Zoi's Pappa Blog

LICEO MAGAZINE Zoi Pappa: el nacimiento de la belleza

8/6/2017

Zoi Pappa: The Birth of Beauty by Liceo Magazine

Westerners used to say that beauty was born in Greece. The work of Zoi Pappa may be an example of this. Its surreal universe is built through particles that invite the viewer to approach so much to discover it that it can easily end up plunging into it, as if it were a rabbit inviting its universe of wonders.
If the figurative or even the most abstract painting usually shows an image or concept easily apprehensible at a distance, Pappa presents a microcosm that forces us to forget the surroundings to focus solely and exclusively on her painting. Once inside it, we navigate between insects, petals, wings, thorns, but always with enough space to fill with our sensibility / imagination. An aesthetic therapy that can cure any problem that weighs on our soul and leave in it only place for beauty.

Zoi Pappa: el nacimiento de la belleza by Liceo Magazine

Los occidentales acostumbramos a decir que la belleza nació en Grecia. La obra de Zoi Pappa puede ser un ejemplo de ello. Su universo surrealista está construido a través de partículas que invitan al espectador a acercarse tanto para descubrirlo que fácilmente puede terminar zambullido dentro del mismo, como si fuera un conejo invitando a su universo de maravillas.

Galería de obras de Zoi Pappa
Zoi Pappa works gallery

Si la pintura figurativa o incluso la más abstracta suele mostrar una imagen o concepto fácilmente aprehensible a la distancia, Pappa presenta un microcosmos que nos obliga a olvidarnos del rededor para centrarnos única y exclusivamente en su pintura. Una vez dentro de ella, navegamos entre insectos, pétalos, alas, espinas, pero siempre con suficiente espacio para llenar con nuestra sensibilidad / imaginación. Una terapia estética que puede curar cualquier problema que pese sobre nuestra alma y dejar en ella sólo lugar para la belleza.

Esta griega, graduada de Artes Visuales por la Escuela de Bellas Artes de Thessaloniki, actualmente forma parte del Proyecto de Arte Contemporáneo Al-Tiba9, exposición curada por el también artista Mohamed Benhadj, exhibiéndose actualmente en la galería Arteria de Barcelona.

Para conocer más de esta artista, no dejes de visitar su página: http://www.zoipappa.com/

This Greek, graduated in Visual Arts from the Thessaloniki School of Fine Arts, is currently part of the Al-Tiba Contemporary Art Project9, an exhibition curated by the artist Mohamed Benhadj, currently exhibiting at the Arteria gallery in Barcelona.

To know more about this artist, do not forget to visit her page: http://www.zoipappa.com/

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Al-Tiba9 at Arteria Gallery

7/8/2017

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Gallery : Arteria Gallery Dates : 14.07 - 31.08.2017 Opening : 14.07.2017 at 19.30h Arteria Gallery exhibition After the success of Al-Tiba9 Barcelona 2017, 5th edition, it is great enthusiasm that Al-Tiba9 International Exhibition of Contemporary Art announces; for this summer, Al-Tiba9 artists will be exhibited in Arteria Gallery Opening Exhibition : July 14th, 2017 at 19:30h Curated by : Al-Tiba9 & Arteria curators This exhibition will host many artists, photographers, performers and creatives worldwide from the field of painting, photography, Installation, Video & Net art. Artists : Jz Aamir / Dubai UAE - Pakistan Mahsa Alikhani / Iran Sophia Becker / USA Karou Calamy / Iran - Norway Juan carter el gato Abdou Cheref / Algeria Manel Curto Mark Cypher / Australia Mazia Djab / Algeria Dimitris Dokos / Greece Corantine huon de penanster / France Mizo / Algeria Mounir Fatmi / Morocco ONA Pauline Fabry / Germany Sasha Frolova / Russia Faraz Habiballahian / Iran Anna khora / Russia Albert Marquès / Spain Purple Moustacho / Mexico - Australia Zoi Pappa / Greece Luca Rossini / Italy Nathan Swedlow / USA Vermouth Bar by "Juana&Felipe" PREMIUM VERMOUTH

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LICEO MAGAZINE Al-Tiba9 Barcelona 2017: la noche del arte contemporáneo árabe

6/19/2017

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Translation of the article Al-Tiba9 Barcelona 2017: la note del arte contemporáneo rabe by the Liceo Magazine
For the original piece press:
Al-Tiba9 Barcelona 2017: la noche del arte contemporáneo árabe

It was, without a doubt, the artistic event of the year: for its concept, for its importance in this historical moment, for its curatorship, for its works and its present artists. It was the night in which contemporary art blew itself away from all the clichés that have marked it in recent years to show that art can remain beautiful, content and useful .. It was the night in which contemporary Arab art conquered to Europe.

"The uneducated man is kept in the immediate intuition, he does not have his eyes open and he does not see what is at his feet, his vision is subjective, he does not see the thing, he takes a hasty judgment based on a point of view Unilateral, letting go of the true concept of the thing.The mark of a cultured man will be to be aware of the limits of his attitudes, "say Benhadj and Djab, curators of the international Arab art exhibition Al-Tiba9, citing Georges Steiner.

For five years, Mo 'Mohamed Benhadj & Mazia Djab, artists and curators of the official edition of the event in Algeria, decided to bring to Europe, via Barcelona, a sample of it. During one night visitors to the city can attend an exhibition of art, photography, paintings, new media and other disciplines, but where the real protagonist is the performance. A way of making the spectator more participant, as in a great party, of the new proposals of the Arab world (and some guests of other origins). In this way, Al-Tiba9 appears almost as a ritual, a dream of a summer night, which seeks to elevate the soul between so much aesthetic pleasure.

This was the night of Arab contemporary art ...

The location
A large inflatable sculpture of the Russian Sasha Frolova is imposed on the central courtyard of the University Pompeu Fabra - Ciutadella and points us to the basement, converted only that afternoon into a large museum room. Perfect setting for hosting such great works (in all sense of expression). When you enter there, again another Frolova inflatable work, "Wave" in the center of the room, welcomes you and invites you to the end, where the luminous calligraphy "Walking on the Light" by the Moroccan Mounir Fatmi, radiates and watches whole place.

The propose
Transgression frees creative energies in which man is the agent (transgression implies the human capacity to act consciously.) Hannah Arendt. This transgression was what the curators Benhadj and Djab sought in each of the works chosen for the exhibition.

"When a phenomenon occurs, it moves from a potential state to a present state, relativity coming into play (a contradiction of perceiving, understanding and overcoming information.) Ibn Arabi explains that in order to see and understand the contradictions and tensions contained in Names need the password to join the thing (the will) Thinking about the phenomenon in a different way to perceive the different levels of reality that makes us go beyond the deceptive appearances, to access the veiled reality, According to his personal ability (himma), activate the light of the intellect. "

In this way, what the curators proposed was that each work left in the viewer a question, a restlessness, a brainstorming. Perhaps, in fact, the only regret of Al-Tiba9 was that he could not go on any longer (the curators did not get sponsors and the space rent for one night was their two wages together). We would have loved to lose ourselves in the city and come back to that sacred precinct to communion-reflect-seek more questions in their works.

Artists and works

Mazia Djab photography is the first selection we find: an Arab boy is there, head down, face hidden, immersed in his world ... women in the photographs of Mahsa Alikhani perform their daily activities immersed in glass boxes .. Dizos Dokos presents communism and Nazism as two almost twin beetles in his paintings ... JZ Aamir (light calligraphy and light graffiti), Mark Cypher (net art), Zoi Pappa (painting), Mia Pearlman (installation) And Fabrizio Cornelli (light sculpture) ,,, bring the light, literally, to the place; Dividing the space wisely among these contradictions to which the curators refer in their proposal. In the background and at the center, Mounir Fatmi seems to serve as a tie, as ying-yang, as Al-Tiba9 of the whole exhibition: white-black, light-shadow, inertia-movement ... and when it comes to this, appears In play, as part of Fatmi's work, the artist-healer Mo 'Mohamed Benhadj.

"It is understood that" seeing and understanding "requires an inner freedom, because to enter into conflict, the reconciliation of opposites is a long odyssey or myth and the symbol share a place of honor.But if you are careful you can realize these concepts Are now present in our societies.We must now complete the journey, follow the path of knowledge in the imagined world, dreaming of its time, imagine the next, while staying awake.

Performances

The wisdom of the curators was not only reflected in the selection-position of the works, but in the selection-order of the performances.

Albert Marques, musician of the Barcelona, gave the beginning note with his recital, next to the work of Mia Pearlman; Skall was the first to break into the tranquility of the night (creation of the conflict) with his transgressor performance: a man tries to flee from some ties to which he binds himself, fights against them, wraps himself around them, Writhes ... finally released, but it is not the same ... a staging that does not leave anyone indifferent.

At the climax of the night: Mo 'Mohamed, the spirit of Al-Tiba9, a sublime, ethereal performance that synthesizes the whole proposal: a body that submits to fire, represented by sparks of live metallurgy, must release its "If you are not focused, if you can not separate the spirit from the body, you will obviously suffer, you will burn and your body will be damaged." If the performance were Western, surely Mohamed would have been completely marked and his scars would be his "work of art", but it is not. The artist is in perfect physical condition. The transformation was on the spiritual and intellectual plane, not only his, but the audience. It is a mystical, sacred, spiritual performance with which Mohamed seems to pay tribute to his religion:

"The human condition is complex, being alone with its multiple nature, overwhelmed by desires, emotions and passions, has an eagerness to know the possible dimensions of its being, shared between the sacred and the profane, the original contradiction How can I attain the union between freedom and constraint of the world How to anchor myself in the center of myself This chimera within me will have the "Reason" of the "I", or my soul like a bird, can reach another reality ?

Finally, the outcome comes with the physical appearance (her plastic work had been present throughout the evening) by the Russian artist Sasha Frolova who now comes to sing and dance, dressed in her own costume-art, extension of her sculptures. Sasha turns the place into a kind of children's party. Once cleared of so many passions, we are all children again "I'm happy!" She sings and everyone chants as they go out. We are reborn.Reality?

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AL-TIBA9 BARCELONA 2017

6/2/2017

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AL-TIBA9
ARTISTS

Mahsa Alikhani / Iran
Sophie Becker & Nathan Swedlow / USA
Mo’ Mohamed Benhadj / Algeria
Karou Calamy / Iran - Norway
Abdou Cheref / Algeria
Fabrizio Corneli / Italy
Mark Cypher / Australia
Mazia Djab / Algeria
Dimitris Dokos / Greece
Mizo / Algeria
Mounir Fatmi / Morrocco
Pauline Fabry / Germany
Sasha Frolova / Russia
Faraz Habiballahian / Iran
Jz Aamir / Dubai UAE - Pakistan
Albert Marquès / Spain
Purple Moustacho / Mexico - Australia
Zoi Pappa / Greece
Mia Pearlman / USA
Luca Rossini / Italy
Skall / France

AL-TIBA9 CURATORS

Mo’ Mohamed Benhadj
Mazia Djab (Algeria)

AL-TIBA9 EXHIBITION - Fifth Edition
UPF - Campus de la Ciutadella Pompeu Fabra
Carrer de Ramón Trias Fargas, 25-27, 08005 Barcelona
METRO L4 CIUTADELLA - VILA OLÍMPICA
TRAM T4, T5 WELLINGTON - CIUTADELLA-VILA OLÍMPICA
BUS V27, V21, H16, 92, 36
Art works on view from painting, sculpture, installation,
photographic art, video & net art and performance art
Al-Tiba9 curators : Mo’ Mohamed Benhadj & Mazia Djab (Algeria)

The transgression allows to release the creative energies the man of which is the agent (the transgression thus implies the capacity of the man has to act in good conscience. Hannah Arendt). This power to act was theorizes by several thinkers of the oriental world. The East here set in the broad sense. This logic of the action is the one of the third - introduced (Trans) and understood by the thought that by the notion of the various levels of reality. It is a logic of complexity and freedom. We can explain the third - inclu and its complexity as this: when a phenomenon occurs, becomes updated, he passed from a potential state to a current state but an opposite event the one who did not become updated is potentiality that is he exists in the updated phenomenon. There is thus relativity, a contradiction to be perceived, to be understood and to be exceeded it is the third term which allows this overtaking, to reach another level of reality because it is there that this one is.
Ibn Arabi explains us that it is necessary to see and to understand the contradictions and the tensions contained in names. The word has to join the thing (ta- will). It is necessary to consider the phenomenon differently, to perceive the various levels of reality which makes him, to go beyond the misleading appearances, to reach the veiled reality, somewhere else, according to the personal (himma) capacity, to activate the lumiére of the intellect. Ibn Arabi calls them the degrees of hierarchy of the being (levels of reality) which allow the access to the third party included (the hidden treasure).

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BIAFARIN HONOR AWARD OF ARTE LAGUNA PRIZE

5/1/2017

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Thank you BIAFARIN and ARTE LAGUNA PRIZE for selecting me for the Biafarin Honor Award!!!
The honor is mine and I am looking forward for our collaboration!
The winners of the Biafarin Honor Award,10 selected artists (in Painting, Photographic Art, Sculpture and Installation categories) will get the Biafarin Gold Membership Package.
Gold Membership Package is the most popular package in Biafarin for artists to develop their art career internationally. (It includes Online Artist Profile, Opportunities alerts and submissions, Online Distribution, Exhibition requests and Artist Data Management).
Biafarin Inc is a Canadian Artist Management company with an online portal and an international network of artists, art buyers and art businesses. Biafarin Portal is an online self-service marketing tool assisting artists and art businesses to manage and improve their business transactions efficiently and receive competitive exposures and results in the market.

THE WINNERS OF THE 11TH ARTE LAGUNA PRIZE
BIAFARIN HONOR AWARD
Montreal, Canada

Akman Askin (Turkey)
Pappa Zoi (Greece)
Savenkova Viktoria (Belarus)
El Khoury Jad (Lebanon)
Poole RJ (Australia)
Chou Ching-Hui (Taiwan)
Tiekstra Dieneke (Netherlands)
Ambrosia Sylwester (Poland)
Demers Louis Philippe(Canada)
Obara Noriko (Japan)

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April 14th, 2017

4/14/2017

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LETTER TO AN ART LOVER....in response to the bombing of contemporary art in Athens

4/11/2017

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It is 4:50 a.m. and I am in my studio just about to finish a painting and I am struggling as always. Finishing an artwork is almost the most difficult task.
Just wondering what is it about? Is it about composition, design and colors or an attempt to understand. An attempt to get deeper, to research, to find meaning, to live, to breath, to stay alive. A microcosmic image of approaching the world from a certain angle.
I hope it is understood by you that all I give is me. My thoughts, my concerns, my beliefs. I do hope you understand. I do hope that you are looking the same. I do hope you will see the depth behind the aesthetics. You find sense in what I am doing. Interact with it and give another interpretation. Yours. My world transformed into yours and create a vital connection.
In order for my work to become an objective entity with a manifest meaning, your understanding and imagination is needed to recompose the meaningful silence in between my traces on the painting surface.
Please don’t invest in a work if you don’t find the internal coherence of the artwork: or do not communicate with it, only just because you like it.
Invest in true creation that is devoted to expressing the absurdity of the human condition. Don’t invest in art that serves the illnesses of the contemporary art world “fashion” and “political correctness”.
Your wise choices based on your subconscious and your instinct can promote truth, originality, revolution and innovation in the world.
My kindest wishes,
Zoi Pappa
ΓΡΑΜΜΑ ΣΕ ΕΝΑ ΦΙΛΟΤΕΧΝΟ
...με αφορμή το βομβαρδισμό σύγχρονης τέχνης στην Αθήνα
Είναι 4.50 π.μ. και είμαι στο στούντιο μου λίγο πριν τελειώσω έναν πίνακα ζωγραφικής και ζορίζομαι όπως πάντα. Το τελείωμα ενός έργου είναι σχεδόν το πιο δύσκολο κεφάλαιο στην υλοποίηση του.
Αναρωτιέμαι περί τίνος πρόκειται. Είναι σχετικo με τη σύνθεση, το σχεδιασμό και τα χρώματα ή είναι μια προσπάθεια για κατανοήση. Μια προσπάθεια να πάς βαθύτερα, να ερευνήσεις, να βρεις νόημα, να ζήσεις, να αναπνέυσεις, να παραμείνεις ζωντανός. Μια μικροσκοπική εικόνα που προσεγγίζει τον κόσμο από μια συγκεκριμένη οπτική γωνία.
Ελπίζω να είναι κατανοητό από εσάς πως ότι δίνω είμαι εγώ. Τις σκέψεις μου, τις ανησυχίες μου, τις πεποιθήσεις μου. Ελπίζω να καταλάβετε. Ελπίζω ότι σας ενδιαφέρει το ίδιο. Ελπίζω ότι θα δείτε το βάθος πίσω από την αισθητική. Ότι θα βρείτε νόημα σε αυτό που κάνω. Ότι θα αλληλεπιδράσετε με αυτό και θα δώσετε μια άλλη ερμηνεία. Τη δικιά σας. Ο κόσμος μου που μετατράπηκε στον δικό σας για να δημιουργήσει μια ζωτικής σημασίας σύνδεση.
Προκειμένου για τη δουλειά μου για να γίνει μια αντικειμενική οντότητα με πρόδηλο νόημα, η κατανόηση και η φαντασία σας είναι απαραίτητη για να ανασυνθέσει την ουσιαστική σιωπή ανάμεσα στα ίχνη μου στην ζωγραφική επιφάνεια.
Παρακαλώ μην επενδύσετε σε ένα έργο, αν δεν μπορείτε να βρείτε την εσωτερική συνοχή του ή δεν επικοινωνήσετε με αυτό, μόνο επειδή σας αρέσει.
Επενδύστε σε πραγματική δημιουργία που είναι αφιερωμένη στην έκφραση του παραλογισμoύ της ανθρώπινης κατάστασης, με αναζήτηση νοήματος και αναζήτηση ουσίας. Μην επενδύσετε σε τέχνη που υπηρετεί τις ασθένειες του κόσμου της σύγχρονης τέχνης ΄την μόδα΄ και ΄την πολιτική ορθότητα΄.
Οι σοφές επιλογές σας με βάση το υποσυνείδητό σας και το ένστικτό σας μπορούν να προωθήσουν την αλήθεια, την πρωτοτυπία, την επανάσταση και την καινοτομία στον κόσμο.

Με τις πιο ευγενικές μου ευχές,
Ζωή Παππά

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ARTE LAGUNA

3/5/2017

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Honoured to be among the finalists artists of Arte Laguna!
If it happens to be in Venice, I would be more than happy to see you!
25th March, 6 pm, Inauguration (free entrance)
26th March - 9th April 2017
Every day from 10 am to 6 pm
Free entrance
The Arsenale hosts 30 paintings, 30 sculptures and installations, 30 works of photographic art, 10 videos, 10 land art projects and 5 performances that will be staged live during the opening night.

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In dialogue with Zoi Pappa: ‘Artwork is an idea, a feeling, a knowledge’ by Stella Sevastopoulos

2/25/2017

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art scene athens

ZOI PAPPA has achieved what many young Greek artists are striving for these days: the growing appreciation and successful exhibiting of her work abroad. She just found out that she will be participating in the Arte Art Prize Laguna, taking place at the Arsenale of Venice (March 25 to April 9), about a month before the 57th Venice Biennale kicks off. A good time to be in Venice! Pappa’s Duchampian spirit also led her last year to be selected for the show ‘Bicycle Wheels – Homage to Duchamp’, in Italy’s Ortigia. Furthermore, this artist (whose work also features in the ‘Saatchi art’ online gallery), is a winner of international art prizes, a curator of controversial shows, and an artist with a dual identity. She is also an art teacher, and a mum. In recent years, Pappa has managed to spread her wings and to exhibit her works in exciting shows and projects in London and Italy. Her work is both in-your-face and romantic: ranging from masks of meat to interventions on the niceties of domestic flowery wallpaper. Pappa’s tongue-in-cheek or even macabre humour can be both subtle and acidic; A reflection of the chameleon-like nature of contemporary reality and its sugar-coated yet satirical, cut-throat world… full of unexpected surprises. We met through linkedin initially, and kicked off a long written discussion about her work and other matters, through various social media, which has now turned into a creative dialogue/interview of sorts. You can read it here, but due to its length, whoever gets to the end, wins a gold medal!

S.S. I have an idea – if you are interested, let’s talk a bit via emails/fb, that way when we meet, we will already know each other in a sense. These are the wonders of the internet. Such freedom.
Z.P. A great tool for ‘vampire mums’…
SS. Who work when their kids sleep!
Z.P. Stella this is a great idea! I would love to do this! But right now I am in my exhibition in London and have to speak with people!
SS. Ok, well let’s start with stuff I want to ask you about your work, so I’m sending you some questions.
Z.P. Ahaha!!! I just read your questions! It is so nice getting to know you, I can sense your personality. You are full of surprises and diversities. They are so honest, clever, funny, passionate, tender to the point of childlike. I adore that element of innocence and deep intelligence. I can easily see your love for art. It makes me feel like l would like to ask you some questions too. I sense that this is going to be a long dialogue! But I look forward to our vampire mum meeting afterwards. Lately, Abramovic was talking badly about mum artists. She was saying that women artists cannot be mums. Well she is wrong! Putting yourself second makes you a more substantial artist. Maternity teaches you sacrifice, unconventional love and giving. It teaches you the importance of life and continuation. True art contains relationships and life.

S.S. Maybe being a mother and an artist is better than being a mother and a businesswoman, for example: you can work from home, it’s a job with flexible hours, which suits a mum, and motherhood is a whole creative experience in itself. For me (as a journalist/art critic), motherhood really affected me – I stayed home for a decade (!!!!). I always tried to be doing something creative though in that time. Journalism is tough on mums too… and doesn’t pay either, especially today.
But let’s start at the beginning: when did you decide or realise, you wanted to be an artist?
Z.P. At the age of two. I did not select art. Art selected me. When I was a little girl, I was unable to speak well, I had a lisp and hardly anyone could understand me. One day, I wanted to eat a pomegranate but nobody could figure out what I was trying to say, so I took a pencil and drew it. Before I managed to talk, I was able to draw. From my early years, art became a necessity, a means of communication with the others.
S.S. In Greece, it’s the kind of profession that parents dread their kids to choose. Did you have support or not from your family?
Z.P. Not at all! Being an artist is not a profession for the majority of Greek parents. In fact an artist is often considered to be the ‘crazy person’ of the village… My mum knew that I was different. She used to hide or throw away all of my drawings, she did not want to encourage me to follow this path. As a kid we would go with my sister to the art school founded by Dimitris Mytaras in Halkida, which was run by his wife Harikleia (also known as ‘Zouzou’). The space was small and so there was a selection procedure to get accepted. I was selected but my sister wasn’t, but I never learnt about this and we both stopped going to Mytaras.
When I grew up and had to choose my profession, they persuaded me that architecture would be ideal for me. I took the final exams and passed design with the best grade in Greece. I refused to read and pass the other lessons. Then I insisted that all I wanted to be was an artist and I had to fight for it. So for a whole summer, from dawn till dusk, I would take a hat and a fishing rod and go fishing on Halkida’s central shore. My parents started worrying about me and asked me what was wrong. I told them that they could choose my future, but I gave them two options: painter or fisherman? My father became a bit more supportive then.

S.S. I love the photo with you and your father, where in one hand he’s holding a large fish, and in the other he’s holding you (upside down)!
You live in Halkida, what’s the art scene like there?
Z.P.There is no such thing in Halkida or in most Greek provinces. There are no galleries, only commercial art shops selling frames. But I believe that we should and could build one.
S.S. You studied art at the Visual and Applied Arts Department of Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University, then went on to the Glasgow School of Art for an M.F.A. How do these two art schools compare? What do you feel you gained from them, or didn’t?
Z.P. In Thessaloniki I learnt to walk. During my first years there I had Dimitreas as my tutor. Dimitreas had a different approach to females, he thought that we were not able to be good artists because we give up art for a family. So, I felt pushed aside. Then a new tutor Yiannis Fokas came to the school. I became one of his best students. Fokas was very passionate and open-minded. He inspired me and made me start reading, visiting and participating in exhibitions. He literally opened my eyes, he was very supportive. He taught me how to be an artist.
On the other hand the M.F.A. at the Glasgow School of Art played a vital role in my life. The very first words that I heard there were: “O.K., you are a good painter, so what?” I faced a hostile, judgmental and tough environment and I had to survive. I stopped painting in order to rethink my art. I experimented with other mediums, photography, video and performance. I learnt to research, to defend my art and to be critical. A very basic thing that I Iearned from G.S.A. was the philosophy of D.I.Y. (Do it yourself).
S.S. You are both an artist and curator – that’s quite unusual. How do you manage to combine these two ‘identities’? Some would say that they are very different (creative vs organisation/management), while there is of course common ground too (the art).
Z.P. They are not so different. Being an artist and curator have the same starting points: a strong project and good research. As an artist you have to curate and promote your work, as an artist/curator you do the same for the participants and you are also in charge of constructing the visual and non-visual dialogue between the artworks. Then, you have to construct a dialogue between the audience and the artworks, in order to present society with something substantial and coherent.
S.S. Why did you decide to become both?
Z.P. Because I was never part of any network. I also had a lot of things to say. I had to acquire a voice. I had to do it myself, on my own.

S.S. An artist-turned-politician once said to me that the Greek art world is ‘venomous’. It made me wonder though, how can it be more venomous than Greek politics? You have preferred to have a more independent career as an artist, what are the pluses and minuses?
Z.P. The world of art is full of businessmen artists and businessmen curators that take themselves too seriously and exclude other people. Art is not about that. Those people have gained serious positions in the art world but in my opinion they lose out in terms of human relationships. They do not want to share a piece of their pie and when they see someone that they feel is dangerous, they try to intimidate them. I do not see any minuses in being independent. Selling art is important in order to survive but it was never my priority for making art.
If you are independent, you don’t compromise with the established world of art or belong to a network. You need to become innocent and romantic in order to have a genuine commitment to art. If your purpose is to gain something e.g. recognition, money, power, then you are not involved with art and communication. If I find someone with the same ideas as me, I will collaborate.
For me, the process of making art is tied to an existential need. But I have nothing against the gallery system or earning money out of art. I just have a different philosophy: Throughout my life I have not only worked for free, but l have also invested in art all the money I gained from working as a tutor, or from teaching art. I work so that l can support art. You would be surprised how many good, established artists work for free.

S.S. And many journalists/art critics too! But yes, let’s talk about this philosophy – making money to make art, rather than making art to make money. That kind of breaks the direct link between art and money. And sets art ‘free’ in a sense. The show ‘Trauma Queen’ that you curated with Harris Kondosphyris in 2007 was also created without sponsorship or funds, but instead with a kind of ‘fair trade’ system. That’s interesting, but how is it possible? Just with each person volunteering to put in the work? That can be effective only to a certain degree. How many artists would accept to work for free? ‘Trauma Queen’ was also pretty radical and got mixed reviews.
Z.P. ‘Trauma Queen’ took place in an abandoned hotel in Omonoia Square without any budget. It was the year that for the first time, we had 2 Biennales in Greece: The 1st Athens Biennale, entitled “Destroy Athens” and the 1st Thessaloniki Biennale, organised by the State Museum of Contemporary Art. Another project that ran parallel to the 1st Athens Biennale was the 1st Remap. Remap tried to offer an additional spectrum to the conceptual & methodological context of ‘Destroy Athens’ by engaging with a particular area of Athens and redefining the inhabitation and utilisation of different sites. Remap was presented in different settings, fully functional ones as well as derelict buildings, lots and public spaces, around several blocks of the Kerameikos area.
S.S. Hmm… We are about to witness an even bigger artistic ‘boom’ in Athens starting this spring, with the upcoming Documenta 14, the resurrection of Remap, a revamped art athina (with a new General Director, Yorgos Taxiarchopoulos), plus the two biennales you mentioned, plus the grand official opening of EMST later in October (not to mention the summer shows on the islands, e.g. Andros, Hydra). I don’t think the cultural tourists will want to leave this year!

Z.P. Well 2007 was also a period of remarkable change in terms of Greece’s artistic matters. So it was within a similar kind of framework, that we decided to contribute and get involved with our current situation, and to examine ways in which we could redefine aims regarding Greek art. So we decided to organise the contemporary art exhibition ‘Trauma Queen’. ‘Trauma Queen’ traced various kinds of social disability taking form through art, as possible manifestations of a pathogenic present condition which can lead to real disability. 26 artists from different cultural backgrounds exhibited their work. The artists used a wide range of mediums of expression.
Given the difficulty of funding for independent art productions, ‘Trauma Queen’ adopted a ‘fair-trade’ policy. We made an attempt at introducing to Greece the notion of fair-trade collaboration among all participating artists; within a framework of close cooperation and exchange, we wanted to enhance intercultural contact and trust, promoting new independent forms of organization for art events. As a consequence, invited artists were responsible for their journey’s expenses and the transportation of their work. In the ‘Trauma Queen’ exhibition “egos” undergo dispersion and expansion. ‘I’ becomes ‘we’. It was also strictly a non-profit event.
S.S. How would you describe the gallery scene in Greece?
Z.P. Most of the galleries try to be contemporary, and promote ‘aesthetics’ and ‘fashion’. Others promote “intelligence” and “political correctness”. But this is a general illness of the contemporary art world that feeds exclusion to its non-members. Hopefully there are also some serious spaces and people that have the knowledge and are devoted to presenting true creation.

S.S. You are also a double persona in terms of your art: Your performance art is cutting-edge and provocative (making masks out of all sorts of things – from a fish, or meat). You even cut off your own hair and stuck it on your face, making a mask out of it. But your paintings are dreamlike, romantic even – but with twist (if you study them closer). Tell us about both.
Z.P. For me, it’s all the same. The only things that change are the medium and the first impression. My performances have a more obvious impact on the viewer, are more communicative and use strong visual imagery that causes a reaction. But this is only the first impression. My transformation vents feelings of shame and alienation in parallel with senses of relief, free will, rebellion, and power. All these are common human sentiments that when you recognize them, and get over the initial shock, you then feel familiar and compassionate towards the persona. My paintings also present a diversity of feelings via a diversity of images and symbols. My paintings give a soft first impression but when you look closer, they are the opposite of what they seem. My performances deal with the transformation of matter just like my paintings do. It is a different approach. And they both use ready-made materials. The core of my concept is the idea of experimenting with the processes of perception. Nothing is as it seems, nothing is taken for granted. My art presents transient worlds, where subjects, objects and territories live in states of continuous transformation. They have surprising potential for renaissance, creation, evolution, dissolution and disappearance.

S.S. Personally, I love the way your paintings combine flower motifs with others taken from a whole host of other sources, such as science. They take me back to my childhood in London, and to some very bold flowery wallpaper in one very small room. The flowers also looked like sad and happy faces! How did this concept develop?
Z.P. During my M.F.A. I lived in Glasgow for three years. Wallpaper is a domestic material that is commonly used in U.K. houses. I used to look at these wallpapers and imagine bizarre things growing out of the tapestry florals. When I returned from Scotland I found a big book of wallpaper samples in the garbage. I had just returned to Greece and I had no studio to work in, so I started painting over them. After several experiments, in 2007, I made the first of my ‘garden’ works – entitled ‘Life Garden’. It shows a burning landscape with its reflection in the water depicting a dreamy, ideal, green condition of the same landscape. Little animals pop up from inside the flowers as well as anatomical and biological forms (like a skeleton, a tongue, an ovary). Then several years passed during which I didn’t paint anything, but I never stopped my research. Between 2007-2009 I dealt with my masks. When I was 8 months pregnant I did my last performance ‘Up Against The Wall Motherfuckers’. In 2009 I gave birth to my daughter Eleni. The creation of life left me artistically empty. I had nothing to say for a while. My priority was the autonomy of little Eleni.
S.S. When did you feel ready to return to art?
Z.P. In 2014 I got back in action: I saw an invitation for ICRI, Research and Art – a Contemporary Art Exhibition that was presented as part of the Megaron Plus programme in Athens. I made a site-specific work – the ‘Science Garden’, where all sorts of science starts to flourish from my wallpaper patterns: nanotechnology, physics, mathematics, architecture, chemistry, biology and anatomy. I discovered my passion for mathematics and human achievements.
S.S. You have also said that ‘My desire is to go beyond current morality’. Sounds scary, can you explain?
Z.P. Yes, I believe that current morality and prevailing values put barriers on human existence and creativity and cause exclusion, guilt and misery. We need to get over morality and return to innocence in order to create a world with substance and freedom.

S.S. Back in 2006, you curated and took part in the show ‘Who cares about Greek art?’, which took place at your own space, called Zoi’s. Tell us about this show, your art space and PLEASE tell us who DOES care about Greek art today?
Z.P. Obviously we both do! That was the first show that I curated without a budget. In Greece I had never cared about or questioned my Greek identity and I avoided anything that had to do with this issue, or anything Greek. I did not want the Greek label. I considered myself a universal person, without national identity. I only sensed my Greekness when I left Greece, and went abroad. I curated ‘Who cares about Greek art’, just after I returned from my studies at the Glasgow School of Art.
After 3 years away from my country and having been exposed to a different culture, I was trying to adjust myself to the Greek reality, to evaluate my experience in the U.K. and understand to what extent I had been influenced. I was wondering what had left and what had stayed and also, who cares about Greek art, who cares if it is Greek, who cares if it is art?
All the participants were alumni of U.K. universities who had studied art. They had to be present and also pay for their round trip. Zoi’s was the venue where the event was held. It was my underground studio in Thision that had been used to present the work of other artists too. The event attracted a big audience and gained a lot of publicity. We also published a catalogue.

S.S. You were recently in London, for the show Art Rooms 2017 (January 21-3), at the Melia White House on Albany St. This prestigious event via which 70 artists out of around 800 applicants are selected, is designed to showcase independent artists from around the world. How did you find this experience?
Z.P. To tell you the truth I was a bit shocked. It was the first time I participated in something so commercial but I guess that’s the whole point of an art fair. As an independent artist I used to participate in more alternative venues. The art fair was very well organised and publicized and it was very big and crowded. Each artist had his/her own room and was responsible to open and close it. That was the most interesting part because artists had the chance to communicate with the audience.
It was separated into 4 sections: U.K, Europe, Canada-America, Middle and Far East.
The director Cristina Cellini Antonini and the curatorial board were very professional and supportive to the artists.

S.S. All the more Greek artists today, with the crisis, have been trying to exhibit abroad. How was this experience for you?
Z.P. For me it is easier to exhibit internationally rather than in Greece. Only my art matters and I want to be judged for this and not for my public profile. In Greece, in order to belong in the contemporary art scene you must be at every opening and have social abilities. But the most important artists in the history of art were antisocial and were excluded from the system.

S.S. Michelangelo was antisocial, but this didn’t stop him from getting commissions, or from becoming famous, even during his own lifetime. But there are many different kinds of artists. Our age has certainly seen to the rise of the ‘businessman artist’, but then there have always been examples of these artists in history too (who were also very talented). Maybe it was Warhol who paved the way for today’s businessmen artists. But I can understand how an artist today can be in the mindset of “Why shouldn’t I make money, while I’m alive, rather than someone making money out of me when I’m dead?”.
There have been of course so many talented artists that were not ‘part of the system’, or who were doing their own thing, that never got promoted or recognized. Some got recognition later, (as is the case for many female artists in history), while others didn’t (e.g. there are hardly any Greek artists in the major European history of art books). Money (or politics) can be a motive for the person who decides to promote them later. But money and art have a very interesting relationship. Art without money is like a ‘bride stripped bare by her bachelors’ (ha ha!), sorry, I’m getting silly now. But, it’s very noble to not be interested in the money. It makes for a more esoteric, soul-searching, spiritual art practice, art for art’s sake.
I get the impression that the Dada spirit is also very much alive in your artistic/curatorial philosophy! I must admit though, the dead pigeon in the exhibition ‘Trauma Queen’ was rather disturbing. I assume that was the aim though. That pigeon died because its leg had got caught and it couldn’t fly away. It was kind of an apt symbol of the relationship of art and money – that can kill art’s freedom. But, at the end of the day, this image was shocking. So I ask you, what is gained through art that aims to shock?
Z.P. Shocking is always the bare truth that true art and life carry. We found the dead pigeon in the building. Nature became art by accident. Of course I care too about money and it would be great if we could survive doing art. But money is not my priority or my obsession, art is.
By the way, I can’t buy my art, because art is too expensive. It is only for the aristocracy. Unfortunately, it is they and art curators who are deciding what art is worth seeing today.
S.S. Yes, this issue of the price of art is something that I question too. Most people can’t afford art. Art collecting is an aristocrat’s hobby! And that is sad, because in that sense it is not like literature for example. A great book can be bought by everyone. A great film or a great piece of music too is accessible to everyone. Maybe working in multiples is the answer for art to be available to everyone, the same way film and music and literature work. To create a kind of art that works well in multiples. (Because a print of a great painting pales in comparison to the original work.)
But the whole art system is based on collecting unique art ‘objects’ and placing them in a museum or collection – art as an investment. Mind you, I don’t mind the fact that I can’t buy great art, as long as I can go and see it. It’s like going to a concert! The memory and the visual experience stays with you and changes you forever. That’s why art education is very, very important. So that the people who finally are able to buy the ‘expensive’, unique art works, can make the right choices, have a good eye. But more importantly, so that everyone can enjoy art and go to museums etc and understand it.
Back to you though: In 2015 you won 1st prize at Rome’s Nuovi Mondi – Corte competition. Tell us about this event that brings professionals together from around the world and from the entire art spectrum.

Z.P. Corte is an extended family of experts in different fields that weave their working lives within the same high walls. Founded in Rome in September of 2013, it has already won a place in the increasingly interconnected middle ground that embraces architecture, design, communication, visual arts and cultural services. ‘Nuovi Mondi’ was an international contest attended by artists of different nationalities coming from different creative fields. The ‘Nuovi Mondi Creative Contest’ had 112 participants, from 13 countries and 14 creative fields. Eight jurors decided the 10 finalists. The prize for the 10 finalists was a group show in Corte and the publishing of a catalogue. The first winner’s prize was a solo show. We were asked to express our perceptions and interpretations of ‘New Worlds’, meant as new visions, new landscapes, new interpretations and new materials. It was so exciting to be the first winner. In 2015 I had my solo show ‘Gardens in Corte’. With Corte we shared the same concerns, we had synergy and we became friends in the end.
S.S. How about ‘Transleat me’? The 2008 show which you curated and also did a performance for, in which you covered your face with meat – which focused on the power of the translator to distort meaning.
Z.P. ‘Transleat me’ was part of ‘Platform Translation’ – a travelling project involving artists from South America, Europe, and the Middle East. Its main purpose was to explore the concept of translation through artistic practices and critical discourse. The project included exhibitions in five cities: Athens (November, 2008), Santiago de Chile (May, 2009), and Rome, Beirut, and Berlin.
In every country a local curator was invited to develop a reading of the concept from the point of view of his/her particular cultural context; he/she took on the responsibility to invite local artists to participate in the show.
I was the curator of ‘Transleat me’, the exhibition of ‘Platform Translation’ in Athens. It took place on two floors of some abandoned offices on Aiolou Street that Mr. Dragonas had kindly offered to us. Once again, I would like to mention that everything was done with zero money and a lot of joy and team work. I was also the guest curator of ‘Street Hacker’, the exhibition of ‘Platform Translation’ in Santiago, Chile. This is where I did the performance in which I covered my face with meat, for the photographic installation ‘Up Against The Wall Motherfuckers’. It was a protest against dominant power structures. By creating a mysterious anarchist persona by wearing the ‘meat’ masks, I attempted to reinvent myself in order to create a new self out of the conventions of society. Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers was an anarchist affinity group based in New York City. This “street gang with analysis” was famous for its Lower East Side direct action and is said to have inspired members of the Weather Underground and the Yippies. Their name came from a poem by Amiri Baraka. Abbie Hoffman (an American political and social activist and anarchist of the ‘60s) characterized them as “the middle-class nightmare… an anti-media phenomenon simply because their name could not be printed in the social media.”

S.S. Your work is also on the Saatchi art online gallery
Z.P. Yes, one of the curators of Saatchi, Rebbeca Wilson had contacted me and showed interest in my artwork and I became a featured artist.
S.S. England, Italy, Greece – three very different art scenes which you have experienced. What’s your view on them?
Z.P. In Greece we have a very young and up-to-date audience that cares very much for everything contemporary, while in England we have art lovers of every age. It is amazing how many old English people you can meet daily in Tate modern and in the museums. In Italy there is culture. A deep inherent understanding and love for art that probably derives from its past.
S.S. And what about the future? You have another show in Rome coming up I believe.
Z.P. Yes I will go back to Rome. Now we are discussing the dates. I was selected by the curators Rezarta Zaloshnja and Lori Adragna for a solo show in Canova 22 as winner of the T.I.N.A. Prize (An international prize for a solo exhibition at great contemporary galleries around the globe). Canova 22 was the oven of the famous Italian sculptor Antonio Canova and is located in the heart of Rome next to the Academia of Fine Arts. It is a very historical, alchemical, peculiar and important space.
S.S. You know the question ‘If you were stranded on a desert island, which record would you want to have with you? (assuming there’s a record-player).’ Well, I ask you, which art work would you choose to have with you? (not one of your own!).
Z.P. I am afraid I cannot answer this. Artwork is an idea, a feeling, a knowledge that I experienced and I will always carry with me, not an object. As you already said ‘The memory and the visual experience stays with you and changes you forever.’
• Please post a comment, if you would like to add to this conversation. The comments will then be incorporated into the dialogue, in order to transform it into an art project of sorts.

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Zoi Pappa among the finalists of 11th International Arte Laguna Prize

2/15/2017

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I am so excited to be selected among the finalists of Arte Laguna and my work will be exhibited at the Arsenale of Venice from 25th March to 9th April.
THE FINALISTS EXHIBITIONS
The major collective exhibition will take place in the historical location of the Arsenale in Venice in March 2017. The prestigious venue will host the exhibition of 30 works of painting, 30 sculptures and installations, 30 works of photographic art, 10 videos, 10 land art projects, 5 performances which will be performed live during the exhibition's opening ceremony.
http://www.artelagunaprize.com/…/11th-edi…/finalist-artists…
Thank you Igor Zanti and the jury of the 11th International Arte Laguna Prize!!!!

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