Nana Sachini: 2013-2012

4th THESSALONIKI BIENNALE OF CONTEMPORARY ART
"Mediterranean temperament? Regional stereotypes and other myths"

SMCA - State Museum of Contemporary Art
Curated by: Areti Leopoulou, Theodore Markoglou

The artworks were produced in the framework of the 4th Young Artists’ Workshop "Mediterranean Temperament? Regional Stereotypes and other Myths" (14 - 25.10.2013), of the 4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, with the collaboration of the Municipality of Kalamaria and Action Field Kodra with head teachers Adrian Paci and Nikos Navrides.
The 4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art (18.09.2013 - 31.010.2014) which is organized by the State Μuseum of Contemporary Art, is the second of a three part program which started in 2011 and is funded under the Operational Program Macedonia - Thrace 2007 - 2013, co-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund) and Greece. www.thessalonikibiennale.gr

“amoeba seesaws”, 2013

Slides (parts), textile, metal, salt, plastic wrap, acrylic spray. (height) 130 Χ 450 Χ 55 cm

"amoeba seesaws”, 2013 & “nothing left to wow”, 2013

view inside the Centre of Contemporary Art CACT

Salt (“the memory of water” according to the artist) is the common element of the installations, objects, prints and video that Nana Sachini is presenting in this exhibition. Salt as a material of cooking, preservation but also as an antiseptic is one of the basic ingredients that construct unconsciously, in a personal and collective level, the famous “mediterranean identity” and here is also used as the structural element for all her works.

In the installation “Amoeba seesaws” there’ s salt inside a rag (an open form like a poke or a uterus) that blocks the passage between the two slides, in the object “Some have confused coughing with singing” it’ s inside a plastic glove with tire ups that tie the three fingers in the gesture of the cross of the prayer while the rest of the tire ups symbolize the three religions of the mediterranean basin (Christianity, Judaism, Islam).

In the installations “A litter of dice and Lace seems old-fashioned too” salt is hidden inside destroyed and skewed vessels that don’ t have as their regular use its’ storage, in the prints “S/he/t” it entangles with fragments of materials that are used for conserving food, in the work “Liquids shape” it is a an element of a construction that reminds us of a sail, a fish or a flag and finally in the video “Nothing left to wow” the artist herself using her tongue makes undefined shapes in a volume of salt in a slight mystifying and unique environment, creating a ritualistic and sexually charged gesture and at the same time purifying the tongue afterwards with water.

In the total of these works Sachini is using elements from previous works where random and cheap materials are mounted in the space in unexpected meetings with an intense element of a game but also the deliberate creation of fragmentary images. The new element here is, in our opinion, the attempt of creating an imagery of a country (possibly Greece) or of the whole mediterranean basin where history, culture and religion are always intertwined with humane personal stories, dreams and flavours.

Theodore Markoglou Historian of Art/ Curator of the Centre of Contemporary Art (State Museum of Contemporary Art)

"amoeba seesaws”, 2013 &“nothing left to wow”, 2013

view inside the Centre of Contemporary Art CACT

“amoeba seesaws”, 2013 detail

“liquids shape”, 2013 & “a litter of dice” 2013
view inside the Centre of Contemporary Art CACT

“liquids shape”, 2013.
Bamboo, bubble wrap, corrugated paper, plastic wraps, salt, ties. (height) 178 Χ 180 cm

“a litter of dice” 2013

Satin, watering can, plexiglass, plastic food bags, salt, mirror. (height) 50 Χ 200 Χ 140 cm

“s/he/t”, 2013
Diptych, print on archival paper, 70X100cm each.

“lace seems old-fashioned too”, 2013
Plastic bucket, plastic tube, rubber, salt, found object, plastic wrap. (height) 75 Χ 120 Χ 80 cm

“some have confused coughing with singing”, 2013

Plastic glove, salt, plastic ties. (height) 40 Χ 30 Χ 10 cm

“nothing left to wow”, 2013
videoperformance, duration 00:06:12 min
video by Natasha Papadopoulou

“s/he/t”, 2013 & “lace seems old-fashioned too”, 2013
view inside the Centre of Contemporary Art CACT

“some have confused coughing with singing”, 2013
view inside the Centre of Contemporary Art CACT

"now logic must take care of itself", 2013
an independent solo show @ Remap4
digital prints and mixed media, sound, variable dimensions
Remap4, Athens, Greece
sound-texts by:Apostolis Artinos, Margarita Bofiliou, Maria Lianou, Christopher Marinos, Thouli Misirloglou, Ioanna Pantazopoulou,Iordanis Papadopoulos, Natasha Papadopoulou, Alexios Papazacharias, Thanos Stathopoulos, Theofilos Tramboulis,Evita Tsokanta.

"now logic must take care of itself"

Carpets, rugs, readymades, cheap items and / or with a false semblance of luxury and traditional sculptural materials are reconstructed. A noisy “parade” – of objects and anthropomorphic constructs-with grotesque characteristics that are series of suggestions and create a sequence of open-ended narratives, connections to be made as one wanders through the room, stepping over objects, encountering the forms and listening to the sound . A civil absurd landscape? A futuristic environment where the (anti)-objects have occupied/took people's place? A surrealistic playground? Remnants of a destruction? In every case the high/valuable is deconstructed with irony, the worthless becomes valuable and the absence of logic causes euphoria, agitation, annoyance. Α questioning about the value of decisions that only seem rational (rational-like). The title is an appropriation from Wittgenstein.

"neither berries nor straws appear against the horizon", 2013
sculptural installation, digital prints on textiles and mixed media, variable dimensions
inside the exhibition "The transparency of sex", Old Hospital, Amphissa, Greece