a portrait of Y
for
X apartments, Athens
Each day, for five days, a couple enters a house every 10 minutes. The house is empty. The former owner, Y, was forced to sell it, due to the financial crisis, and now lives next door in a smaller apartment. The house was built by his grandfather.
For this ‘live portrait’ (in the vein of Hampton’s previous work in / as The Other People), visitors sit on the outdoor steps of this empty house and listen to Y speaking candidly about his struggles, his house and his fears for the future, before entering the upstairs spaces and finding him seated in a room with two canvases, mounted on easels. You’re invited to paint his portrait - but there are only 2 canvases for the 250 people who pass through his house over the five days, meaning that you have to deal with what others have done before you. What results is as much a portrait of the viewer as it is of Y, or his house.
Created within the frame of X Apartments, Athens.
Fifteen Greek and international artists who work in different fields using different artistic idioms accepted our challenge to create works especially for the houses and apartments of downtown Athens.
Click here to read the curatorial statement of Katia Arfara & Anna Mülter.
Full info here
Video shows a time-lapse development of the two canvases over the five days. Best watched full screen / HD on.
