For the Kalo Mina in May, Paky Vlassopoulou presents the installation OSTRACOPHORIA inspired by her proximity to OTTTO, being one of the artists working in the adjacent studio. 

 

For her participation in the project, she wanted to work with characteristics that, according to her, define some basic differences between Switzerland and Greece, as well as to refer to Madame Tricot's last year's work "Wilgefortis" which provoked reactions in the neighbourhood. For her work Vlassopoulou focused on the practices of exercising democracy, the scale of the economy as well as the influence of religion on the daily life of citizens.

 

Wanting to bring these elements together, she starts from the institution of ostracism of the 6th century BC Athenian democracy and the form of the ostracon (a fragment/shard of a clay vessel). Ostracism was established as an attempt to protect the Athenian polity from tyranny and to enhance popular power. The utility of ostracism was to rid the Athenians of citizens who had accumulated too much political power to the point of becoming dangerous with their practices. For the process of ostracism they used the ostracon, on which was engraved the name of the citizen whose exile they wished.

 

With this as a starting point, Vlassopoulou incorporates elements that bring to mind contemporary processes of voting and political expression. Without attempting to answer specific questions, she creates an installation where she lists words, engravings and materialities that every individual may encounter in the exercise of their political rights. Overall, she juxtaposes soft with hard materials and makes images that do not carry a clear information in order to point out the versatility of the meaning.

 

Paky Vlassopoulou was born and raised in Athens. She is mainly engaged in sculpture and has previously worked intensively with themes related to the construction of knowledge, history and ruins. She has been awarded by ARTWORKS (2018) as a Fellow of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation's Artists Support Programme and by the Onassis Air Fellowship Programme (2023-24) of the Onassis Foundation. Her work has been included in exhibitions in Greece and abroad, and recently her works have been included in the collection of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) in Athens.