Alice in Crisis takes the form of an ‘Alice in Wonderland styled’ crisis escape town that is populated by anthropomorphic creatures, rabbit wholes, reverse waterfalls, nonsense balloons and so on.
Dio Horia is happy to present the group show Alice in Crisis, curated by art historian Marina Vranopoulou.
The aim of the show is to put emphasis on the small occurrences where, ideas, actions and various forms of pleasurable releases occur -even in times like this one where people are under various forms of pressure. These occurances are incidents of productivity. As these incidents are rare, the tricky part is to recognize them and make the best of them.
Three drawings by Aleksandar Todorovic refer to the Syrian war and ten other drawings by thesame artist, depict key events that took place during Greece’s financial crisis. These works in total serve as the starting point for the show. They offer a glimpse of the contemporary world – the world we need to find escapes from in order to survive.
Gimhonsok’s beautiful balloons, named Ten Breaths, are expected to topple or weightlesslyfloat away. Unfortunately, their weight grounds them, disrupting viewers’ expectations. Ugo Rondinone’s waterfall, called Vinnu Falls, fail successfully as it appears simultaneous- ly weightless and earthbound, graceful and awkward. This is an upside world we live in and things are not as they should be. David Shrigley’s monoprints Untitled R and Untitled W look like kids drawings. But in closer inspection, they represent one’s effort to make sense of the adult world through the use ofirony and humor. Similarly, Shrigley’s video animation, New Friends, passive-aggressively comments on human relationships and human dynamics. Olga Migliaressi-Phoca’s neon works Holiday Sin and Let Go use world play and pop imaginary to criticize social conventions.
Paris Petridis participates in the show, with a photo of a closed door that reads Turn to God. The artwork’s message is ambiguous as the viewer does not know if he can indeed open that door and if God is really on the other side. Panagiotis Loukas, bizzare painted environment and figure, may represent an antropomorhicrabbit hole- where reality and fantasy become one. Cornelia Balte’s playful nature of works, represent formal traces of activity connected to lei- sure. The artist transforms observations of daily life into settle observations of the status quo. Maja Djordjevic’s sculptural installations serve as a reminder to enjoy life before it melts. Finally, Margarita Myrogianni’s jewellery are direct references to Lewis Caroll’s infamous story.
Participant artists:
Cornelia Baltes, Maja Djordjevic, Gimhongsok, Panagiotis Loukas, Olga Migliaressi-Phoca, Margarita Myrogianni, Paris Petridis, Ugo Rondinone, David Shrigley, Alek- sandar Todorovic.
