November 18-26, 2023 – Daily 10:00 – 18:00
Performances
Saturday 18/11 _ 15:00 – 17:00 Sunday 19/11 _ 14:00 – 15:30 Monday 20/11 _ 12:00 – 15:00 Tuesday 21/11 _ to be announced Wednesday 22/11 _ to be announced Thursday 23/11 _ to be announced Friday 24/11 _ 16:00 – 18:00 _ Presentation of the project
‘Transiens Nostrum’, a unique visual and sound installation by awarded artists Christina Nakou and Anna Pangalou will be presented from 16 to 26 November 2023 as part of the ‘Bodies of Water’ exhibition within the Greek pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. By invitation of the exhibition’s curators, Costis Paniyiris and Andreas Nikolovgenis, the two artists will be gradually deconstructing the exhibit dedicated to dams and reservoirs, during a long performance. By the end of the Biennale, the two works will be fused together into a new work of art to highlight the transformative, unpredictable, and ever-changing relationship between human structures and nature; a reference to the recent floods caused by Mediterranean Storm Daniel and a link to the unique condition of tide flux in Venice (Αcqua Alta).
This will be the third stop of the ‘Transiens Nostrum’ project, a visual and sound installation series that Nakou and Pangalou are bringing to port cities throughout the Mediterranean. Inspired by the power of transformation, both as a concept and as a process, the two female artists are exploring: The dynamics of Life through the inevitable condition of loss, the power of the Mediterranean Sea and human connectedness through space and time.
The exhibition materials will be reused by Nakou who will be also introducing Murano glass and sea salt for the creation of a shiny floor mosaic. The speakers and motion sensors, hidden underneath the architecture exhibition, will be partially revealed and the room flooded with water-muffled sounds of breaking glass as mezzo-soprano Anna Pangalou engages in voice improvisations in day-long performances. One side of the hall will be draped with the ‘Wave’, a transparent surface with silver metallic marks that represent reflections of light on water.
With the cooperation of the ‘Bodies of Water’ curatorial team, the performance and exhibition will coexist and will be open as planned to the constant flow of visitors that is expected to increase in the last days of the Biennale. The area of the pavilion that will be taken up by the evolving artwork will be visible to the visitors. Istorima Archive will join the ‘Transiens Nostrum’ circumnavigation once again to collect oral stories about the extreme weather phenomena experienced by residents of Venice.
Artists’ Statement
“The Venice installation focuses on the vertical defined by the slow and inevitable submergence of Venice itself and the material and cultural references of this submergence. Venice, a port where people’s lives constantly negotiate the transformative nature of water and fluctuations of its level, offers a place of questioning on the interdependence of technical works and the natural environment. In this sense, the intervention is at the heart of the research of “Bodies of Water”, outlining from a renewed perspective the essentially problematic presence of these Bodies and their technical works on their natural, cultural, and historic terrain.” – Christina Nakou & Anna Pangalou
About Transiens Nostrum
‘Transiens Nostrum’ is a series of visual and audio installations and actions around the Mediterranean, a circumnavigating performance whose third stop, after the ports of Rhodes and Syros in Greece, is Venice. At each station, the two artists create an original sound and visual installation that focuses on the sea as a place of transformation. The retreat and emergence of the waves of the sea and its constantly changing form, echo the evolution of life and the imminence of loss. The works of each exhibition emerge as a complex unit, after thorough in situ research carried out in each port, focusing on conditions or events that have contributed to the transformation of the place. The specific architectural space in which it is presented stands as a decisive factor in shaping the event. ‘Transiens Nostrum’ develops as a dialogue between the two artists. Each installation is presented as their joint work.
About Bodies of Water:
https://bodiesofwater.gr
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