TEMPORARY EXHIBITION – DRAFTSMEN’S CONGRESS: LIFE ZONE – LIFE POINT

The Draftsmen’s Congress: Life Zone – Life Point is an ongoing project initiated by Pawel Althamer, originally presented at the 7th Berlin Biennale in 2012 and then at various art centres around the world.

This exhibition takes place as part of the A. G. Leventis Gallery’s five-year temporary exhibition programme, which aims to present, amongst other themes, aspects of European contemporary visual culture. For this project, the A. G. Leventis Gallery is collaborating with the DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art. DESTE is a non-profit institution established in Geneva in 1983 by collector Dakis Joannou. Since its inception, DESTE – the Greek word for ‘look’ – has been an organiser of international contemporary art exhibitions and a global supporter of arts-based projects and publications. The A. G. Leventis Gallery’s third collaborator is the Point Centre for Contemporary Art, known for its experience and expertise of contemporary art in Cyprus. The partnership amongst these three institutions begins with Pawel Althamer and his collaborators’ interventions and creations. 

Not an exhibition in the traditional sense, the project starts off with an empty room with white walls, and everyone is invited to create, engage and converse using images rather than words. Using paint and a brush, visitors are encouraged to react to issues such as politics, religion and current events. Althamer believes that this ‘common space’ allows hierarchies to be broken down and enables both bonding and debate. The artist, along with his various collaborators, will also host a series of workshops to encourage visitors to communicate and react in a non-verbal way.

Pawel Althamer attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw from 1988 to 1993, studying alongside his frequent collaborator Artur Żmijewski. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Westfälischer Kunstverein in Münster (2003), the Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw (2004), the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (2005), the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2006), the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan (2007) and the Secession, Vienna (2009), amongst others. His work has been exhibited in a number of major international group exhibitions.

Pawel Althamer and his collaborators invite you to ‘Come – Create – Engage’. Help them to open a dialogue about art, action and interaction.

The exhibition was inaugurated on 15 December 2015 at 20:30, with a special event featuring the band Monsieur Doumani.

Duration: 16 December 2015 – 8 February 2016

Temporary Exhibition Hall, A. G. Leventis Gallery

Media Sponsor:

TIMEOUT

With the Support of:

DULUX