Transhumance

Greece in USA in collaboration with the Columbia University Program in Hellenic Studies presents "Transhumance" by Phoebe Giannisi, a performative event and discussion exploring Giannisi's vision for a chimeric poetics that blends field recordings, state archives, and ancient texts.

The poetic performance Transhumance is based on the book Chimera (New Directions, 2024, translated by Brian Sneeden). In her third collection in English, Phoebe Giannisi lays out her vision for a chimeric poetics that blends field recordings, state archives, and ancient texts. The center of Chimera engages with a three-year field research project on the goat-herding practices of a community of Vlachs, a people of Northern Greece and the Southern Balkans who speak their own language and practice transhumance. In these poems, day-to-day activities such as shearing and shepherding mix with snippets of conversations, oral tradition, and song—locating a larger story in this ancient marriage between humans and animals. Through her poetry and fieldwork, this mytho-historical connection between metamorphosis and utterance takes form.

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Following the thirty minute performance of Transhumance, we will open a discussion with contributions by Anna Mikaela Ekstrand, Daria Faïn, Neni Panourgia, Martha Schwendener and interventions by Rhonda Garelick and Catherine A. Peila

The performance and discussion take place at Greece in USA's non profit cultural venue, The Opening Gallery & Opening Art Initiative at 42 Walker st in Tribeca in New York 10013.

*Cover Photo credits: Sofia Camplioni

• Anna Mikaela Ekstrand is editor-in-chief and founder of Cultbytes. She mediates art through writing, curating, and lecturing. Her latest books are and both published by Sternberg Press in 2022. She is co-curator of The Immigrant Artist Biennial 2023: Contact Zone and the organization's Associate Director. Her art criticism is published in Cultbytes, BOMB, Artspiel, and Artefuse, among others. She is co-curator of The Immigrant Artist Biennial 2023: Contact Zone and the organization's Associate Director.

https://www.sternberg-press.com/product/curating-beyond-the-mainstream/

• Daria Faïn

Daria Faïn is a New York choreographer and director originally from the Mediterranean. Her work fuses her European cultural background with three decades of practice in Asian philosophies of the body, American dance training and theater. From this diverse background, Faïn has developed a unique movement and performance approach. She studied the classical Indian dance form Bharatha Natyam for five years in Paris with Amala Devi and in Madras, India with Swarnamuckie (State dancer of Tamil Nadu, 1982). In India she also studied the co-relationship between this classical form of dance and temple architecture. Additionally, she was deeply influenced by her work with the Butoh-based artist Min Tanaka. With a grant from the French Ministry of Culture, she studied at the Graham School in NYC from 1984 to 1986. She has been certified in the Alexander Technique since 1991, and has been an instructor of the Universal Healing Tao (Mantak Chia Chinese Taoist University) since 2001 and studied Martial Arts with Master Allen Frank from 2007-2010. Faïn has extensively researched the reciprocal influence between architecture and human behavior, and has given lectures on Swiss-born architect and urbanist Le Corbusier. Faïn has also studied theater in France with the Roy Hart Theater and the Peter Brook Company. She has conducted extensive research on ancient Greek Theater. Over the years, Faïn’s choreographic research has led her to work with people with mental illness, the developmentally disabled, and deaf-blind individuals, leading to a complex understanding of the body as a endless resource of knowledge.

In 2006, working collaboratively with poet/architect Robert Kocik, Faïn created the Prosodic Body, a new field of research on the embodiment of language that manifests in performance, education, architecture and writing. In 2008 they founded the performing group The Commons Choir, a core and variable cast of roughly 30 singers, actors, composers and people with which they create highly socially charged performances. In 2017 they incorporated as the Prosodic Body LLC to create an umbrella for all their activities.

http://www.dariafain.net

• Neni Panourgiá

Neni Panourgiá is an anthropologist, the Academic Adviser at the Justice-in-Education Initiative, and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Pr*son Education Program at Columbia University through which she teaches in the New York State and the Federal Pr*son system. She has previously held positions at Princeton, Rutgers, NYU, Bard College, The New School for Social Research, and Université de Paris VIII, St Denis. She was co-editor of Anthropology and Humanism (2020-2021), and the Journal of Modern Greek Studies (2013-2016), and co-Chair of the Anthropology Section of the New York Academy of Sciences (2009-2011). Her ethnographic work is located at the nexus of history, politics, and the apparatus of discipline with specific focus on the multi-valence of confinement. Her monographs Fragments of Death, Fables of Identity. An Athenian Anthropography (1995) and Dangerous Citizens: The Greek Left and the Terror of the State (2009) have received many awards among which The Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing, the Edmund Keeley Book Prize in Modern Greek Studies, the PROSE Award, The Chicago Folklore Prize, the International Society for Ethnohistory. She has co-edited, with George Marcus, the volume Ethnographica Moralia. Experiments in Interpretive Anthropology (2008), and has edited the photographic volume East of Attica, 1930-1997, and the Special Issue “COVID-19: Auto-ethnographies of Incarceration” in Synapsis: A Journal of Medical Humanities (2020). Her essays can be found in Mousse, Documenta, American Ethnologist, angelaki, Public Culture, Anthropology and Humanism, and elsewhere. Her book Λέρος: Η γραμματική του εγκλεισμού, published in July 2020 in Greek (Nefeli Publishers), is in its second edition and it is forthcoming shortly in English under the title Foucault’s Node: Leros and the Grammar of Confinement.

https://justiceineducation.columbia.edu/people/profiles/neni-panourgia/. Since 2022 she has been running the Leros Humanism Seminars, https://leros-humanism-seminars.com, co-organized with Stathis Gourgouris and in collaboration with Columbia Global Centers Athens, thee Johns Hopkins Initiative in Global South Humanities, and the Wright-Ingraham Institute.

https://www.socialdifference.columbia.edu/faculty-/neni-panourgi

• Martha Schwendener

Martha Schwendener, PhD, is an art historian and art critic for the New York Times and a visiting professor at New York University. She has completed a manuscript that examines Vilém Flusser’s philosophy in relation to art.Her research focuses on ex-institutional projects (for instance, social practice and community initiatives), overlooked artists, non-U.S. artists and those working outside major cities and institutions, non-commercial projects, and activism. A critic in photography at the Yale University School of Art she received her PhD in art history at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her criticism has been published in Artforum, Bookforum, Artforum.com, Afterimage, October, Art in America, the New Yorker, the Village Voice, the Brooklyn Rail, Art Papers, New Art Examiner, CAA.reviews, Time Out New York, Flash Art, Paper Monument, and other publications. She has also taught at Hunter College, the School of Visual Arts, the Fashion Institute of Technology, the University of Texas at Austin, Rhode Island School of Design, and the Pratt Institute.

https://www.nytimes.com/by/martha-schwendener

• Rhonda Garelick

Rhonda Garelick writes the Face Forward column for The New York Times’s Style section. She is the founding director of the Interdisciplinary Institute for Public Humanities at Hofstra University, where she is also the John Cranford Adams Distinguished Professor of Literature. She is the author of three books, including “Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History,” and is currently writing a book about fashion and politics. Her writing has also appeared in New York Magazine’s “The Cut;” The Washington Post; The Wall St. Journal; The Los Angeles Times; Vanity Fair, and other venues. Ms. Garelick received her PhD and B.A. from Yale University and is a Guggenheim fellow.

https://www.nytimes.com/by/rhonda-garelick

• Catherine A. Peila

Catherine A. Pella is Co-Founder of International Contemporary Dance Conference and Performance Festival in Bytom, Poland (20 years running) and Director of Silesian Dance Theater's international programs 1991-2000 from 2000-present based in the US/NY and continues to work and teach in Poland. She is a cultural producer and on the board of Stonewall Community Development Corporation. She has held positions of executive director in the entertainment industry (music and broadway) and non-profit sector and advises on programs developed with executives and boards for organizations and educational departments. She co-produced with Greece in USA, the sustainable arts project "Mystery 200 Mythological Gardens" at Eleusis Cultural Capital of Europe. The project transformed an empty and desolate space into a fertile place and garden, where the revival of the narrative of ancient Eleusis and ancient Greece was attempted, as well as their interconnection with the recent and modern history of the city.

https://www.stonewallcdc.org/catharine-peila

More at

"Transhumance" by Phoebe Giannisi

The poetic performance Transhumance, is based on the book Chimera (New Directions, 2024, translated by Brian Sneeden). In her third collection in English, Phoebe Giannisi lays out her vision for a chimeric poetics that blends field recordings, state archives, and ancient texts. The center of Chimera engages with a three-year field research project on the goat-herding practices of a community of Vlachs, a people of Northern Greece and the Southern Balkans who speak their own language and practice transhumance. In these poems, day-to-day activities such as shearing and shepherding mix with snippets of conversations, oral tradition, and song—locating a larger story in this ancient marriage between humans and animals. Through her poetry and fieldwork, this mytho-historical connection between metamorphosis and utterance takes form.

About The Artist:

Phoebe Giannisi is a poet, a performer, an architect, and a professor at the University of Thessaly.

Phoebe Giannisi is a poet, a performer, and an architect (NTU Athens), with a PhD on Archaic Greek Poetics (Universite Lyon II- Lumière). Giannisi is a professor at the University of Thessaly School of Architecture. She has been a Humanities Fellow at Columbia University (2016), a Vakalo Scholar at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2022), a Mazza Writer Fellow at San Francisco State University (2023), an invited poet at the Center of Hellenic Studies in Washington (2023). She lives in Volos, Greece
Her award-winning work focuses on the field of ecopoetics, on the polyphony of voices attached to place, and the ethnography of the animated subjects that inhabit it. Bodies, weather, earth, seeds, orality, writing, love, female condition, mythic personas, sound, multiplicity, language, and animal beings constitute the primary subjects for Giannisi’s poetic activity.
Selected group exhibitions include Guggenheim New York (2013), the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark (2011), Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest (2010), the Lyon Biennale (2009). In 2010 she was co-curator for the Greek Pavilion of the 12th International Architecture Exhibition (La Biennale di Venezia) (greek ark). In 2012-13, her poetic video/sound installation, TETTIX, was exhibited at the Museum of National Art (EMST), Athens, and in 2015, she did the installation AIGAI_O: THE SONGS, (together with Iris Lycourioti). In 2016 she performed the lecture/performance Nomos_The Land Song in New York.
Phoebe Giannisi has performed her poetry in more than 50 performances.
Theory books:
Classical Greek Architecture: The invention of the modernity (Flammarion, 2004)
Récits des Voies. Chant et Cheminement en Grèce archaïque (Jérôme Millon, 2006)
Poetry:
ΑΧΙΝΟΙ (Sea Urchins) (1995)
ΡΑΜΑΖΑΝΙ (Ramazan) (1997)
ΘΗΛΙΕΣ (Loops) (2005)
ΟΜΗΡΙΚΑ (Homerica) (Kedros: 2009)
Homerika, translation in German by Dirk Uwe Hansen, (Reinecke und Voss: 2016)
Homerica, translation in Spanish by Vicente Fernández González and Ioanna Nicolaidou, (Vaso Roto: 2023)
ΤΕΤΤΙΞ (Tettix) (Gavrielides: 2012)
ΡΑΨΩΔΙΑ (Rhapsody) (Gutenberg: 2016)
XΙΜΑΙΡΑ (Kastaniotis: 2019)
ΘΕΤΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΗΔΩΝ ((Kastaniotis: 2022)
Web page: phoebegiannisi.net

Reviews of her previous collections in English, all of them translated by Brian Sneeden:

Cicada (New Directions, 2022):

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/books/review/new-poetry-collections.html

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet-books/reviews/157423/cicada

https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780811230230

https://www.gasherpress.com/single-post/what-ll-become-of-us-in-the-end-cicada-by-phoebe-giannisi-translated-by-brian-sneeden

https://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2022/08/25/a-thousand-lives-staff-reads-from-around-the-world-8/and Homerica (World Poetry Books, 2017):

Selected by Anne Carson as a favorite book of 2017 in the Paris Review: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/12/20/contributors-favorite-books-2017/#homerica

https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2018/march/homerica-phoebe-giannisi

http://review31.co.uk/article/view/536/a-radical-reimagining

ABOUT THE OPENING ART INITIATIVE

The Opening Gallery, at 42 Walker in Tribeca, New York, is a nonprofit cultural venue and initiative established in 2022, showcasing global and local artists, practice-based research, as well as performance, live events, and educational programs. Exhibited artists belong to US and International museum permanent collections. Exhibitions include visual and performing arts and music events, with monthly public programs spanning a wide range of topics. The Opening Gallery has presented international and US based artists including Andres Serrano, ORLAN, Sagarika Sundaram, Michele Zalopany, Kenneth Goldsmith, John Zorn, The Shoplifter, Luciano Chessa, Daniel Firman, Hans Weigand, Raúl Cordero, Jessica Mitrani, United Nations artist-observer Yann Toma, Warren Neidich, Coleman Collins, Constance DeJong, Charles Gaines, Jimmie Durham, Leslie Hewitt, Jimmy Raskin, Agnieszka Kurant, Olu Oguibe, Martha Rosler, Allen Ruppersberg, Chrysanne Stathacos, Leah Singer, Ronan Day-Lewis, Orit Ben Shitrit, and Bill Hayward. In spring 2024 the gallery program will present a selection of Watermill Center former artists-in-residence including Eileen O’ Kane Kornreich, Christopher Knowles with Sylvia Netzer, D. Graham Burnett and "The Order of the Third Bird," and Brian Block.

The Gallery has partnered with prominent US institutions like Columbia University, Maison Française NYU, Fulbright, Watermill Center among others and has hosted the New York Arab Festival and events organized by MoMA curators and collaborates with Sorbonne Art Gallery in Paris. The nonprofit cultural venue and initiative supports an heteroclite art ecosystem that attempts to go beyond prevalent gallery models in Tribeca. Proceeds support neurodiversity, charitable causes, and the non-profit Luv Michael, which is committed to enriching the lives of autistic adults. The Opening was founded by Sozita Goudouna, PhD and in 2023 partnered with the London-based publisher Eris to present exhibitions related to publications by Kenneth Goldsmith, Andres Serrano, ORLAN, Lucas Samaras, and Maurice Saatchi among other acclaimed contributors and artists. Our publishing art program has hosted readings of Edward Said's poems by Simon Critchley, Stathis Gourgouris, and Udi Aloni, as well as readings of Gabriele Tinti by Vincent Piazza.

https://theopeninggallery.com

*The performance takes place during the Retrospective exhibition by the French artist ORLAN

Dates: September 25th - October 30th, 2024

The Opening Gallery is pleased to announce ORLAN: A Retrospective, a solo exhibition of works by ORLAN curated by Sozita Goudouna, PhD. Installed across the first floor of 42 Walker St, this monographic survey attempts to provide an in-depth examination of ORLAN’s life, artistic practices, and contributions to contemporary art.

Offering an overview of ORLAN's life, including her education, early influences, and career milestones, the exhibition will explore ORLAN’s conceptual framework, focusing on themes such as identity, the body, and the use of technology in art. ORLAN's fearless exploration of identity and beauty continue to resonate within the art community and inspire ongoing exploration of these vital themes. Through her provocative performances, ORLAN engages audiences in critical discussions about beauty standards, identity, and the role of the artist.

Her works challenge viewers to reflect on their perceptions and biases, fostering a deeper understanding of how societal norms shape individual identities. ORLAN's most notable work involves using her own body as a medium for artistic expression. By undergoing a series of plastic surgeries, she transforms herself into a living artwork, challenging conventional standards of beauty and raising questions about the commodification and objectification of female bodies. This radical approach redefines the relationship between the artist and their work, blurring the lines between art and life. The artist’s entire oeuvre confronts and critiques patriarchal standards of beauty and femininity, advocating for women's autonomy over their bodies and identities. ORLAN's performances often engage with themes of feminism and the role of women in art history, making her a crucial voice in feminist art discourse. Her performances serve as powerful commentaries on the societal pressures women face, positioning her as a significant voice in feminist art history. By confronting and subverting patriarchal norms, she has created a space for dialogue around women's agency in the art world.

ORLAN is regarded as a pivotal figure in art history owing to her revolutionary contributions to performance art. Her performances often incorporate elements of humor and irony, further subverting traditional notions of beauty. By presenting herself in unexpected ways, ORLAN invites audiences to engage with and reflect on their own beliefs about beauty, identity, and the body. This engagement fosters a critical dialogue around the pressures women face regarding appearance and the societal constructs that shape these perceptions. In addition to her physical transformations, ORLAN utilizes digital media and technology to expand her artistic practice. Her works often incorporate video, photography, and interactive elements, reflecting the intersection of art and technology.

Her impact on art history is profound, as she has redefined notions of beauty, challenged societal norms, and inspired new dialogues within the art community. Her innovative approach and commitment to exploring complex themes continue to resonate, making her a vital figure in contemporary art.

About the Artist:

ORLAN is an internationally acclaimed French artist. She is not tied to any one material, technology or artistic practice. She creates sculptures, photographs, performances, videos, and videogames, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and robotics (she has created a robot in her own image that speaks with her voice) using scientific and medical technics like surgery and biogenetic. Those are only mediums for her, the idea prevails and the materiality pursues. ORLAN makes her own body the medium, the raw material, and the visual support of her work. It takes place as the “public debate”. She is a major figure of the body art and of “carnal art” as she used to define it in her 1989 manifesto.

Her commitment and her liberty are an integral part of her work. She defends innovative, interrogative and subversive positions, in her entire artwork. ORLAN changes constantly and radically the datas, which disrupt conventions, and “ready-made thinking”. She is opposed to the natural determinism, social and politic and to all domination forms, male supremacy, religion, cultural segregation and racism, etc. Always mixed with humor, often-on parody or even grotesque, her provocative artworks can shock because she shakes up the pre-established codes.

ORLAN won the E-reputation award, designating the most observed and followed artist on the Web.

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