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Beds is one of the initiatives of the artistic platform  JOHN - spaceandgroup, created by Iulia Ghita and Lucia Bricco in 2018.

BEDS.athens

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Topic.
The whole project has and intends to have a strong human character. We refer to the concept of Humanitas, which defines the ethical value of understanding and assistance to those we recognize as our fellow human beings. We want to focus on the common matter belonging to every human manifestation, among different times and spaces, and to underline the proximity between ways of being that are apparently distant. 
The title “Beds” comes, consequently, as a metaphor of an intimate and custom place, regarded as familiar even if far from home. Each artist will be given an imaginary bed in the form of a physical place in which to freely create her/his artwork.

Beds.
The first edition of Beds will involve the city of Athens (GR) and 6 performance artists: 
 LukasKolm (LT),  Zoe Antipa (GR)/Sandra Johnston (UK), Antti-Juhani Manninen (FIN), Macklin Kowal (USA/GR), Ximan Wang (CHN/IT).
Each artist is invited to perform in a particular place in the city of Athens, chosen in relation to the deep similarities between the artist’s practice and the assigned place. 
Beds is based on three pillars: the chosen place (considered for its own specificities), the alive relationship created by performance art, and solidarity.

 

Beds in solidarity.
The idea of Beds intends to intersect the “structure” of an artistic event with the human facts that have determined and determine the past and contemporary history of a city, in this case, Athens.
As a natural consequence of the approach adopted, we combine the art project with the choice to create a strong contact between the artists and some of the realities that are facing humanitarian problems in Athens in recent years. 

Beds program.
Each artist will spend in Athens a period of one week (expected to be in 2021) during which she/he will be supported in the preparation of her/his performance art piece and invited to hold an artist talk in the two participating art spaces currently active in the Athenian art scene, Potential Project and Noucmas. 
In addition to what is concerning her/his personal artistic practice, the artist is invited to collaborate or simply get involved with some organizations committed to providing basic necessities, support, and closeness to people in need. 

Partnerships.

Beds project is patronized by the City of Athens. The project has established partnerships and collaborations with several institutions/organizations including the Performance studio of the Department of Fine Arts, School of Art, University of Western Macedonia, the Fine Art Academy of Rome, Und.Athens (Athenian alternative art guide); Athenian art spaces active in the contemporary art scene: Come Alone, Potential Project, Noucmas, PS:; supported by TelepART, Τσεχικό Κέντρο Αθήνα / Czech Centre Athens, Finnish Institut at AthensClub Unesco Romania; solidarity organizations: ECHO (mobile library for asylum-seekers waiting indefinitely in Greece), and Pilipala (art association active in refugee camps).

Ending...
We believe that this project, even if small in size, is able to highlight both private and collective debate.
Through the artist’s body performance art brings aliveness, temporality, and instability to the artwork. The live presence of the artist’s body becomes central to the notion of “the real”. We believe that Beds can trigger a process that leads to a more articulated perception of what is considered familiar.

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27.09.21

BEDS PERFORMING EATING

Opening dinner curated by artists Antonìn Brinda and Klaudie Osičková

29.09.21

LUKASKOLM

“Story of Artefact n°9”

at Plato's Academy Ruins

The point of interest in LukasKolm's work is the dynamic that determines and defines the flow of time, its transience, the reaction that the process of decaying memories and objects provokes in humans, the instinct to create to which this annihilation leads us.

 

30.09.21

ZOE ANTIPA/SANDRA JOHNSTON

“Do not eat, seed or plant”

at the Prison of Socrates

Multiple identities as a result of the complexity and the fluidity of existence are the core of Zoe Antypa's research.

Since 2001 Sandra Johnston has developed an extensive body of practice-led research exploring creativity in relation to the aftermath of social trauma, in particular issues of ‘contested space’ and empathetic communication.

02.10.21

XIMAN WANG

“I’m waiting for you at 6 hours ahead

我在6小时前等你”

at Voula Beach

"I am going to make a work on the land I have never been stepped on, and yet I won’t be present that day but I believe someday will.
I get to know the place not by my one presence there but through the sensibility of the people involved in Beds.I’m sorry for not being able to come, but not totally. As our soul stays together, the soul has no color, no shape, no form and we have the power to change to inspire and to empower. Our connections float in the air."

03.10.21

ANTTI-JUHANI MANNINEN

“A brief history of Tom

at Omiridis Gym

"Talking about stories and humans and Things, like catching a fish with bare Hands (they’re slippery!), get a grip, sweaty palms, stumbling and mumbling, Is this love? or maybe rehab?"

Antti-Juhani Manninen is interested in the absurdity of human behavior and modern condition, unheimlich, pc music, identity as a narrative, human body as a community, human mind as a structure. He designs and performs pieces that investigate possibilities of performing, use of text, questions of dissociation and alienation, care, empathy and sensuality, some cake, and a variety of neoprene shorts.