Mutings, Mutations, a Hypothesis & a Gasp. Thinking (out loud, in Athens) about art and institutions focuses on the affective reality of work within the arts. Alkisti Efthymiou discusses her long-running involvement with large-scale cultural institutions in Greece. As a woman, she explores the voices that remain muted and the ones that start mutating in the local arts ecosystem. Expressing the inherent tensions between feminist practices and institutionalized work methods, she talks about exhaustion and identity crisis, and potential lines of flight. Her reflections on the Athenian artistic scene are channeled through The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (1978) by Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz.
Audio excerpts:
How to Take Care of Your Voice – Vocal Health Tips by Kerri Ho
5 Daily Habits for a Healthy Singing Voice by Singgeek
Sarah Schulman Reads “The Transformation of Silence Into Language and Action” by Audre Lorde
References:
Anne Carson (1995), “The Gender of Sound,” in Glass, Irony and God, New York: New Directions, pp. 119-142.
Brandon LaBelle (2014), Lexicon of the Mouth, London & New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Raúl Ruiz, The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (1978), available online with English subtitles at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyQf4am7VOA
Audre Lorde (1984), “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action*,” in Sister Outsider, Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press, pp. 40-44.
Alkisti Efthymiou (2018), documenta 14 special, Mexico City: Gato Negro Ediciones. Available online at: https://bit.ly/2Ar6NyY.
about, by, through, towards, despite is a podcast series on different aspects of the independent Athens art scene in the aftermath of documenta14. Produced for p o s t documenta: contemporary arts as territorial agencies, the series provides a multilayered imprint of the local scene by inviting artists, curators, and critics to contribute their thoughts, experiences, and critical positions.
Alkisti Efthymiou is a writer and anthropologist, based in Athens and Santiago de Chile. Having worked with several cultural institutions in Greece and abroad (such as the Athens Biennale and documenta 14), she also tries to problematize (when she can bear it) the conditions of precarity and exhaustion within the art world.