness while its darker hues reflect introversion, thoughtfulness and self-criticism. Those dark romantic qualities identified with my emotional state of the past years, when MAUVE photographs actually have been created. The whole project is divided in five consecutive subjects, attributed as the “Elegies of the dark shades of MAUVE”.
“I saw”, Stella Nastou
… “Looking can’t be a superficial encounter for children. The question we ask them, sometimes almost rhetorically, asking them ‘what they saw’ when they go somewhere and we are not there, or to see with their own eyes when we have been there, sets in motion a complex process of recall, description and subsequent understanding, especially in environments such as museums where it is all about seeing”. (Kostas Ioannidis)
“Cold Turkey”, Stefania Orfanidou
“Cold Turkey” book investigates the different levels of the experience of addiction and the adventure of rehabilitation from it, approaches the relationship between addiction and grief, that aims at the exile from the imaginary, the search for light, the way out to a personal redemption.
“Around the line”, Lefteris Paraskevaidis
…«My visits to Thessaloniki turned into long-term tours to nearby villages and settlements. I began to notice the changes in the landscape, large in number, of a different character. Sometimes because of “developmental” activity, sometimes because of arbitrary, illegal constructions or simply because of nature’s call»…
“Hear you Athens”, Georges Salaméh
…«Wandering and plunging into the chaos of Athens, I am abolishing it. Chaos resists as much as we resist it, because chaos suits human beings. Wandering through the time that is “opening”, I discover the minimum whole, and Athens echoes my familiar space and my aspirations as a citizen.”
“Under pressure”, Penelope Thomadidi
Under Pressure is a photojournalistic investigation by Penelope Thomaidis on the history of hydrocarbons in Albania and Greece from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day.
What legacy does 100 years of oil extraction leave in Albania? What are the developments in Greece in recent years?
Photofolios:23
The Photofolios exhibition includes six selected projects from the respective competition.
Jury team: Eleni Mouzakiti, Lambros Papanikolatos
Curation: Eleni Mouzakiti, Lambros Papanikolatos
Location: Kapralos Museum
“DD/MM/YYYY”, Kostis Argyriadis
DD/MM/YYYY is a series of personal photographic explorations of place and presence. It explores time and what remains of it as it flows between us. In a way, it is an isolation in a small universe that I am trying to create and within which I am trying to exist comfortably.
What I discover (or find) in this series are human forms and traces of nature, bombarded by fragments of memory that I collect to create this new passage, which may be a new isolation or a way out. At the same time, I am attempting to remain consciously present, aware, always in the way that every new answer leads to a new question, starting a new circle while ending the previous one.
As I look back on this project’s moments of creation, I observe that there is always something more to unfold: a reminder of what is actually important without seeming important; a fleeting glimpse of the everyday, magical, yet trivial events that life provides.
“Lupus Hominarius”, Noemi Comi (Italy)
Lupus Hominarius refers to the legends and folk tales of Calabria (Italy), dwelling on the figure of the Werewolf. The image of the wolf has always been that of a fierce and aggressive beast. Being in fact more skilled and stronger than man, the animal held a totemic role and in shamanic rituals was imitated to propitiate the spirit. According to Calabrian folklore, on the other hand, one could become a Werewolf as a result of curses, through infections, bites, or pacts with the devil. Very often pagan rites were practiced, especially during the Christmas season, on newborn babies to prevent the appearance of signs related to illness. Each village had its own Wolf, which had peculiarities that made it unique.
“Finalmente posso andare”, Cinzia Laliscia (Italy)
Finalmente posso andare recounts my coexistence with the death of my grandmother and my aunt.
It all happened during first Italy’s lockdown due to Covid19, in 2020.
The virus had nothing to do with their passing but it became the obstacle between me and my family.
I lost them, but it’s like I couldn’t live that loss, I couldn’t process what was happe¬ning.
I didn’t have the chance to say goodbye in person even if my grandma was just half an hour away from me.
I was locked in my house with my brother and two important parts of us had just left. I started looking for a way to express this emptiness, it was the only thing I could do.
I grew up surrounded by nature, it always reassured me somehow and I felt like I could talk about these experiences through it. I couldn’t go out so I brought nature to me. I started searching in my photographic archive and that’s when this visual diary was born.
After almost three years I still find, most of the time unknowingly, glimpses of them in my daily life, in our spaces and in the people that are close to me.
I realized that I’m just trying to create the farewell I couldn’t give but that we all deserve.
“Le chagrin des Belges”, Doulsan Lukas (France)
Nationalism threatens the stability and the founding ideas of the European Union (E. Zemmour and the Le Pen in France, the Brexit in England, the Golden Dawn in Greece, the League in Italy…). I am worried so I want to see what a place looks like where parties like the NVA and Vlaams Belang have installed their authority in Belgium.
I want to see a dystopian territory in the grip of political extremes, racism, the weight of history and the grey of the sky.
“Akodessawa”, Francesco Merlini (Italy)
In Lome, behind a rusty iron gate, a big sandy yard with two big metal awnings protect from the scorching sun men, women and kids who, lying and sitting on benches, wait for customers to sell their unusual goods. This is not just a market, this is the World’s largest voodoo market, the Akodessawa Marche des Feticheurs.
The goods on sale are mainly parts of animals. Other ingredients are alcoholic beverages and soft drinks but the most important one is blood, an ingredient you’ll not find here at the market since it has to be the outcome of a sacrifice that is essential in order to activate the voodoo power. Voodoo is a practice through which humans try to domesticate nature in order to unfold it, admitting the impossibility of control. Sacrifice is the necessary tool to start any dialogue with the world of non¬humans. While in Christianity blood is evoked as an idea, in voodoo, blood is experienced as a sensitive experience and as such, it must contain within it the vital energy of the victim.
“Full of grace”, Ilaria Sagaria (Italy)
Tapping into mythology, art and photography, the author delivers a complex and layered imagery, full of cultural symbols, artistic references and details and echoes of the psyche, exploring the multifaceted universe – internal and external – of the feminine. Since ancient times, coercive, variable, suffered and often unattainable canons of beauty have been piling up, not necessarily as a result of the female gaze. Between the ideal of beauty to strive for, myths of modesty and fertility, a sense of irremediable transience and earthly decay, the claim of the imperfection of the body also emerges. Thanks to a skilful use of light and color that at times seem to want to merge painting and photography in a constant dialogue, the author carries out a celebration of female beauty in all its facets, bringing it into a present made of darkness and light that still retains the legacy of classicism and obscure archetypes.
Group photo exhibitions
“Street Life”
15 selected photos of the respective competition.
Participants:
Vassi Lamprini (Greece), Janusz Jurek (Poland), Juan Rodríguez Morales (Spain), Achileas Petrovas (Greece), LIna Kalandaridou (Greece), Foivos Stampoliadis (Greece), Katarzyna Pracuch (Poland), Anastasiia Antonenko (Ukraine), Vassilis Zaverdas (Greece), Showrav Chowdhury (Μπαγκλαντες), Pavlos Antonatos (Greece), Mary Tsouloufa (Greece), Julien Drogoul (France), Catherine Vassiliki Meri (Greece), Christos Provias (Greece).
Curation: Panos Kaltsas
Location: Old Municipal Market
Photographic group “art8”
The members of the photographic group “art8” of Agrinio present their annual work.
Curation: Foteini Papachatzi
Location: Kapralos Museum
Thematic exhibition
Exhibition of collectible analog photography and cinematography equipment (November – December 2023)
Co-organized with the Gymnastic Society of Agrinio
The exhibition will present objects held by old photographers and filmmakers, collectors, as well as by ordinary individuals who own relevant equipment. At the same time, super 8 movies and slides will be projected, while a darkroom and studio will be set up with a camera and lighting fixtures of the ’60s.
There will be a demonstration of studio operation, film developing and printing by an analogue printer.
Curation: Leonidas Fragkulis, Panos Kaltsas
Location: Papastrateio building of Agriniο
Discussions
Masterclass – Photobooks
The photographers of the solo exhibitions in the Old Municipal Market present their books and discuss with the attendees about self-published photographs and art books.
Coordinator: Eleni Mouzakiti
Location: Old Municipal Market
Portfolio Reviews
Eleni Mouzakiti is a visual artist, educator and curator of photographic exhibitions and publications.
She studied German Language and Literature at the University of Athens, FU Berlin and Ruprecht-Karl University of Heidelberg.
She holds an MA in Image and Communication from Goldsmiths College, University of London and a PhD in Photography as an Art Practice from Derby University, UK.
Her photographic work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions and festivals internationally. Her works belong to the collection of the Portland Museum of Art, Oregon, USA, the Museum of Photography of Thessaloniki, the State Museum of Contemporary Art, the ACG Art Collection and other private collections.)
Location: Old Municipal Market
Lambros Papanikolatos studied Marketing Communication, Advertising & Multimedia in Greece and the Netherlands and continued with postgraduate studies in Photography in Prague (Academy of Performing Arts / FAMU). He received the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation Scholarship (1999-2001) for his MA studies and a Fulbright Grant to study/ research in New York (2003-2005).
From June 2022, he is the new director of AKTO’s Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Degree in Photography program in collaboration with Middlesex University, UK
Location: Old Municipal Market
GEORGES SALAMEH is a visual artist and filmmaker. He was born in Beirut in 1973. He studied cinema at Paris VIII St. Denis. He has lived in Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece, France, Sicily and Egypt. He has been living and working in Athens for the last six years. Since 1998 he has been exhibiting photographic installations and videos, documentaries and experimental films in Greece and abroad. Since 2009 he is co-founder of the production and publishing platform MeMSeA. He has curated film and photo specials and organized workshops centered around the study of the still and moving image. His works belong to private and public collections.
Location: Old Municipal Market
Projection
The Provinces
Multimedia presentation – video projection (24 minutes in loop) in a special room, with works from the platform “The Provinces”.
The vision of “The Provinces” is to provide the space for the continuous redefinition of the term province, providing the basis for a dialogue between the center and the periphery free from stereotypical prejudices. It collects photographic works that capture – interpret the Greek countryside, record the natural and cultural environment and highlight its cultural and social particularities
.
www.the-provinces.com
Participants:
Christos Dimitriou
Louiza Vradi
Maria Koumianou
Yorgos Stavros
Irina Fosgeraou
Nickolas Chryssos
John Krikis
Vasilis Ntaopoulos
Vaggelis Patsialos
Christoforos Doulgeris
Kyriakos Michailidis
Andreas Katsakos
Konstantinos Merentitis
Gerasimos Koilakos
Sakis Dazanis
Kosmas Emoglou
Curation: The Provinces team
Location: Old Municipal Market
Music events
Three musical events will take place during the main events.