TINOS
18 - 31 July 2023
When the heart of a pig has hardened, dice it small
Tinos, Greece
Tinos is one of 24 inhabited Cycladic islands, and is often referred to as the spiritual heart of Greece due to the island’s deep-rooted religious significance over the centuries. In antiquity, Tinos was a centre for the worship of Poseidon, but a shrine to the Virgin Mary was established in the Chora in 1823, and a grand Orthodox church settled over it, making it the most well-known pilgrimage in the country.
The island is widely recognised for its marble tradition and was home to some of the most widely revered Greek artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Tinos is known for its quaint villages and rich culinary heritage. KIRKI 2023 took place in the village of Falatados, the island’s wine and raki making centre. It is also said to be one of the mythical locations where the Titanomachy, a ten-year war fought between the Titans and the Olympian Gods, took place.
EXHIBITION
18-31.07.2023
Public opening: 18.07 | Closing event: 29.07
THEME: OFFERINGS
Often a symbol of worship, generosity and humility, offerings are seen as magical or spiritual mechanisms of divine power.
Tamata or votive offerings have a long and inextricable relationship with the island of Tinos. The custom originated in ancient times, when offerings were often made to the gods to appease them, but in recent centuries they have been associated with the Orthodox Christian faith.
The most well-known church in Greece, Our Lady of Tinos, and the miracle-working icon of Mary that lives within, stand atop of the island’s Chora.
Pilgrims come to Tinos to be healed, often literally crawling from the ferry along a carpet that lines the path to the church. On them, these devotees typically carry copper, silver and gold plaques - decorated with images of aching hearts, dimmed eyes, broken limbs and other symbols of physical or emotional ailment - that they offer to the Virgin Mary when they reach the miraculous icon, in hopes of divine protection.
For the inaugural iteration of KIRKI, we unpacked the cross-cultural, social and spiritual significance of offerings, as well as their role within contemporary belief systems.
ARTISTS
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Mirsini Artakianou is a Greek-German artist. She holds a diploma degree in Fine Arts and Art Science from the University of Ioannina in Greece and completed postgraduate studies at Burg Giebichenstein, Kunsthochschule Halle. She received several grants for artist residencies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland as well as a three-month funded residency in Istanbul, Turkey as part of a scholarship from the Goethe Institute. In 2020, she received the Denkzeit scholarship from the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony and in 2021, the scholarship support of the Cultural Office of the City of Leipzig. In 2021, she was awarded the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship by ARTWORKS and in 2022, the Neustart Stipendium from Kunstfonds. She has participated in many group exhibitions in Greece, Germany, France, among others. She lives and works in Leipzig.
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Alicja Biała is a Polish artist working across media and scales. Biala initially gained attention with her large scale public paintings, followed by her politically charged Cut-Out series. She has since worked across scales, ranging from architectural sculptures, large interior sculptural lighting, etchings, paintings, and more. Her work incorporates a mixture of pagan themes that bring the political and personal spheres of contemporary life into close proximity. She has received widespread press, multiple awards, and is in numerous private and national collections. She graduated from The Royal Drawing School and holds a Master degree from The Royal College in London.
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Matilde Cerruti Quara is a multimedia artist, poet, performance-maker, actor and writer of Italian and Slavic descent whose practice expands across experimental theatre, text-based artworks and immersive installations. Rooted in language and storytelling, her work investigates identity, archetypes, systems of belief, natural forces, spirituality and rituals, sexuality and power dynamics. In her live work, Matilde embraces creative collaborations and communal situations with choreographers, music composers and other performers. She is a two-time recipient of Arts Council England’s DYCP Grant. She holds an Acting Diploma from Royal Central School of Speech & Drama as well as a MLitt in Modern Art Theory from the University of Glasgow and a BSc in International Economics from Bocconi University. Born in Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Italy, Matilde lives and works in London, UK.
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Alexandros Douras is a Greek artist who works with glazed ceramic and neon light to create objects that examine the relationship between sculpture, texture, and the notion of illumination. Douras is captivated by religion and faith as a source material within his practice to further interrogate ideas around light, space, and the sublime. By referencing saints, churches, death, and the Christian tradition within his work, Douras brings into question utopian and dystopian concepts that challenge spiritual beliefs. Douras has presented his work in group and solo exhibitions in Greece and the UK at Allouche Benias Gallery, 7th Athens Biennale, Dexamenes Seaside Hotel, among others. He graduated from the Athens School of Fine Arts in 2018 and lives and works in Athens. Douras also runs Korkodilos and Laspi in Greece.
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Nada Elkalaawy is an Egyptian artist living and working in London. She holds an MFA in Painting from the Slade School of Fine Art and a BA in Fine Art from Kingston University. She is predominantly a painter, but also works with drawing, animation and tapestry. Solo exhibitions include: Taymour Grahne Projects, Galerie DuflonRacz, Gypsum Gallery and Super Super Markt (forthcoming). Group exhibitions include: Half Gallery (forthcoming), Marlborough Gallery, Kunstraum Dreiviertel, KINO DER KUNST, Sharjah Art Gallery, Shubbak Festival, Southwark Park Galleries, Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, Nahim Isaias Museum, Refugees Museum of Thessaloniki, among others. Her work has been shortlisted for the Sainsbury Scholarship for the British School at Rome, the Waverton Art Prize, the ACS Studio Prize, Contemporary British Painting Prize, the Dentons Art Prize and the Sarabande Emerging Art Fund. Her work has been featured in Vogue Arabia, the Evening Standard, Sky News Arabia and Jdeed Magazine. Elkalaawy has been awarded the Pro Helvetia Studio Residency, PROGR, Montresso Art Foundation and L’appartement 22 artist residency. Alongside her art practice, Elkalaawy co-founded artist group K-oh-llective, which aims to facilitate opportunities and collective conversations around art practices in Egypt and the Arab world. Her work is included in private collections worldwide and in public collections such as the X Museum and Soho House.
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Hannah Lim is a London-based artist working between sculpture, installation and drawing. She received her BA in sculpture from the University of Edinburgh and her MFA from The University of Oxford’s Ruskin School of Art. She has recently had solo shows with Edinburgh Printmakers, Huxley-Parlour and Commonage Projects whilst also exhibiting in group shows with The Royal Scottish Academy, Bloomberg New Contemporaries and Berntson Bhattacharjee Gallery. She was recently commissioned by Tate Collective to create a sculpture in the style of her Snuff Bottle Series for Women’s History Month. She is currently Pangolin London’s artist in residence for 2022-2023.
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Lindsey Mendick works primarily with ceramics, embedding her sculptures within installations that include stained glass, film, furniture, large stage sets and performance. She received a BA from Sheffield Hallam University and an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art, London. Her autobiographical work offers a form of catharsis, encouraging the viewer to explore their own personal history through the revisionist lens of the artist. In 2022, Mendick was included in the major exhibition Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art at the Hayward Gallery in London. Mendick has also shown her work at Carl Freedman Gallery, Somerset House, Jeffrey Deitch, Cooke Latham, Hannah Barry Gallery, among others. With her partner, the artist Guy Oliver, Mendick initiated Quench Gallery in Margate, to provide vital support for early career artists through exhibitions and mentoring.
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Yorgos Petrou is a Cypriot-born, London-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans sculpture, performance, photography, film, and writing. Their work investigates intersections of land, objects and bodies to question dominant hierarchies of historical narrative, materiality, and knowledge in the world today. They trained at the Royal College of Art and Chelsea College of Art and Design. Petrou is currently working on Dust or Butterflies, a film and series of workshops in partnership with the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge and Arts Council England. They have recently co-created The Death & Life of All of Us, a performance by Victor Esses that premiered at Soho Theatre London and the performance Unfamiliar - followed by Unfamiliar at Home and Unfamiliar to Us - premiered at Casa Festival, Arcola Theatre and Fertility Fest Barbican. They have presented work in solo and group exhibitions at NEON, London Hellenic Residence, Kingsgate Project Space, Kupfer Project Space, Copperfield London, Reading Room Melbourne, Pivô São Paulo, 5th Biennale of Thessaloniki, Galeria Vermelho, In Situ Space for Contemporary Art, Bloomberg New Contemporaries, ICA London, Southbank Centre, Wellcome Trust, Modern Art Oxford, among others.
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Zayn Qahtani is a multidisciplinary artist based between London, UK and Bahrain. Her work sways between what is seen and what is felt, compiling a personal mythology along the way. Drawing on ancient cultures and nature’s diverse ecosystems, Zayn forms visual stories which seem to exist in the twilight zone - too distorted to be real, too familiar to be a dream. Her practice explores the concept of animism; the gift-giving of a living soul to inanimate objects. Zayn has recently shown work at VITRINE, MENART Fair, Black White Gallery, The Tub, Art On A Postcard, MIA Art Collection, Fortnight Institute, and Arusha Gallery. Zayn completed The Drawing Intensive at the Royal Drawing School and holds a BA in Fashion Design from The Royal University of Women. Her work is held in public collections including Soho House, Dalloul Art Foundation and The Ned, and has been featured in publications such as Art Maze Magazine and Vogue Arabia.
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Maddalena Zadra is a London-based Italian artist who works across painting, drawing, printmaking, and textile-based installations. Zadra’s work touches upon aspects of the tactile and the sensual whilst remaining playful through subtly contrasting vulnerability and eroticism. Referencing a variety of cultures and historical aesthetics, she explores symbolic meaning and storytelling in her practice, creating multi-layered, open scenarios. Zadra studied at the University of Brighton, graduating in 2018, and has since shown nationally and internationally in group exhibitions at Hales Gallery, Quench Gallery, Atelier LK, Organhaus Gallery, Mall Galleries, De La Warr Pavilion, Freelands Foundation, Orbit UK Art Graduates Show, among others. In 2019, she undertook the Organhaus Residency in Chongqing, China and the Carpenters Wharf Studios Residency in London, UK.
THE SPACE
Adapting to Tinos’ unique landscape and architecture, the exhibition took place within an old stable for donkeys, called Onos.
The familiarity, intimacy and immediacy of this domestic space, as well as the small church that looms over the garden, represent the simplicity and ingenuity of traditional Cycladic housing. Staging a cross-cultural dialogue within this space allowed us to unpack the theme of offerings with tenderness and humility.
Epar.Od. Triantarou-Falatadou, Tinos 842 00, Greece
