Goldsmiths academic leads ‘daring’ art biennale

A Goldsmiths academic has been chosen to lead the “daring and experimental” Athens Biennale which is taking place over the next two years.

Massimiliano Mollona, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology has been named as the Programme Director for the project.

The fifth Athens Biennale is entitled “Omonoia” – which translates as “concord” – and is a platform for experimentation through a series of exhibitions, workshops, and urban interventions in collaboration with grassroots political activists.

The programme will highlight the current views on contemporary art through three strands of debate and research intervention: the emergence of alternative ecomomies, the performative in the public and the establishment of institutions that redefine existing structures.

Unlike traditional biennial formats Mollona’s role will combine theory, curating and process-based urban interventions. The festival is intended to be a stage for the “experiments of grassroots democracy”.

Mollona said: “Greece is at a historical juncture. In spite of wide popular opposition against debt, welfare cuts and privatisations, the country was forced into a new regime of austerity by the European Union.

“But popular mobilisation for a just and human economy remains strong. At issue is not only Greece’s future but the very future of democracy in Europe.”

He added: “The Athens Biennale aspires to be a stage for the experiments of grassroots democracy and economic solidarity that are spreading throughout Greece and in Europe’s South. More than art in the service of society, it is art as an experimental space for new modes of thinking and performing life.”

Building on its tradition of independent, cross-disciplinary and discursive cultural institution, the Athens Biennale will run over two years through an ongoing programme of events in key locations in Athens.