Nikos Alexiou. Gate A

On Wednesday, 23 May 2012 the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete opened two new solo exhibitions: "Gate A" by painter Nikos Alexiou and “Non Profit Line” by sculptor Yorgos Gyparakis.

The exhibitions of the two Rethymnian artists reflected the artists" special interaction with their materials and the import of their intellectual qualities.

The title of the exhibition of Nikos Alexiou, “Gate A”, came from the fact that Rethymnon was the first gate/passage into life and art for this highly important artist who worked either with primary materials like reed and paper or on the computer with the same sensibility.

The main body of the show was the artist"s “Study” for the flagged pavement at Iviron Monastery and the map of the same monastery. Monumental in both volume and content, this project began in 2003 and culminated at the Greek Pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 2007.

The exhibition included also traces of the past with the “Solar House” (from the 1990s series) and traces of the future with the “Arrow” (from the 2008 series). The show was realised with permission and support by the non-profit company “The Great Garden; Nikos Alexiou Archives”.


In "Άγονη Γραμμή - Non Profit Line” Yorgos Gyparakis presented a fictional island on which visitors are forced to discipline their body to the absence of physical activity or constant social wandering.

His sculptures emerge in the space as rock seats, as body receptacles for meditation, as implements for concentration, as mechanisms for spiritual workout which act upon the human body by exercising it and toning up its spirit.

The exhibitions run through August 31, 2012 and they were complemented as usual by guided tours for children and adults and educational programmes.

At the same time, other exhibition areas in the museum featured artworks from the Permanent Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete.