Paxos may be a small Ionian Island, but it’s BIG when it comes to inspiring. This beautiful small island may seem an unlikely location to host international artists as it has no airport and is only accessible by ferry either from neighbouring Corfu or the Greek mainland, but a culture rich in art adds to its natural beauty.
The Paxos Biennale art exhibition
Yet, every two years, Paxos hosts the Paxos Biennale (https://paxosbiennale.com/) arts event from the 2nd June until the 6th October 2024, curated by The Krank under the artistic direction of Marina Tomacelli Filomarino, a resident on Paxos .
The Paxos Biennale exhibition offers everything from paintings, sculpture, video installations, murals and photography and is intended to support young and emerging artists to show their creativity in a unique environment.
Ionian contemporary art destination
The event promotes Paxos as a contemporary art destination attracting regular and new visitors to the Ionian Island. This year in 2024, the Paxos Biennale team want to raise people’s awareness of the local environment and the importance of protecting the island’s heritage and landscape, while encouraging art to draw the local community together.
The artworks are adapted to the unique architectural and geographical contexts in which they are displayed, including several large-scale immersive installations, outdoor video projections and outdoor and indoor exhibitions in old and traditional places across different Paxos locations.
This year’s exhibition – ‘Manifesto of Memory’
This year the event’s theme is called, ‘Manifesto of Memory’ celebrating Paxos’s deep affinity and heritage surrounding its olive trees. The olive tree has always symbolised resilience, strength and spiritual development, but, in recent years olive groves have been ravaged by a pathogenic bacterium called Xyella.
Importance of preserving Paxos’s environmental landscape
The message this art exhibition wants to communicate is how over time, environmental changes and social disregard can damage all aspects of our landscape and shared memories of something so familiar. The ancient olive groves – a centuries old feature important part of the identity of the Greek island landscape, are now at risk.
Marina Tomacelli Filomarino, Artistic Director at Paxos Biennale comments: “MANIFESTO OF MEMORY Paxos Biennale aims to illuminate the importance of safeguarding collective memory and cultural heritage to remind us that no element of our cultural patrimony is immune to the ravages of time and circumstance.
This exhibition creates opportunities for dialogue across historical, ecological and socio-political distances. It will facilitate innovative, multidirectional possibilities for creative cooperation and collaboration to yield new artistic commissions and productions within programme that will evolve across numerous sites on the island.”
Paxos Biennale - Participating Artists 2024
Abdoul-Ganiou Dermani (Togo), Achilles Ntentis (Greece), Alexandra Masmanidi (Greece), Alexandr Sokolov (Russia),Alexandros Magkaniotis (Greece), Alice Sheppard Fidler (UK), Ariadna Pastorini (Argentina), Athanasia Tsopanargia (Greece), Athina Kanellopoulou (Greece), Athina Koumparouli (Greece), Augusto Calçada (Brazil), Ayshia Müezzin (UK), Avgi Mitsiani (Greece), Ben Dawson (UK), Carolina Amaya (Colombia), Carolina Rivera Arboleda (Austria), Carlos Navarrete (Chile), Catherine Chatzidimitriou (Greece), Cedric Arnold (UK-France), Chloe Akrithaki (Greece), Cristina Amiran (Brazil), Dagmara Bugaj (Poland), Danai Kotsaki (Greece), Daniel O’Toole (Australia), Daniela Lucato (Italy), Daniele Bongiovanni (Italy), Dimitra Stavropoulou (Greece), Dimitra Zervou (Greece), Dimitris Kontodimos (Greece), Dionisis Christofilogiannis (Greece), Dolly Sen(UK), Eleanna Balesi (Greece), Elva Zhang (China), Eugenia Grammenou (Greece), Eunji Lee (South Korea), Fani Arapi (Greece), Fenia Kotsopoulou (UK-Greece), Fran Orallo (Spain), George Stamatakis (Greece), Giota Siapka (Greece), Glenda Leon (Cuba), Hana Yoo (Korea), Haotique (Greece), Helge H. Paulsen (Germany),
Ilias Christopoulos (Greece), Ioanna Limniou (Greece), Irena Paskali (N. Macedonia-Germany), Jean-Michel Rolland (France), Jewgeni Roppel (Kasachstan), Johannes Gierlinger (Austria), Johannes Christopher Gerard (Germany), Jonathas de Andrade (Brazil), Jon Rafman (Canada), Joseph O’Neill (USA), JR (France), Julia Krahn (Germany), Karin van der Molen (Netherlands), Katsuki Nogami (Japan), Khalil Charif (Brazil), Konstantina Rista (Greece), Konstantinos Grigoriadis-Zormpas (Greece), Labrini Rizaki (Greece), Laura Donkers (British-Irish), Laurel Lueders (USA), Leandros Marios Basteas (Greece), Leo Katunaric Kadele (Croatia), Leonid Keller (Germany-Kasachstan), Leung Chi Wo (Hong Kong), Leung Mee Ping (Hong Kong), Lydia Klammer (Germany), Mauricio Sanhueza (Peru), Marilia Kolibiri (Greece), Marina Tsironi (Greece), Markella Michalitsianou (Greece), Marco Castelli (Italy), MASH (Greece), Matteo Campulla (Italy), Mira Klug (Austria), Mpumelelo Buthelezi (South Africa), Nasia Karatsiraki (Greece), Natalia Skobeeva (Belgium), Nicole Kouts (Brazil), Oliver Musovik (N. Macedonia), Oto Hudec (Slovakia), Pat van Boeckel (Netherlands), Patricia Encarnación (Dominican Republic), Patrick Topitschnig (Austria),Peggy Kliafa (Greece), Pierre Chaumont (France), Rafael Rodriguez (India), Samin Ahmadzadeh (Iran), Sara Wong (Hong Kong), Shahrzad Nazarpour (Iran), Socrates Fatouros (Greece), Sofia Antoniadou (Greece), Sungsoo Lee (South Korea), Stathis Roukas (Greece), Stefania Patrikiou (Greece), Tabita Rezaire (France-Guyana), The Krank (Greece), Valentina Berthelon (Chile), Vasiliki Koukou (Greece), Vasilis Galanis (Greece), Viktoria Heiser (Slovakia), Virginia Gianni (Greece), Wieslawa Nowicka (Poland), Xenia Papadopoulou (Greece), Yana Bachynska (Ukraine), Yiannis Pappas (Greece), Zhanna Gladko (Belarus), Zoe Metra (France) & Ørjan Amundsen (Norway).
