On the occasion of the celebration of the European Heritage Days 2018, the exhibition “Cities – Images” is inaugurated at the Museum of Byzantine Culture. The exhibition is a collaboration between the Museum of Byzantine Culture and the Department of Fine and Applied Arts – School of Fine Arts, University of Western Macedonia. It features works by students and graduates; more specifically, two group projects, that is one by the Printmaking Studio Class and one by the Photography Studio Class, as well as four individual works. Complying with the theme of the celebration for 2017 and 2018, the works focus on the diverse historical and social dimensions of the urban environment, as these are recorded through the experiences of the young artists. The students’ and graduates’ works present the processes of construction and deconstruction found in the city’s environment, the forces of creation and destruction, along with their proposals for a new creative perception of the urban space.

The photography project deals with the “urban gaps”. During the research process, the students were invited to discover, investigate and comment on urban gaps both in the city of Florina, where the School is located, as well as in other Greek cities. Aiming to the creation of images, they proposed a set of visual interventions, turning urban gaps into hybrid sites, where new visual approaches to public space were developed. The Printmaking Studio Class project looked at the recorded urban experience; by engraving plates they created individual works that comment on and show different perspectives of the economic, social, political and demographic evolution of the city. The works combine multiple engraving techniques and complex printing methods; presented in pairs they evoke an interactive dialogue, so as to document the narratives that the relation between the citizens and the Cities creates.

Participating artists: Stergios Adam, Grigoris Vosnakos, Anna Vratits, Margarita Gektsi, Spyridoula Zavitsanou, Roman Zouev, Dimos Kipouros, Georgia Kontou, Ilias Barkalis, Zisis Mpliatkas, Katerina Paisiou, Panagiota Pantela, Ariadni Pediotaki, Petros Rengos, Alexandra Sampali, Vasilis Smolensky, Cleopatra Tsali, Angelina Tsoumani, Alexandros Christopoulos.

Co-ordination of the photography project: Elena Efeoglou, Visual artist, Teaching Staff Member, School of Film Studies, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; Adjunct lecturer, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Western Macedonia.

Graphic design of the photography project: Yiannis Vgontzas

Co-ordination of printmaking project: Sofia Papadopoulou, Visual artist, Engraver; Adjunct lecturer, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Western Macedonia.

Curator: Zoi Godosi, Assistant Professor, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Western Macedonia

Contact (Museum of Byzantine Culture): Iro Katsaridou, Art Historian

Exhibition design; graphics: Sissy Karadimitriou, Architect, Museum of Byzantine Culture