May 16-20, 2018 – Platforms Project 2018, Athens (GR)
Invitation Card
The project we wanted to realise is “Shifting Reality”. We expected the public to participate in making collages from newspapers from the Eastern Mediteranean region. The newspapers were bought new every day and they contained the news of the day. We contributed also, but we don’t read Greek, Turkish, Georgian, Azerbeidjani, Russian a.s. In this way we will create another “Cadavre exquis” in which text and image will be juxtaposed in unexpected ways. It was also our intention to have the public to act as artist, that is: to be co-author of the collages we made each day. We put the collages in a rubber swimming-pool as the one on the invitation Card, by way of framing. As an annotation to all this Kees Koomen made five Athens-Diary drawings during the Fair in which he noted his personal experience as a contrast to all the stuff from the news.
02 – The General Set Up before the fair started
03 – Interview Artemis Potamianou on national TV
04 – The newspapers we used were bought daily at Omonia Square
05 – And the papers were made available in the booth
06 – The first trials by EX-MÊKH
08 – The opening, lots of people participating
09 – At the end of the day the result was put into the Frame
010 – Next day this was the example for new visitors. The new collages were put over the old ones
011 – The cutting and pasting old-school style was done enthousiastically again
012 – And certainly the details were great
013 – Lots of colleages also loved to participate, like this lady from a Turkish Art-Platform
014 – At times we had some explaining to do,
015 – but results were terrific!
016 -Result day 2
017 – Of course, newspapers should also be read
018 – Untill Allesandra Falbo, our colleague from London, came in and wanted to put her stuff up on the wall
019 – As before, results were very satisfying
020 – And the enthousiasm of the Greek public overwhelming
021 – Of course, politics could not be avoided!
022 – At the end of the third day, this collage was the result, with a strong EX-MÊKH signature by Ellen Rodenberg
023 – On the side, Kees Koomen’s Athens Diary was expanding
024 – Day four, the last day. All the time children had also been helping with the collage
025 – Which looked like this on the end of the day, without the frame
026 – The result of the Athens Diary, Five days in Athens
027 – These are all the collages that were made during the Platforms Project, the result of four days public participation!