Image and Icon
The New Greek Photography 1975 – 1955
On Friday 16 January 1998, the Rethymnon Centre of Contemporary Art - "L. Kanakakis" Municipal Gallery (now Contemporary Art Museum of Crete), hosted the exhibition "Image and Icon. The New Greek Photography 1975 - 1995". This exhibition, procured by the Ministry of Culture, celebrated the inauguration of Thessaloniki as the European Cultural Capital.
Curated by renowned photographer and critic John Stathatos, the exhibition presented a groundbreaking critical assessment of the evolution of photographic expression in Greece over two pivotal decades. The exhibition featured 230 photographs by 44 artists, showcasing diverse techniques, dimensions and approaches, from small processed Polaroids to large-scale black-and-white prints on aluminium, works that outline the astonishing developments of this important expressive medium.
Organized into three interconnected sections—Exploration of Space, Reading of the Medium and The Artistic Dimension—the exhibition covered distinct aspects of photography. The first section focused on the general field of figurative photography. The second examined the technical and conceptual specificities of the photographic medium. The third featured photographic works that extended into the realm of visual arts, blurring the boundaries between photography and contemporary art.
Acknowledging the inherent fluidity of photography, the categorization of works was intentionally flexible, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the medium. To highlight the exhibition, the Ministry of Culture published a 300-page bilingual catalogue, which has since become a fundamental resource in the study of contemporary Greek photography.
After its debut in Thessaloniki and a tour to Bratislava, the exhibition was hosted in Rethymno from January 16 to March 15, 1998, before continuing its European journey.
The Rethymnon Centre of Contemporary Art demonstrated its commitment to photography as a language of exploration within contemporary art. In addition to hosting this influential exhibition, the Centre has also hosted numerous historical and experimental exhibitions of Greek and international photographers. Its initiatives include a permanent photography workshop integrated into its Art Workshops and educational programs, offering lectures, guided tours and activities that enhance public engagement with the medium.
The following photographers and visual artists participated in the exhibition:
Alexandros Avramidis, Demosthenes Agrafiotis, Yagos Athanasopoulos, Pericles Alkidis, Costis Antoniadis, Erieta Attali, Kostis Vardikos, Panos Vardopoulos, Aris Georgiou, Nayia Yiakoumaki, Yiorgos Depollas, Christina Demetriade, Giannis Dimou, Stelios Efstathopoulos, Stratos Kalafatis, Lizzie Calligas, Katerina Kaloudi, Olga Kalousi, Giorgos Katsaggelos, Panos Kokkinias, Kostas Kolokythas, Nikos Koukis, Eleni Maligoura, Yiannis Marapas, Natassa Markidou, Nikos Markou, Despina Meimaroglou, Manolis Babousis, Lia Nalbantidou, Nikos Economopoulos, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, Nikos Pantis, Maria Papadimitriou, Hercules Papaioannou, Parris Petridis, Evdoxia Radi, Kostas Sergis, John Stathatos, Konstantinos Stavropoulos, Theofilos Stoupiadis, Epaminondas Schizas, Giorgos Tosousakis, Dimitris Tsoumplekas, Yiannis Psychopedis.
