OIKADE: Cretan Artists
Curated by Maria Marangou
Saint Mark’s Basilica, Heraklion
14th July – 31st August
The exhibition with one hundred sixty-four works by equal number of contemporary artists who either live and create in Crete or they are Cretans of the wider diaspora was organized by the Centre for Contemporary Art (today Contemporary Art Museum of Crete) in Rethymno and was presented for the first time in its premises in spring 2003.
The exhibition which was given the characteristic title “Oikade”,an ancient Greek word meaning at home, was then transferred to Athens, under the organizational responsibility of the Pancretan Union of Athens and was presented in the exhibition halls of the Municipality of Athens.
At the suggestion of the Mayor’s special advisor for issues of the “Vikelaia Municipal Library”, Mr. Manolis Karellis, the exhibition was transferred to Heraklion where it “ended” its run.
In the Heraklion phase, “Oikade” exhibition had to present slightly reduced works (and consequently artists, since each artist was represented with only one work) than in Rethymno or Athens, because some painters and sculptors, Cretans in origin but who live and create outside Crete, “needed” their works and withdrew them from the exhibition.
Despite the reduction of the artwork volume, however, the exhibition was of particular interest as it presented a sample of the work of around 100 artists from Crete who constitute almost the entire current artistic potential of the island.
“Oikade” exhibition can be described as “unequal” as next to some exceptional work there was also some clearly inferior on display.
Of course, there is an explanation for this inequality, common to all group exhibitions after all: the call for participation in the exhibition was general and there was no evaluation committee. In fact, the absence of an evaluation committee was planned.
The end result, however, was quite impressive. “Oikade” exhibition allowed the art lovers who visited it to form an overall picture of the art that flourished on our island at that time.
The exhibition opened its doors on 14th July in the significant hall of St. Mark’s Basilica which had previously hosted the famous exhibition with Dominikos Theotokopoulos’ 42 original works, the exhibition with the great works of the Cretan School of Byzantine Hagiography, the exhibition with the Fayum portraits and the retrospective exhibition of painter Nikos Fotakis.
It ran from 14th July to the end of August.
“Vikelaia Municipal Library” of Heraklion was responsible for the organization of the Heraklion phase of “Oikade” exhibition, while the responsibility for the initial setting of the exhibition and the collection of works belonged to Rethymno Centre for Contemporary Art and its “soul”, Mrs. Maria Marangou.
