The Frances Rich School of Fine and Performing Arts (FRSFPA) of Deree - The American College of Greece is pleased to present the exhibition “Collectanea”, curated by invited curator Christoforos Marinos. The opening of the exhibition will take place on February 21, from 18:00-22:00, at the ACG Art Gallery. The exhibition is part of the FRSFPA Arts Festival.

The participating artists are: Nikos Alexiou, Anna Constantinou, Ria Dama, Nella Golanda, Nana Isaia, Zissis Kotionis, Panagiotis Koulouras, Vasiliki Lefkaditi, Klearchos Loukopoulos, Nina Papaconstantinou, Anthimos Peloponnisios, Kostas Roussakis, Studio Lialios Vazoura, Yiannis Theodoropoulos, Tassos Triandafyllou, Giorgos Tserionis, Maria Tzanakou, Andreas Vais, Myrto Xanthopoulou.

“Collectanea” was born out of a reading of the eponymous book by acclaimed essayist Zissimos Lorenzatos (1915-2004). The time (summer) and place (Skyros and Evia) of reading this philosophical diary have been crucial in conceiving the curatorial concept and selecting the artists. In his attempt to visualize a reading experience, the curator assumes the role of mediator: he assembles artworks that seem to embody the spirit of the book and certain obsessions of its author.

This monumental book by Lorenzatos, considered by many to be Greece’s most significant man of letters of the twentieth century, was published in 2009 by Domos Publications. As the author writes about his diary entries, “’Collectanea’ refers to the adventure of sensitivity, the adventure of contemplation or the adventure of language”. Accordingly, the exhibition attempts to spatialize this multiplicity of adventures. The artworks that compose the exhibition refer to the adventure of the gaze, to the ritual of reading a text or a landscape, to the relation of writing to image (to an image as writing and to writing as an image), to the great importance of small things.

The exhibition features drawings, photographs, sculptural installations and a video. Some works function as notes and three-dimensional visual essays, while others function as diary entries and phychograms. We also encounter text-sculptures as well as drawings that focus on the process of immersing ourselves in a text and the physical relationship we develop with it.

The autobiographical discourse that imbues this curatorial poses questions related to the hidden dynamics of bringing together artists and artworks, the profound communication between curator and artist, and the practice of curating. “Collectanea” approaches the concept of collecting through the personal and selective view of a curator deeply interested in the reciprocal relationship between text and image.