Ghost Songs
Libby Sacer Foundation: Group exhibition on our personal ghosts as a part of our identity
Libby Sacer Foundation has been selected for the second half of 2014, as a CHEAPART Resident (Contemporary Art Support Program) hosted at CHEAPART's space. "Ghost Songs" exhibition is part of the group's series of events entitled "Passport please".
Ghost Songs
From the ghosts of History to our personal ghosts, whatever haunts us, insisting to exist regardless of time and space and remaining invisible despite of its manifestations, is part of our identity.
In 2013 in London, Libby Sacer’s home opened to the world, bringing to light numerous artefacts of her life and work. As the findings concern and illuminate much of the art and thought of the previous century, what seems to awaken is the spirit of an era – the era from which we originate. Libby Sacer’s spirit has began to haunt us. Ghosts can hide or reveal themselves, walk through walls and across centuries, trespassing boundaries and limitations, exhibiting complete disregard for any sort of Passports. No matter what we ask of them, they do not respond or comply, they retain the right to fully control and define themselves, being their own masters, while enjoying the dominant emblem of power: to be able to see us even when we cannot see them.
What ghosts ‘haunt’ us, compose us, dominate us, keep us company, torture and liberate us? Which is their voice, well hidden within our own? Do they appear by default, did others cast them upon us or have our own thoughts and choices brought them forth? Are we haunted by the questions we neglected to pose or by unresolved problems?
Traditionally, before an entity can haunt the present it must first die, become the past. Death is a necessary condition for overcoming the limitations of matter. And paradoxically, it is precisely the ghosts’ return to life, their exposure to the light of current reality, that may finally silence, paralyze and render them finally dead.
But how would we find our way and who would we be without them? If a truth is what refuses oblivion, then what becomes of forgotten truths? Are there ghosts whose presence we gladly nurture and cherish? Which ones would we prefer to get rid of and how? And finally , what ghosts are we talking about?
Participating artists: (with visual & audio works, texts and live performances) Giorgos Agelakis, Elena Akyla, Andreas Vais, Maria Georgoula, Ana Hopfer, Akiro Hellgardt, Stefanos Kamaris, Katerina Katsifaraki, Eftihia Kiourtidou, Anna Lascari, Michaela Liakata, Alexandros Maganiotis, Mariela Nestora, Aris Siafas, Victoria Skogsberg, Olga Spiraki, Myrto Stampoulou, Eugenia Tzirtzilaki, Eugenia Fragos, Irine Vela, Mark van Yetter, Maria Fakinou, Dimitris Halatsis, Stefanos Handelis.
Performances
C7 by Mariela Nestora [June 2, 3, 4 & September 19]
Performance in progress, witnessed by plants with an acute sensitivity to ghosts.
Wake by Olga Spiraki [June 27, July 2, 4, 9 & September 12, 17, 19]
Throughout the day, the audience collects traces, upon which a trace dance is essembled.
About Libby Sacer
Libby (Liberty) Sacer, born in Ethiopia in 1925, was completely unknown until her death in London in February 2013. Following her death, her estate was passed on to the authorised recipient, British artist and activist R.H., whom, however, she had never met. Her heir, recognizing the richness of material in the house, addressed a group of experts in order to study and classify the findings. Thus begins a series of discoveries concerning contemporary art and thought. Found in Libby Sacer's home were significant artworks considered until now lost or unknown, correspondence with over 20 personalities of the last 50 years, hundrends of video and audio tapes, male and female costumes, a number of personal items of Camus, Foucault, Debord, Nin, Arendt, etc., as well as books that she had written, which she distributed exclusively from hand to hand. The findings imply a crucial role on her part in the art, philosophy and politics of a period covering more than half a century.
CHEAPART Resident Program
An innovative program that supports and promotes contemporary art through art groups and curatorial practices. CHEAPART invites groups or curators to present their research and ideas in an annual program of exhibitions lectures, events. CHEAPART offers space and equipment for the implementation of the program. For the first period of 2013, the selected group was Salon de Vortex, followed by season of 2014 with the Libby Sacer Foundation.