Your bed
Your bed is not a bed. It's not a piece of furniture. It is a conceptual legacy that connects you to your first ancestors who lived 77,000 years ago, when the first bed was created. From its first appearance, in all its different versions until today, it follows people at all stages of their lives, from birth to death.
A series of visual snapshots of the bed examines its invisible aspects, during the cycle of human life, those that lie between the visible and the invisible, transcending the limits of its construction. Thus, the bed, from a basic object of everyday life, embodies the immutable point of intersection that connects the static geometry of space with the concept of time as an energy that is constantly in motion.
The cradle is the first place of reception that houses the fragile soft pink body of the newborn. Maria Lagou in her installation “Creation” approaches the first bed of the new human being, charged with its responsibility as a field of love and security that the infant needs to experience when coming into the world. The elements that make up the installation are told like small whispers, fragmented experiences. A white tulle, like a transparent veil covers personal memories, which stand as fleeting flashes of shattered childhood memories.
The place of the cradle is taken by a flat rectangular bed that allows you to stretch your whole body, relax, close your eyes and let the mind escape from the flesh. You are transported to a dream environment where everything can flow without logic, freed from the shackles of material reality. Athanasia Papatzelou's kinetic sculpture is a reference point to the classic mobile, which traditionally hangs above the bed and spins in hypnotic rhythms. Just before you close your eyes, a little wish - prompt "Sweet dreams".
Throughout the “Your Bed” exhibition, the bed, visualized as a piece of furniture in its most intimate form, is presented only in the two-dimensional painted wall installation by Eleni Sarli entitled "Me, in My Bed". Pages of an oversized diary unfold the artist's routine, experiencing the bed as an island in the middle of her vast daily life. The wall composition consists of a central colored portrait, life-size in a reclining position. It is placed in the middle of the wall, suggesting an intermediate state between space and time, creating a conceptual cardiogram.
The idea of the cycle of life may be visually translated into a line of events with a beginning, middle and end, where everything that happens is placed in an orderly chronological order. In this exhibition, however, the works could not be viewed in this way. The bed follows people's lives, and quite often the development of things is different from the expected one. For example, while the bed in some lives is synonymous with bliss, in others it is the main workplace. Vivi Tsioga's "Hello Baby" doll is a prostitute. Happy and tired at the same time, she is ready to welcome her customers. Her body full of embroidered scars is wrapped in a luxurious translucent negligee. The artist contrasts the suffering body of the worker with the body of a bed which, from a familiar piece of everyday furniture, adapts to the new condition and transforms into a work tool.
Other times again, you are forced to give up what you knew as yours, against your will. You find yourself crammed into a boat with other lives whose daily flow has been brutally interrupted. You reach uncharted (mis)places. Dimitra Exarchou's "Passages" deal with the only souvenir you have left from your previous life. A crumpled sheet that is inked by an almost primordial writing, divides the physical space of the exhibition and reminds us that we do not choose which bed we are born into.
Alexandra Dalaka with her work “Pray” sheds light on the spiritual dimension of the bed space. The privacy and isolation of the bedroom seem like ideal conditions, since together they co-create a personal "sanctuary", capable of absorbing secret thoughts.
The first recorded bed in human history appeared 77,000 years ago in Africa, and was a trough in the ground dug into the floor of a cave[1]. How poetic that your last bed looks so much like your first?
The installation “At the end of the rope”, by Theodora Tsiatsiou, depicts the fleeting impression of pain. The pain that nestles in the white ghostly beds of the hospital and hangs greedily on the helpless body. The bed is now a hollow waiting space. The clay effigies of the containers symbolize the body that is waiting to be in the earthy loving embrace of the last bed.
[1] Wadley, Lyn et al. “Middle Stone Age bedding construction and settlement patterns at Sibudu, South Africa.” Science (New York, N.Y.) vol. 334,6061 (2011): 1388-91.
Antigoni Kapsali
Art Historian / Visual Artist / Independent Curator
Artists: Alexandra Dalaka, Dimitra Exarchou, Maria Lagou, Athanasia Papatzelou, Eleni Sarli, Theodora Tsiatsiou, Vivy Tsioga.
«Your Bed» curated by Antigoni Kapsali is realized in the context of Back to Athens 10: Geometry of racional.
Back to Athens 10 International Art Meeting | 2023: Geometry of racional is curated by:
Georg Georgakopoulos, Fotini Kapiris, Christian Rupp.
Organised by APART Art Research and Applications.
Support/ participation: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports [Financial support & Auspices for «Glorious Elements/Plastic Kisses»], City of Athens [Auspices], Austrian Embassy in Athens, Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport, ZOIA, Land Tirol, Czech Center of Athens, CHEAPART, ARTmART, Modular expansion, Participation: Athens Intersection Cultural Program.
Back to Athens 10 International Art Meeting | 2023: Geometry of racional
Isaiah Mansion
65 Patission & Ioulianou, Athens, 104 33
Opening: Tuesday, June 28, 2023, 16:00 - 22:00
Duration: June 28 – July 2, 2023
Hours: Wednesday– Friday 16:00 - 22:00, Saturday – Sunday 12:00 – 22:00
