Under Negotiation

Curators : Sofia Dalamagka | Liana Zoza

“Human beings are born solitary, but everywhere they are in chains – daisy chains – of interactivity.Social actions are makeshift forms, often courageous, sometimes ridiculous, always strange. And in away, every social action is a negotiation, a compromise between ‘his,’ ‘her’ or ‘their’ wish and yours.”

― Andy Warhol

Cube Gallery welcomes the new year and hosts to its space the ongoing Art project Under Negotiation curated by Sofia Dalamagka and Liana Zoza and organized by Cube Gallery in collaboration with KROMA. The idea of this collective attempt was born by Sofia Dalamagka in January 2020 attempting to start a conversation about how visible a female photographer in Greece is. Then the pandemic started and everything that goes together with that and changed our everyday lives but also the balance and rules in the field of Arts. Meeting with Liana Zoza in the role of co-curating was creative in order to continue and make the project come alive in an era where everything is under negotiation.

Every single one of the participating photographers deposits her own opinion-picture by pointing out through her work the woman in today’s society and the role she has chosen for herself or the roles that are given to her. The female body plays the first role by working as a tool which drastically or dynamically changes in order to show the spectator direct messages or even hidden ones, which are, all of them, very loud.

Sofia Dalamagka, curator, writes: “At the beginning of January 2020 the idea of a collective attempt was born
targeting to start a conversation about the visibility of female photographers in Greece. What is it that hasn’t been said by women photographers? What is the true dynamic of a female photographer? Then the Pandemic started, two quarantines followed, then pause, Soul searching. The overwhelming consequences. The feeling of being imprisoned, the institutionalization of our Lives didn’t leave any of our work unaffected. If you have a closer look at each of our work, you will see that most of the pictures are taken indoors.

An instinctively attempt of trying to extern/express the picture inside of her and the psychological state of each of the creators in a wholesome evolution. Where were we? Where are we now? Are we the same? And then, the women killing. The Greek #MeToo. Violence. Sometimes hollow, sometimes silent, sometimes still and sometimes deafening. Inside of us, around us. Stereotypes of gender identity and the rules with which we grow up. Pink for the girls and blue for the boys. We are wandering through 2022 with the female body still being divided and exploited as a juicy piece of meat with standards and ISO approval. A body, if it has to know anything about gender identification, realizes it early enough and much better than society.

Since ancient years, patriarchal societies rule and as much as patriarchy may not have Gender, it has receivers and victims. We are here though, and each and every one of us has something to tell you through her pictures. Testifying her own personal truth and thorn. All of them almost the same yet so different. But always unique. Always there.”

Liana Zoza, curator, writes: “By listening to Sofia Dalamagka talking about the project Under Negotiation for
the first time even if I have until now curated many interesting projects automatically the desire to make it come true was born inside of me, because it is an Art project through which female photographers are uniting with pictures that each of them separately express their personal view. A project which is negotiating an up-to-date subject, especially nowadays.

The questions asked by not only both women curators but also by those participating start from the stereotypes that are evolving, but possibly don’t change through time and end at the point as to what the place of a woman in contemporary art. Questions that is might not be easy to answer but create images that work as a calling for the spectator so as to stand in-between them by creating his own stories. Hard images but also sensitive which take their place as a part of a imaginary puzzle where each of us has her own place.

Especially through the past years, right after our internment and our social distance due to the Global Pandemic for reasons some are questioning but others are trying to discover, women are at the top of the list on social media or the news and almost every day monopolize as bad news on TV. Women killing, social and business ostracization, commercialization of the female body are subjects for conversation after conversation, but not for negotiation.In a world that changes rapidly through financial-health-and social crisis, women, unfortunately must support and prove their identity.

But what about Art? An area where according to specialists in the field is the first one affected and the last one to recover in times of world crisis? Art has her voice and manages to survive even under the worst circumstances by putting her signature under subjects and situations where other areas are afraid to even mention or touch. That’s the reason why we decided Under Negotiation to be an ongoing project for it to be renewed and transfigured into the creative and loud voice of contemporary art.”

Participants: Evgenia Aravantinou, Barbara Vassilogianni, Danai Vlachou, Aliki Gotsi, Sofia Dalamagka, Athanasia Dadarou, Giota Efraimidou, Anna Karvounari, Vasiliki Pantazi, Anna Papachristou, Virginia Filippoussi, Ioanna Foskolou, Katia Christodoulou.

General Info:

Opening: 13 January 2023 20:00

Duration: 13 January – 4 February 2023

Exhibition Opening Hours: Monday | Wednesday 10.00 – 14.00
Tuesday | Thursday | Friday 10.00 – 14.00 & 18.00 – 21.00
Saturday 11.00 – 14.00 | Sunday closed

Facebook Event: Yπό Διαπραγμάτευση|Under Negotiation | Facebook

Cube Gallery

Address: 39, Miaouli street. 26222, Patras, Greece

Tel: 2611110069

Email: lianazoza@cubegallery.gr

Site: Cubegallery

Facebook: Cube Gallery | Patras | Facebook

Media Sponsor: KROMA Magazine

Tags: Cube Gallery january 2023 KROMA Media Sponsor Liana Zona Must See patra Sofia Dalamagka Under Negotiation

January 2023 Jan 2023