NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS
ATHENS 2021

In the still silence of early morning, the only sound is the creaking of crumbling shutters being opened. In an instant, with a flutter of wings, a flock of pigeons, until then nestled on the eaves of surrounding buildings, dives like a remote-controlled squadron into the main apartment of one of the villas overlooking the square. It is breakfast time and the birds are preparing. Shortly after, when they are satisfied, they exit from the opposite balcony, drawing an arc in the opposite direction before finally dispersing. The pigeon occupies an undefined position in the varied history of humanity. Sometimes it appears in art, half-dead in the midst of a still life. From Noah’s Ark, no pigeon took flight in the biblical flood… the raven and the dove did, but never the pigeons… there must be a reason. The artist imagines the pigeon as a huge urban idol, constructed with wire studded with nails, the same wire used to keep pigeons away from roofs and eaves, provoking in people a comical and paradoxical disgust. A metaphor for a certain humanity devoted to a petty, intrusive, defeatist, oppressive, and dull life. A modest eater of others’ crumbs and scraps, the pigeon represents the renunciation of greatness in exchange for prepackaged tranquility. A life in which every pain, every predator, every ambition has been minimized, thriving in an artificial absence of natural selection. A bird shaped like a bubble, but with a spirit level that aligns downward.

The exhibition SYMBOLS & Iconic Ruins is an attempt to create a synthesis of different versions of the concept of the symbol, through elective affinities and common characteristics, regardless of whether the sources and production processes of the symbols differ radically from one another.
In addition to individual works, which reflect and comment on the relationship between artistic and architectural creation and symbols, the main body of the exhibition presents three distinct and interconnected elements – the Acropolis of Athens, the post-war architectural production of Central Europe, and references to the Berlin Wall – with the intent of promoting a singular dialogue between various ruins that have current symbolic value.