National Museum of Modern Art opens its doors on June 29, 2023 for Yanni Xenakis (1922-2001) and his art, one of the most important creators of the 20th century, who with his multi-layered and radical work paved new paths for the culture of the 21st century.

For the largest international exhibition of Giannis Xenakis, EMST collaborates with the leading musical institutions of Xenakis’s two homelands: the Museum of Music – the Paris Philharmonic from France and KSYME – the Athens Conservatory from Greece.

In particular, on the first floor of the museum, the exhibition “Giannis Xenakis: Sonic Odysseys“. This is the first comprehensive major exhibition in Greece dedicated to the innovative composer, music theorist, architect, engineer, mathematician and one of the most progressive and creative thinkers of the second half of the 20th century. In the 1950s, Xenakis broke the laws of modern music and created his own musical genre. Immediately recognizable, but also in a constant state of reinvention and revolution, Xenakis has composed music that is both a nod to antiquity, an ode to nature and its elements, a tribute to modernism at its extreme, and a vision for the use of technology. . His work, which has received wide international recognition, has not yet been presented in detail in Greece.

Where Xenakis was a pioneer was in use of mathematical models in musicsuch as game theory. He was and remains today one of the world’s leading leaders in the development of electronic music and computer music. The exhibition features original material from the multi-layered, indomitable work of Yannis Xenakis: photographs, architectural drawings, illustrative scores, models, and anecdotal audio material. The Sound Odysseys exhibition, divided into six sections, focuses on the most important and unconventional part of his work and sheds light on his personal history, as well as his visual, literary and musical works. It brings together the composer of his time and the political and cultural movements that defined him as an artist. In a specially designed space designed by Eva Manidakis and Thanasis Demiris (Flux office), the visitor is invited to immerse themselves in the turbulent personal history of Giannis Xenakis, discover the scope of his work and his interests, and take a journey into the unique and his multi-dimensional universe.

At the same time, new EMST products are presented on the 3rd floor of the Museum, the exhibition “Xenakis and Greece“, in collaboration with the Athens Conservatory and the Contemporary Music Research Center (KSYME), founded by Yiannis Xenakis himself and housed at the Athens Conservatory. The exhibition explores Xenakis’ troubled and complicated relationship with his first homeland, from his years in France after his death sentence to his return to Greece after 27 years of exile and recognition Through rich archival material, photographs and letters, the exhibition documents aspects of the rich musical life of Greece in the 1960s and 1970s, initiatives that promoted the musical avant-garde and supported contemporary composers, until the return of Xenakis. and the organization of his great Greek works such as Polytopes of Mycenae.

At the same time, EMST organizes a series of events such as screenings and concerts that highlight Xenakis’ heritage in contemporary music and the absolutely current and always contemporary nature of his vision, the universal concept of art, person and place. The exhibition of Xenakis is part of the EMST policy aimed, among other things, at drawing attention to the work of important creators of the Greek diaspora.

Opening: 06/29/2023
Exhibition duration: until 01/07/2024

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In September, EMCT will feature Stories of Our Lives: In Search of Queer Sanctuaries. [Ιστορίες της ζωής μας: αναζητώντας Queer καταφύγια], an archival project by the art and interdisciplinary group Nest Collective, whose installation “Return to Sender” is on display until 9/30/23 at SNFCC Park in a co-production between the two institutions. Through the presentation of photographs, illustrations, soundscapes and excerpts from transcripts of hundreds of personal narratives, the work to be presented at EMST attempts to articulate queer expressions in Africa and highlight the inherent contradictions of non-heteronormative life in the country. Along with the archive, the team will present Stories of Our Lives, an anthology film based on a collection of short stories about the LGBTQ+ community. The exhibition at EMST is the second part of the presentation of the work of the team from Kenya. At the same time, a new video is being created to complement the film shown at SNFCC, a critical reference to the environmental disaster that fast fashion waste has brought to the environment and economies of Central and East African countries, this time focusing on Greece.

After Xenakis, the winter cycle of EMST exhibitions explores the place of women in the history and present of Greek contemporary art and beyond. A re-exhibition of the EMST collection on the third floor will play a central role, with works exclusively by women creators, including also important works from the gift of Dimitris Daskalopoulos. In dialogue with her there will be a large retrospective exhibition by Lida Papakonstantinou, a pioneer of performance art and the relationship between politics, feminism, ethnography and ecology, as well as an extensive presentation of Chryza Romanu’s work from all periods of her activity. Finally, EMST will present Greece’s first museum exhibition of world-famous artist Danai Anesiadu, co-produced with the WIELS Center for Contemporary Art in Brussels, as well as additional exhibitions by artists from Greece and other countries. The exhibitions aim to re-evaluate the history of Greek art and register women of different generations in artistic activity.