Benaki Museum, Athens – Navigating in the Dark, Part One

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Navigating in the Dark – part one

25 January – 26 March 2011

Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece

Navigating in the Dark is an exhibition in three chapters by London-based artist Kalliopi Lemos which was presented in Athens, Crete and London in 2011. The exhibition builds on the themes of journeys and the passage through life that recur in Lemos’ work. Drawing on sources both autobiographical and global, the artist plays the role of both listener and storyteller.

Part I explores the relationship between the collective and the individual. In the midst of a densely populated, aggressively urban area, the space is transformed into one of introspection with four large-scale steel sculptures surrounding a hexagonal structure that symbolises the bee hive. The hexagonal structure is filled with water and contains twelve heads made of steel.

‘Steel and water co-exist: one is a material of the earth, solid and dense, while the other has a transitory quality. The steel sculptures emphasise the energy and the activity of the inside coming out and opening/having a glimpse of the space within. The hexagonal ‘hive’ structure, which could be a place of initiation with the heads semi-submerged in water, evokes the act of dealing with darkness, ‘pulling out’ ideas, feelings, thoughts, shapes, signs that can help and guide your journey.’