From the breezy waterfront of Chania to the Venetian Fortress of Rethymnon, my favourite of all Cretan cities. Only this time we didn’t stay long; neither did we visit the Fortezza. Rather we sat for a coffee in the cool shade of ”Thalassografia” just next to it, soaking up the wonderful sea view until it was time for the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete to open after the compulsory siesta break. It opened with half an hour delay and no apologies. But seeing that they had to kick us out at closing time, they offered to let us in the next day, with the same ticket. We couldn’t make it but appreciated the offer all the same.
The reason we ”forgot” to leave was the screening of Matthew Barney’s film ”Drawing Restreint 9” starring himself and his then real-life partner Björk, who also composed the film’s soundtrack. Not to everyone’s taste as a feature film, but weird and hypnotic enough to be best enjoyed as a long-length video installation.
It was all part of the exhibition ”Flying over the Abyss” – Η υπέρβαση της ‘Αβυσσος that brought together works by renowned contemporary artists and was inspired by the spiritual essay of philosopher and writer Nikos Kazantzakis ”Ascesis: The Saviors of God” – Aσκητική: Salvatores Dei. The manuscript of Ascesis was exhibited for the first time with passages and quotes spread among the artwork.
The exhibition then traveled to the Contemporary Art Centre of Thessaloniki, where it stayed until the end of February 2016.
Sherrie Levine, After Courbet: 1-18, 2009, 18 postcards on mat board
Hans Bellmer, La Demi-Poupée 1972
La Demi-Poupée poses in front of Stathis Logothetis’ Triptych 1972
Mike Kelley, Glorious Wound 1986
Kiki Smith, Untitled 1992
Adriana Varejão, Ruina de Charque Lapa 2001
Savvas Christodoulides, Ladders Joined Together 2012
Maro Michalakakos, In Between 2007
Rethymnon, 3 July 2015
Most images by Konstantinos Implikian
Lia in Brussels 