Opening tonight, 17 May at 7.30 at State of Concept in Athens
“I’ll open the door straight, dead straight into the fire”
A group show curated by WHW / What, How and for Whom with some amazing work looking at the figure of the partisan woman – includes my rarely shown video ‘Oaths and Partisan Songs from Memory’ from 2002.
With
Marwa Arsanios, Lela Čermak, Dora Economou, Vlatka Horvat, Yota Ioannidou, Sanja Iveković, Adela Jušić, Gülsün Karamustafa, Rajkamal Kahlon, Theo Prodromidis, Marta Popivoda and Ana Vujanović, Mujeres Públicas, Želimir Žilnik
State of Concept, Mpotsari Tousa 19, Athina 117 41, Greece
From the press release:
The exhibition “I’ll open the door straight, dead straight into the fire” curated by collective What, How and for Whom / WHW starts from the figure of women partisans in intertwined histories of Yugoslav and Greek anti-fascist struggle and postwar constellation of Cold War. It situates these histories in relation to various liberation and anti-colonial struggles, and a contemporary line of feminist demands for total social alternative. The brave and uncompromising quote in its title is taken from a poem “May 25th” (1978) by poet, actress and militant anarchist Katerina Gogou (1940–93).
The exhibition presents episodes and cases of documentary research along diverse artistic works that look at contributions of women in building an egalitarian and just world system, often lost in dominant heroic narratives of anti-fascist struggles and leftist rhetoric. I’ll open the door straight, dead straight into the fire asks who are the partisan women of today and tries to join various voices and approaches opposing the current conditions of re-traditionalization, enforcement of patriarchy and devastating reproduction of capitalist growth.