ABOUT THE BLOG AND THE AUTHOR

– THIS NEEDS SOME POLISHING UP, BUT THE BIO IS UP TO DATE –

I have been a newspaper man for over ten years now. This means I am a fast writer (anyone who has worked for a daily newspaper knows what I am talking about), but it also means I have hardly ever had the time to fully enjoy the process of writing. Strangely enough, after more than 1000 pieces and 150 interviews, I find I still do. More so, I feel that increasingly it is the main thing that interests me, even though curating and managing exhibitions is taking up a large part of my time.

In this blog I’ll be posting texts I write for various publications, starting with some older ones that I believe are still current, as well as some translations from the Greek, but I’ll mainly be writing new things. I say ‘things’, because any way I can think to describe them at the moment sounds too pretentious to bear. Recently, I find I am attracted to political and cultural theory more and more, so I’ll take it as comes.

To tell you the truth, I have always thought and written that this whole contemporary art business I’m in is unavoidably political. Though not in the sense that art always reflects the sociopolitical conditions of its time etc. That’s nonsense. It does not. History is full of people producing Madonnas with long necks or peaceful still-lives with little bottles, while Rome is being pillaged or the Fascists are marching on. Nor do I believe that art should reflect politics in an overt and purposeful way, as one of the contemporary trends goes. Granted, good art is always relevant. But, thankfully, relevance is an awfully broad place.

What I mean by the contemporary art business being political is that it completely demolishes – or it should – the figure of the impartial observer. The roles are becoming inextricably mixed-up. For me, this is a great thing. Though maybe because I do not think of it as having acquired a new legitimization, but precisely because I believe that legitimization is lacking, or at least that it is not really conceivable in its old form anymore. I think there’s a new world around the corner.

What I do not plan to write in this blog is art criticism in the strict sense, and I definitely do not plan to review shows. That’s my day job. My hope for this is that it will be evening work – of the pleasurable kind.

Lastly, let me please introduce myself: in a fit of self-, or rather offspring-aggrandizement, my parents named me Augustine. My love for a few thinkers notwithstanding, I hate psychoanalysis (I’ve always been the behaviorist type), so I do not really know which parts of my admittedly conflicted personality I owe to that fateful inspiration. Be that as it may, I’ve done a few things here and there, among which are the following: I was a journalist for To Vima, which means ‘The Tribune’ in Greek, one of Greece’s national newspapers, between 1999 and 2010, when I resigned. Since 2003, I was the art critic for the Sunday edition, and I have been writing a weekly column every Saturday. (This column, ‘Techniendos’ – it means ‘Artfully’ in Greek – also lent its name to my Greek blog, which I have been writing since June 2008). Between 2001 and 2004 I was the editor of Vima – Istoria, the history supplement of the newspaper. Between 2001 and 2006 I wrote a column in a ladies magazine, another newspaper supplement, where I offered advice on what to do if one chooses to go out and what to do if one chooses to stay in – quite honestly one of the best times I have ever had. Between 2006 and 2007 I was the co-publisher of a. the athens contemporary art review. Occasionally, I have contributed to various publications in Greece and abroad, including Art Fairs International, Art in America, Artnet, Contemporary, GAP, Kaput, et al. In November 2005, together with Xenia Kalpaktsoglou and Poka-Yio, I co-founded the Athens Biennial Non Profit Organization, and the curatorial trio XYZ. I have curated contemporary art exhibitions in Greece and abroad, including, with XYZ, the 1st Athens Biennale 2007 Destroy Athens. Also with XYZ, I was artistic director of the 2nd Athens Biennale 2009 Heaven. I remained co-director of the Athens Biennial Non Profit Organization until 2011. Since 2010, I also present a weekly web radio show (in Greek, naturally), first on Radiobubble and since June 2011 on The Press Project, where I also contribute articles on politics and current affairs. In October 2011, together with a group of fellow journalists, I co-founded Unfollow, an independent, collaborative, monthly political magazine. Its first issue hit the newsstands all over Greece in December 2011. For Unfollow, I mainly write on politics, I have a monthly column, and I am the editorial co-ordinator. I (try to) live in Athens.