The year 2019 has been exciting and hopeful as much as it has been alarming and downright disturbing on so many accounts. It's no news that Greece has had its own share of environmental destruction, rights violations, corruption and gender inequality, as it completes its methodical transformation into a kakistocracy. Since 2017 we have been covering contemporary art and culture from the capital of Greekness (on that note: save the date for our birthday party next March), therefore local politics and social issues have inevitably affected the angle of what we report on. That said, a message of New Year's wishes might not be the right place for a manifesto, so let's skip that for a quick recap of what we've been up to in 2019.
und. organised three exhibitions last year: one at Kopria store in Exarcheia with the participation of four ceramicists, a retrospective of our activities and publications at Yellow Brick, and a peripatetic exhibition in Kallithea during Platforms Project. We also set up a booth at Platforms that complemented the outdoor exhibition, and organised a discussion panel in the art fair's parallel programme with four curators and artists as our guests. We're very proud of our poetry column, which kicked off last January with one Greek poem translated into English per month. und. has also participated as an exhibitor in Imprint Publishing Fair in London and provided media sponsorships to Platforms Project 2019, the Athens Photo Festival 2019, Performance Rooms 2019 and other exhibitions. Lastly, we offered a three-month paid internship with a focus on editorial and publishing tasks to a young arts professional between April and June 2019.
We love lists as much as the next person, so it's become something of a tradition that we compile one with the most-read articles of each year. Without further ado, here's our ten most-read articles from 2019, based on our Google Analytics reports. We are aiming to be using a more privacy-friendly analytics service by next year; until then, keep an eye on your cookies and have a happy 2020!
1. Young artists protest Greek nationalism with silly walks march on WWII memorial day
Our report on a performative disruption of militaristic celebrations on the 28th of October has been our most-read and most-shared article for 2019.
2. Letter from the editor
Greek parliament refused to offer constitutional protection to the rights of women, LGBT and immigrants with a shameful vote last November. We protest that decision with an ongoing cultural boycott. Read our announcement here.
3. Introducing und. Poetry
Yes, und. readers enjoy their poetry as much as their visual art. Our poetry editor Panayotis Ioannidis selects and comments on a poem by a Greek poet each month. You can find all twelve poems we published as part of our ongoing und. Poetry series here.
4. An interview with Macklin Kowal
Art critic Despina Zefkili interviewed performance curator and founder of Sub Rosa Space Macklin Kowal for Athinorama. She kindly permitted the English version to be published on our pages.
5. Interview with Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou
You probably know her from her stunning and queer Fluffy Library project that was presented at Atopos CVC in 2018. Read the interview if you want to know what Antigoni has been up to before and after that.
6. Communion and community at Kantharos Gatherings
Curator Eleni Tranouli organised a series of performative wine tastings at one of the most interesting luxury hotels in the Peloponnese. We don't often feature art projects that flirt with the commercial, so we interviewed Eleni to find out more.
7. Identity, conflict, resilience: Fourteen young Greek photographers at Athens Photo Festival 2019
We were pleased with the political edge, cynicism and sheer beauty of the work presented this year in the Young Photographers section of the Athens Photo Festival. We reviewed all participating photographers here.
8. A Kaleidoscope of Young Greek Performance Art at Rooms 2019
Our overview of Performance Rooms 2019, organised by Kappatos Gallery, offers a snapshot of emerging performance practices in Athens.
9. A poem by Marios Chatziprokopiou
Yes, individual instalments from the poetry column made it into the most-read list, like this poem by Marios Chatziprokopiou about his "honeymoon" with his mother after his father's passing.
10. A poem by Olga Papakosta
Our January poem rounds off the top ten for 2019. It is a rich and vivid image of liberty as described in the Greek national anthem, and her absence thereof.
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