2023-04-21 19:36:55
“In general, I notice that the aesthetics in the shops where we consume alcohol has improved quite a bit. It’s like there’s a noble rivalry over who has the nicest bar or tavern. At the same time, a number of new wine and beer labels were released. Super markets often have a rich wine cellar and young people work in a large majority in catering. While the system takes young people away from their dreams, clipping their wings for their goals, at the same time alcohol flows abundantly to make our reality more bearable”: Afroditi Papadouli introduces us to the secrets of her new exhibition that opens tonight at Cube Gallery of Patras, in which he presents a series of works he did in the last year on the theme of the atmosphere around alcohol, borrowing the title from the book of Kostis Papagiorgis “About Drunkenness”.
“So I used the title of this book for my theme but continued my research, very personally, as I visited places I had never seen before, or my own haunts, to feel what special each place can have.
And other times I found old photos and made, so to speak, my own journey to ouzos and bars that had housed my sorrows and joys or that helped me invent fantastic fictions, which I believe are very close to reality. I went to the same shop I frequented decades ago and felt like I stepped out of a black and white movie to enter the present. I don’t know if I’m less romantic now than I was then, or if nostalgia purifies everything.”
*Was it also the need to get together with other people that seemed to become more intense during the quarantine years?
-“In the years of the pandemic, reminiscing about the good old days often took the place of reality. And as much as extroversion was what we were asking for, in any of our walks we usually drank alone or with a few friends.
After all, in addition to the coronavirus, in several works there is the loneliness of our time. You see, loneliness is often associated with our freedom: no more excuses are needed to go out alone or alone for a drink” he tells us about this visual tour of the places of celebration or deposition of woes, walks in picturesque neighborhoods and summer trips to islands. Places that seem to come directly from memory or a black and white film, the neighborhood grocery store in the role of a cafe and improvised ouzo to the night hangouts after music with alcohol being a common recommendation. A unit in which a large part of our culture and youth culture is transferred, our habits, our music, old and new favorite haunts.
In most there is her presence, either as a small figure, or as a reflection in a mirror, or as a true portrait in the atmosphere of a rebetadi or a bar.
So the exhibition is “about drunkenness” – in the city of revelry and carnival but not only, as he tells us: “My choice to exhibit these works in Patras was not accidental. The large pedestrian streets full of ouzo and cafes frequented by students and large groups set the scene for many more projects…”
Observing the unity of the works “On Drunkenness”, in that transition that leads you to externalization and dancing, you see that the heroes of the works may stumble, but they are saved from decay. They keep the euphoria from the wine and stop before the disaster.
INFO
The exhibition opens tonight at the cube gallery, (Miauli 39, Patras) and will be open until May 13 daily with opening hours: Monday, Wednesday, Saturday 10.00-14.00 and Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 10.00-14.00 and 18.00-21.00.
#Drunkenness #Short #stories #alcohol