WATER-Currents

At the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, Warehouse A’, 1st floor, Port of Thessaloniki The Greeks wondered: the rivers never stop flowing in the sea. And yet, the level of the sea never rises. The Greeks reflect and cannot find any other enlightening explanation for this mystery, just one unavoidable reasoning: it is the sea which creates the rivers. This is where their sources are! And it is the internal fire of the Earth, which through distillation will alleviate the salt from the salt water. In this manner the sea receives what it gives.

Erik Orsenna The Thessaloniki Museum of Photography presents the exhibition "Water - currents". It is the first significant exhibition that inaugurates the thematic exhibition cycle "The four elements of nature and man". The list of thematic cycles also includes the "Great Masters", "The Diaspora Greeks", "Dialogs: Greek and foreign artists", "Glances at the city" and others.

In the renovated TMP water is presented through documentary photographs, realistic or symbolic, images of fiction and snapshots of fantasy. Water is present in all its forms as well as in its deafening absence. Consequently, the exhibition includes different currents of photography. Part of them are expressed in the group exhibition by Greek and foreign artists, but also in the works of the Prix Pictet.

Group exhibition: One section of the exhibition pays a tribute to the Greek photography, and wishes to distance from an alarmist or overwhelmed attitude. The vision is more quiet, the way of making pictures more poetic, esthetic. The creators express themselves through the transparent language of water conveying the oppositions which it includes. Water is the element which unites and separates us, which evokes floods or soothes us. Present in all its forms: ice, steam, currents.

The Greek artists are: Manolis Baboussis - courtesy Ileana Tounta Gallery, Athens, Venia Behraki - TMP collection, Sotiris Danezis - TMP collection, Stratos Kalafatis - TMP collection, courtesy Kalfayan Galleries, Thessaloniki-Athens and the artist, Kostas Kolokythas - TMP collection, Evangelia Kranioti - courtesy Evangelia Kranioti, Nikos Markou - courtesy AD Gallery, Athens, and the artist, Paris Petridis - TMP collection, courtesy AD Gallery, Athens and the artist, Danae Stratou / video-installation - courtesy EMST, Athens, Yannis Thedoropoulos - TMP collection, courtesy AD Gallery, Athens, and the artist, Yiorgis Yerolymbos - TMP collection, courtesy Antonopoulou Gallery, Athens.

The foreign artists are: Gabriele Basilico - courtesy Galerie VM21, Rome, Jordi Bernado - courtesy Jordi Bernado, Giorgia Fiorio - courtesy Giorgia Fiorio, Lucie and Simon - courtesy Lucie and Simon, Susanna Majuri - TMP collection, courtesy Gallery Taik, Berlin, Mark Power - courtesy CNA, Dudelange, Luxembourg, Lucille Reyboz - courtesy Phillips de Pury & Company, Jacqueline Salmon - courtesy Jacqueline Salmon, Carlos and Jason Sanchez - courtesy the artists and Torch Gallery, Amsterdam, Αlessandra Spanzi - courtesy Fotografia Italiana, Milan, Patrick Taberna - courtesy Galerie Camera Obscura, Paris, Alexey Titarenko - courtesy Galerie Camera Obscura, Paris, Bill Viola / video-installation - copy EMST, Athens, courtesy EAI, New York, Krystyna Ziach - courtesy Krystyna Ziach.

Prix Pictet: In the other part of the show the works presented are by the short listed artists of Prix Pictet and the issues dealt concern sustainability, the social and environmental dimension of the element. The Prix Pictet, created by Pictet & Cie in association with the Financial Times as global media partner, is the world’s first prize dedicated to photography and sustainability. Its mandate is to use the power of photography to communicate vital messages to a global audience. It is a unique goal - art of the highest order, applied to confront the social and environmental challenges faced by humanity in the early 21st century.

For 2008 the topic was water. It is after all through water that we are seeing the earliest and most devastating manifestations of the climate change: threats to our food supply, to our health, to fragile ecosystems, to the ground on which we live and even our peace and security. The first prize was awarded to Benoit Aquin from Canada and the Pictet Commission to record a Water Aid project in Bangladesh was awarded to Munem Wasif.

A slide show projection with the works by more than 200 participating artists for the Prix Pictet will also be included in the exhibition.

The Shortlist Prix Pictet 2008: Benoit Aquin, Edward Burtynsky , Jesus Abad Colorado, Thomas Joshua Cooper, Sebastian Copeland, Christian Cravo, Lynn Davis, Reza Deghati, Susan Derges, Malcolm Hutcheson, Chris Jordan, Carl De Keyzer, David Maisel, Mary Mattingly, Robert Polidori, Roman Signer, Jules Spinatsch, Munem Wasif.

The exhibition is realized as part of the sub-project 3 of the Operational Program "Culture".

WATER-Currents

Künstler: Benoit Aquin, Manolis Baboussis, Gabriele Basilico, Venia Behraki, Jordi Bernado, Edward Burtynsky , Jesus Abad Colorado, Thomas Joshua Cooper, Sebastian Copeland, Christian Cravo, Sotiris Danezis, Lynn Davis, Reza Deghati, Susan Derges, Giorgia Fiorio, Malcolm Hutcheson, Chris Jordan, Stratos Kalafatis, Carl de Keyzer, Kostas Kolokythas, Evangelia Kranioti, Lucie & Simon, David Maisel, Susanna Majuri, Nikos Markou, Mary Mattingly, Erik Orsenna, Paris Petridis, Robert Polidori, Mark Power, Lucille Reyboz, Jacqueline Salmon, Carlos & Jason Sanchez, Roman Signer, Danae Stratou, Jules Spinatsch, Alessandra Spanzi, Patrick Taberna, Yannis Thedoropoulos, Alexey Titarenko, Bill Viola, Munem Wasif, Yiorgis Yerolymbos, Krystyna Ziach

Kuratoren: Gabriel Bauret, Vangelis Ioakimidis