The title of the show is a vague memory from a friend of the artist; a phrase that stayed with Margarita Bofiliou for a long time, until she sourced it and found out that it derives from the classic Greek tragedy Perseus by Aeschylus. The symbol of power, Xerxes, is the infallible king who made the wrong decisions; he built bridges but paid a dear price since he returned defeated.
The works featured in the exhibition are an exploration of the way that symbols are manipulated and personified in contemporary culture, as well as the way power is “dressing” symbols and how symbols represent power.
In his seminal tragedy, Aeschylus is using the profile of the ones that lost in order to accentuate the winners, the Greeks. The artist is investigating this perspective, commenting on patriotism, the self-love of the Greek tradition as well as the notion of symbols within politics, society and its power relations. Bofiliou’s work uses symbols, social practices, experience and memory, primeval mysticism and contemporary inwardness as tools for her work. She investigates the way through which the socio-political system forms symbols that can include stereotypes, behaviours and roles to its benefit. The construction and elaboration of human and environmental nature, in conjunction to a personal experience, are also of interest to the artist.
You can read the artist’s text here.
Margarita Bofiliou (b.1979) lives and works in Athens, Greece. Holds a MA Photography from the Royal College of Art, London (2005). Artist-in-residence at Cité international des Arts, Paris (2004). Recipient of the National Magazine Company Award 2004 and the Spyropoulos Prize 2008. Selected solo and group exhibitions include among others: “Sensual Abstraction a la belle etoile”, ReMap4 (Athens, 2013); “Innate memories”, Art Athina, State of Concept (Athens, 2013); “Parnassos”, Literary Society Parnassos (Athens, 2012); “The Forgotten Bar”, Galerie Utopia, ReMap3 (Athens, 2011); “The Non-Existent Hand”, ReMap3, Hotel Galini (Athens, 2011); “Cabinets of miracles”, Zone D, Zoumboulaki Gallery (Athens, 2010); “Locus Solus”, Benaki Museum (Athens, 2010); “Celebration / 10 year anniversary of Hydra School Projects”, Alex Mylonas Museum (Athens, 2010); “The Lobby”, IBID projects (London, 2008); “Blue eyes on route to the best brothel of paradise”, Art Athina, commissioned by the National Theatre of Greece (Athens, 2008); “Satellites (i-cabin baggage)”, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery (New York, 2006); ” New Contemporaries 2004″, Liverpool & The Barbican (London, 2004); etc. In 2012, she was one of the proposed artists for the Future Generation Art Prize 2012.
State of Concept invited Playroom to develop a children’s workshop taking as a starting point the works featured in the exhibition. The workshop will be held at State of Concept on June 20, 2015. For further information on the workshop please click here.
With the support of
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