a-letheia

installation / social sculpture / learning site
documenta 14, Athens, Greece

2016 – 2017

In 2016, I was invited to join the aneducation team of documenta14 as an artist. Being formally employed in the informal position of an artist in the context of public education provoked a series of questions and learning trajectories regarding the role and function, positionality and possibilities of an artist as a team member. Responding to this invitation through practice resonated strongly with the curriculum of the complex organism of documenta 14, which was dynamically evolving between Kassel and Athens. Navigating the often juxtaposed and often overlapping agencies and workloads of the artist and team member over the course of a year allowed for the conception and manifestation of the two interdisciplinary art projects: Narrowcast House in Kassel and A-Lethia in Athens.

Aletheia is a Greek word meaning truth, openness or sincerity. It is the opposite of Lethe, which means forgetfulness. By associating truth with not forgetting, the neologism “A-Letheia” suggests “a truth”, something that hovers between remembering and forgetting. By acknowledging Athens’ periptera (kiosks) as local nods of memory, the project responded to the gradual and systemic disappearance of kiosks in Greece.

Situated between two inactive kiosks in the neighbourhoods of Psyri and Kypseli, A-Letheia invited residents, local artists and organisations to re-imagine shared uses of public space. The exploration of the ongoing erasure of architecture and memory in the city manifested itself in a collaborative series of interventions, installations, walks, workshops, concerts, screenings, theatre performances and events. Conceived as a long-term process in which the kiosks could resist the erosion of time, A-Letheia became one of the few documenta projects to lead to self-organised citizens’ initiatives demanding that the work be left in place after documenta Athens closed.

Further links:

a-letheia documenta 14

Links to collaborations and events:

a-letheia: giant steps
a-letheia: a-dash
a-letheia: karagiozi kiosk
a-letheia: same page different corner
a-letheia: brass walk
a-letheia: my neighbourhood kypselli 
a-letheia: steki
a-letheia: kethea in action
a-letheia: imrpovised micro theatre 
a-letheia: echo of echoes
a-letheia: kiosk ksoik