AGORA 4th Athens Biennale 2013
National Bank of Greece Building (Former Athens Stock Exchange), 8-10 Sofokleous str, Athens
29 September – 1 December 2013
Preview: Saturday 28 September
Soundtrap V: Diluvial is realised in a new context for the 4th Athens Biennale.
At a time when the financial crisis in Greece and elsewhere is reaching a highpoint, the 4th Athens Biennale (AB4) cannot but respond to this bleak situation through a pertinent question: Now what?
“…this year’s Biennale will set out to explore creative alternatives to a state of bankruptcy by setting in motion a collaborative process in producing an exhibition to be realized in an emblematic building, the former Athens Stock Exchange. In AGORA works and theses evoke that which is urgently needed at this particular moment: an unearthing of timely attitudes, a reevaluation of artistic and lifetime strategies, a deconstruction of dominant myths in order to discover new, functional approaches and attitudes.”
Diluvial takes as its starting theme the rising sea levels that preoccupy people living close to water. The piece plays on the dynamics between creation myths, flood geology and the concept of global warming.
Soundtrap V: Diluvial was a collaboration between the artist/musician Bruce Gilbert and visual/sound artists David Crawforth and Naomi Siderfin, aka BAW. The composition manifested in three stages: as performance/installation on the Suffolk coast (May 2011), evolving exhibition at Beaconsfield (September/October 2011) and as a sound release published by the Touch label in CD form (September 2013).
Soundtrap is Beaconsfield’s commissioning series for new sonic works. Initiated in 2006 the series formalizes Beaconsfield’s long history of sonic innovation and supports artists to develop and exhibit new sound-based artworks.
Image: Sofokleous 8-10, @Mariana Bisti
