Venue:IDEAL artspace
Schulze-Delitzsch-Straße 27
04315 Leipzig
Partner:The project was funded by the City of Leipzig and the Kulturstiftung Sachsen and curated by Clara Hofmann in collaboration with Olga Vostretsova.
Vata (Βάτος + -ά): Greek name of a wild berries species in Greece.
Commonly grown and used as a natural fence to mark and protect private properties in rural areas.
Their roots expand fast and deeply into the soil.
They prevent the growth of other species due to its uncontrolled roots.
Depending on their stage of growth, their taste range from sweet to sour.
The gardening culture is commonly used as example on how a society should be arranged.
An authority shapes the garden, it chooses what fits where, what will and how it will be used and what stays out.
Hands (Χέρι + α): Part of the body used for manipulation, sensation and communication.
Small gestures can indicate fear, trauma, care, need...
Looking at the hands, we grasp a sensation of a persons story.
A hand could practice acts of barbarism or it could resist to the vulgarity with its tenderness.
Using the hand, a plant is harvested and its fruits tasted.
To cultivate tenderness in a soil invaded by Vata, uproot them to prevent regrowth.
Defeat. was created in collaboration between Magdalena Zotou and Apostolos Tsorfolias. Their joint work comments on the paradigm of garden culture as a metaphor of deep-rooted exclusion. An invasive plant covers almost the entire surface of the work's dark background, and the razor wire that weaves in between reinforces the impression of almost absolute impenetrability. This plant is called vata in Greece and is often used as a natural fence on private property in rural areas. The hands in the picture are taken from film stills from video documentaries with refugees in Athens. The focus is on small gestures that tell a lot and the certain tenderness of these hands. It is not easy for the hands to maintain their tenderness in the harsh present.
The work is part of a cooperation with p o s t documenta: contemporary arts as territorial agencies. p o s t documenta: contemporary arts as territorial agencies is an academic and artistic research programme of the Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig (HGB) and the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA), and a DAAD project in the funding programme "University Partnerships with Greece 2020-2022" More information about the project here:
https://postdocumenta.net/
Magdalena Zotou was born on 17/05/1984, she is a student in the fifth year of the Athens School of Fine Arts. Currently her work focuses on the research of prevailing issues, such as immigration or consumption and their social and environmental impact. The presence of constant progress in the aesthetic engagement of sound and image is an extremely essential particle to her work, while aiming to depict the concerning issues of sociopolitical context.
Apostolos Tsorfolias studies in Athens School of Fine Arts. His work researches the border as a materiality, but also as an embodiment in domestic architecture, city architecture, language and everyday life. While also addressing paradoxical issues of National identity and its expressions.
