Exhibition “Memory of Kavafi V” – Chania until 30th September
The evening “Memory of Kavafi V” and the contemporary art exhibition “Greek Alexandrian Poet V” are presented by the Museum of Modern Art in Chania Eleiurgion on Tuesday, April 29, at 20:00 (opening event), in the halls of the 1st floor of the Cultural Center of Chania, Andrea Papandreou 70, Chania.
Duration of the exhibition: 29 April to 30 September
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday 10:00-14:00 & 18:00-20:00 (closed on holidays) with free admission.
The double event is presented on the occasion of the date of birth (April 29, 1863) and the date of death (April 29, 1933) of Constantinos P. Kavafi as a memory of honor in the life and work of the poet.
Analyses and versions of K’s work and life will be presented this evening.
The speakers are: Kate Alexis, Roza Motakis-Kontadakis, Kyriakos Hadzimichailidis and Ioannis N. Archondakis.
Excerpts from the poetry work of Kavafi will be recited by:
Lamprini Boviatsou, Anna Nebavlakis, Eleni Tsioli and Robert Barcia.
Sections of the audio visual work “Breaths” by Kyriakos Hadzimichailidis that refer to K’s poetic work will be shown.
Kostas Kokologiannakis will present works of classical music for voice and piano.
The exhibition of contemporary art “Greek Alexandrian Poet V”
Participation of the visual artists:
Rena Avagianou, Angelos Antonopoulos, Eleni Antonopoulou, Tzeni Antonopoulous, Irene Vazou, Margarita Vassilakou, Ellen Weijers, Nikos Vrouvas, Giannis Gavalas, Dimosthenis Gallis, Nikos Yavropoulos, Cris Gianakos, Alexandros Dimitriadis, Thalassini Duma, Argyro Driva, Eija Ellinas, Alexandra Isaki Dou, Alexander Itsmis, Costas Joakim, Vasilis Karkatselis, Dimitris Karystinos, Maria Kelaidi, Maria Kokkini, Andreas Kontonis, Maria Kunalaki, Philippos Koutrikas, Evdokia Kirkos, Basiliki Lefkadite, George Leonidopoulos, Spyros Lytras, Alexander Maganiotis, Matthew Macaronas, Eleni Manolaraki, Kleoniki Maragou, Maria Maragoudaki, Yiannis P. Markantonakis, Erietta Markantonatou, Petros Matzakos, Valentini Mavrodoglou, Ioannis Monogios, Robert Barcia, Manos Batzolis, David Ben Ivgi, Lamprini Boviatsou, Cleio Bolieraki, Konstantina Bolieraki, Ismini Bonatsou, Rena Braoudaki, Thodore Brouskomatis, Grigoris Niolis, Dimitra Xenaki, Pagona Xenaki, Despina Pantazi, Aspasia Papadoperaki, Daphni Petrohelou, Panagiota Pitsiri, Michalis Polychronakis, Natassa Poulantza, Marina Ovatidou, Vicky Samuilidou, Ranio Sarri, Theofilos Sgouropoulos, Chrysoula Skepetzi, Grigorios Stamos, Yiannis Stephanakis, Antonis Triantafyllou, Katerina Tsebeli, Georgia Tseri, Drosia Tseri, Martha Tsiara, Loes Huis In’t Veld, Maria Philippakopoulou, Apostolis Philippou, Theodore Filos, Konstantin Fischer, Antonis Franzeskakis, Manolis Haros, Athina Chatzis and Anna Maria Chatzistefanou.
The exhibition is curated by the Historical Art Professor at the University of Patras Konstantinos Proimos.
The Art Historian Dr. Konstantinos V. Primos notes: “The use of the same term ‘art’ for two separate artistic practices could lead to the conclusion that painting and poetry have a lot in common, an ancient view that, as Ploutarchos states, is attributed to the lyric poet Simonides Keio according to whom “Poetry” is speaking painting and painting is silent poetry”, an idea that Aristotle would later repeat in his Poetry in which he would match the plot of tragedy with drawing and the dramatic characters with color and which would culminate in his simple formulation Latin poet Oratiou, “Ut pictura poesis”, who essentially simulates painting and poetry. On the one hand, the word of poetry rescues memory, sights and indulgences, creating them at the same time. On the other hand, the image is an idea that derives from aesthetic perception and is decrypted with poetic speech”.
The evening “Memory of Kavafi V” is part of the program “The Step of Art” of the Chania Eleiurgion Museum of Modern Art and together with the contemporary art exhibition “Greek Alexandrian Poet V” are part of the program “CHANIAaRT 2025 – Artistic Journeys”.
The evening and the exhibition are co-organized by the Region of Crete – Regional Unit of Chania, the Municipality of Platania, the Cultural Center of Chania, Match More Art Hall and the Museum of Modern Art in Chania Olivepress (in Dromonero).
The exhibition will be presented from 29 April 2025 to 30 September 2025 and will be open from Monday to Saturday 10:00-14:00 & 18:00-20:00 (closed on holidays) with free admission.
The program “CHANIAaRT – Visual Routes” is implemented by the “Museum of Modern Art Chania – Oilworks” in cooperation with the Region of Crete – Regional Unit of Chania, all Municipalities of the Prefecture of Chania and Cultural Entities aimed at exploring and developing Culture and Fine Arts.
The aim of the program “CHANIAaRT – Artistic Journeys” is to highlight the Prefecture of Chania its artistic potential and to become one of Greece’s important centers for visual action, an arena of new artistic trends and a forum for visual dialogue and creation, a confluence of interactions between native cultural values and of international streams of pioneering, the step of presenting the actions and searches of both Art Teachers and imaginative Young Creators.
Along with promoting the place and highlighting the local cultural dynamics, the goal remains to build an interactive network of communication between all Cretan Visual Creators, the local society, the wider artistic community and the global cultural web.
About the “Olive Press – Art Factory” in Dromonero:
The Non-Profit Civil Society “Oil Factory – Art Factory” was created in order to save from desolation and extinction the Old Oil Factory of the Zimbragos Agricultural Cooperative in the Prefecture of Chania, Crete. Its aim is to house cultural events in the areas, turning it into a place of remembrance and an action field on the island’s hinterland.
The building of the Old Olive Press consists of the central structural core constructed with stone construction in the 1920s and satellite wings constructed in successive construction phases until the 1970s. In 1980 it ceased to operate as a liotrivi and was left to collapse. During its reconstruction, the goal was to preserve the primary materials of the building with its original technological equipment with as few interventions as possible. The mechanical equipment of the oil refinery is manufactured in Greece(! ) from the beginning of the 1960s and has been preserved as a point of memory and reference of the original functions of the place.
Today the “Olive press – Art Factory” is a multidimensional cultural organization. It is made up of the “Gallery of Fine Arts in Chania” whose goal is to organize educational programs and the presentation of magazine art exhibitions, and the “Museum of Modern Art in Chania” which aims to preserve, present and showcase the permanent collections of the “Oil Factory” and to promote together with study of the interactive contacts of Modern Art with Man.
Alongside the “Oil Factory – Art Factory” six major programs of Communication, Cooperation, Development & Culture are being launched: 1. “The Road of Museums” 2. “The Circle of Canyon” 3. “CHANIaRT – Artistic Journeys in Chania Prefecture”, 4. “Art & Wine – Western Crete Wineries Support Culture”, 5. “Creative Artist Hospitality – Olivepress Art Residency” & 6. “The Step of Art”.
The old olive press reborn as an “Art Factory”, is located in the village of Dromonero, 33 kilometers southwest of the city of Chania (30 minutes by car), on the road axis that leads to the picturesque fishing village of the Libyan Sea with its magical beaches: Palaiochora.
About Konstantinos Kavafis
Many of you might remember Konstantinos Kavafis’ poem Ithaca from your schooldays.
In 1911, Kavafi wrote Ithaca, inspired by the return journey of Odysseus to his home island, as depicted in the Odyssey: “Keep Ithaka always in your mind. Arriving there is what you’re destined for….”.
The traveller should set out on his journey with hope, and at the end he may find Ithaca has no more riches to give him, but “Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey”.
The Greek poet Konstantinos Kavafis – Kωνσταντίνος Πέτρου Καβάφης – (1863 to 1933), lived mainly in Alexandria, Egypt, where his Greek parents had settled in the mid 1850s
The seven years that Kavafis spent in England, between the ages of nine and sixteen, were important in shaping his poetic sensibility and developed a preference for the writings of W. Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde.
The themes of his poetry were philosophy, history and the erotic – subjects which he combines in his poems in a fascinating way.
He was a poet in a time of transition between Hellenic ideals and a modern, spiritual new beginning.
Kavafis was a constant enquirer all his lifetime, he understood the contradictions of human existence, the decadence of bourgeois morality and the dubiousness of prevailing historiography. Unfortunately his brilliant work only received appreciation after his death, which shows his epoch-transcending relevance.
Hardly any other poet makes it clear to us how much (futile) hope we actually put in our memories, how much we cling to it, how much longing we still apply to these things that have long passed.
