The Death of 'Che' Guevara
Curated by Nicos Hadjinicolaou
December 14th 2002 - February 2nd 2003
On December 14th 2002, the Rethymnon Centre for Contemporary Art celebrated the opening of the exhibition entitled "The death of 'Che' Guevara" hosted in art space “8", under the care of Mr Nicos Hadjinicolaou, History of Art professor, University of Crete.
The exhibition was co-produced by the Rethymnon Centre and the University of Crete, within the framework of celebrating the 25th anniversary of its establishment, and the State Museum of Modern Art, realised with the support of the Ministry of Culture.
The opening of this exhibition concluded the celebration events for the establishment of Crete's Highest Intellectual Institution.
For the Rethymnon Centre and the State Museum of Modern Art, this exhibition marked the realisation of the objectives set for cooperation and co-production of events, within the framework of proven relations that started developing in 2001, but also within their institutional role as bodies of the "Dominion of Culture".
The exhibition "The death of 'Che' Guevara" organised exactly thirty five years after his assassination, has a dual objective. On the one hand it aspires to honour a virtuous personality, an example of sheer selflessness and struggle. But at the same time, the exhibition aimed at gathering evidence on how artists reacted to the news of his death and the photographs, that went around the world in October 1967, of his dead body lying down on the small basin of a wash-house, eyes wide open.
The works (paintings, engravings, posters) have been gathered from Latin America, the USA and Europe, and belong to collections of research centres and private individuals. The original photographs taken by Freddy Alborta will also be exhibited.
The exhibition included works of Arnold Belkin, Rogelio Lopez Cuenca, Paolo Gasparini, Raul Arellano, Freddy Alborta, Antonio Frasconi, Oskar Rojas, Ian Hillenberg, Ruth Weisberg, Giannis Gaitis, Dimitris Zouroudis, Kyriakos Katzourakis, Despina Meimaroglou and Angelos Skourtis.
The Rethymnon Centre for Contemporary Art was responsible for organising the exhibition.
The exhibition lasted until February 2nd 2003 when it moved to Thessaloniki. A catalogue of the exhibition was available.
