March 2008
Land of Human Rights poster project
In June 2007, Anton Lederer, co-director of the Association for Contemporary Art, based in Graz, Austria, paid a visit to ITYS to discuss possible collaborations and asked Athens based artists Jennifer Nelson and Alexandros Georgiou to design a poster for the second campaign of the Land of Human Rights project.
On 12 January, the artists together with ITYS organized an African Night in Africana, down town cafe, located at Niovis 6, Agios Nikolaos.
‘Land of Human Rights’ ARTISTIC ANALYSES AND VISIONS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN EUROPE co-organized by art institutions from six countries: < rotor > association for contemporary art, Galerija ŠKUC, Ljubljana, g-mk | galerija miroslav kraljević, Zagreb, Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Budapest, Faculty of Art and Design – JEPU, Ústí nad Labem, riesa efau / Motorenhalle, Dresden.
A group of people of varying nationalities attempt an evening of exchange. It is difficult to begin, given there has been no history of this in Athens. Given there is no climate for exchange. We gather at the Africana Pub in Athens to dance and drink together. Greeks, other Europeans, and Africans living in Athens from Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria meet awkwardly. We don’t know how to begin. Some speak English, others French, and some Greek. Naturally none of the Europeans know an African tongue. We gather in pockets- little groups of white or little groups of black. And only with the music, and good will, we slowly, shyly find moments to dance together. We don’t know the social codes. We’re not sure what one signal means to the other. All the issues of courtship, sexuality, and friendship- are they the same? We don’t want to give the wrong signals. But somehow the evening progresses. We all smile. We all try. And somehow, anyway, despite the artifical nature of the evening, we have fun. We are glad we came. And in one tiny step, a tenuous step- forged with effort and love- we have a beginning. We have set a precedent. This was our first attempt.
Text: Jennifer Nelson