The proposition to the exhibition is about Patriotism, Nationalism and Patriarchy and its entanglements; and how these forms of identity inform an [unauthorised] body, what cultures we inherit, resist, neglect and have stolen from and what histories we parasitically engage as our own.
The project seeks to critique the cosmopolitan nature of identifying through the acknowledgment and méconnaissance of self that connects and divides individuals and how this misrecognition informs how we live with and alongside others that frames the way we learn about and inhabit our relationships to place.
I have invited academics from RMIT to explore notions of their real and imaginary through their oedipal relationships to place and how they identify through their work.
The exhibition antagonises social relations and puts pressure on identity that has emerged through the invitation that was made to me as a Gay Greek-Australian to curate a project at The Greek Community Centre in Melbourne in The Greek Quarter.
My foundational question is about my own Greekness and becoming. I found that it is in the way cosmopolitanism is [de] constructed that I find myself at the centre of my own identity.
The exhibitions title SISSY is informed by the publication SISSY that will be distributed throughout the exhibition made by Greek-Norwegian artists, architect, educator, and exhibition designer Andreas Angelidakis.
Participating academics:
Pauline Anastasiou
Andreas Angelidakis
D&K (Ricarda Bigolin & Chantal Kirby)
Deb Fisher
Ian Haig
Jody Haines
Pia Johnson
Daniel Marks
Arlo Mountford
Eden Muster
Tina Stefanou
Curated by Dr Nikos Pantazopoulos
There will be performances on the opening night and Saturdays.
Exhibition runs 15 October – 22 November
Thursdays 12pm – 6pm
Fridays 12pm – 6pm
Saturdays 12pm – 5pm
Image credit: Jody Haines
This project has been supported by the School of Art Staff Research Fund
