“...a terrain into which we have long entrusted things as well as from which we have long extracted things”* @ Momus Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens
*Macfarlane, Robert. Underland. A Deep Time Journey. Penguin Books, 2020.
30th November 2023 - 3rd March 2024
2023
‘Vanitas. Stories of the here after’ exhibition
Momus- Museum of Contemporary Art
Curated by Yannis Bolis
Thessaloniki, Greece
*Macfarlane, Robert. Underland. A Deep Time Journey. Penguin Book,2020.
For several months, the artist ventured into a rock landscape on Aegina Island, known as the ancient cemetery for those who fought in the Battle of Salamis. Within this terrain lie numerous clandestine spaces - almost like a funerary ground - filled with that might ressemble open graves, sometimes holding seawater and marine. Life, other times just sound and small creatures.
Katerina has a favorite spot and closely document its evolving nature. The artist feels an urge to touch this place, to observe it from above , and think about its depth and the life inside. She has experimented by covering it, observing the movements of cloth placed them within, and placing it among the rocks. K. collects seaweeds that resembles burial coverings and create protective enclosures for them using metal mesh.
This landscape embodies the essence of safekeeping while seemingly tranforming and integrating actions from both the past and present.
This rocky landscape coexists with seawater, evident through the traces etched into the stones. There’s a sense that the stones themselves possess a flow, as if they have their own movement.
Here, evidence isn’t limited solely to human excavation and history; it extends into the depths, where the layers of life within the terrain unfold over time. The act of excavation prompts K. to contemplate the verticality of this movement, revealing potentially intricate life hidden below, marking a new frontier in the underland.
Yet, human connection to the ground extends beyond death ; we share not only our remains but also our waste, contributing to the creation of a unique, artificial geology.
Burials further exemplify this vertical inclination to delve deeply into what was once above us as ‘ geology both produces and confirms ways of feeling.’