The second solo show “This is the Place, Gentlemen!” by Katerina Stefanidaki.
At her first solo show, entitled “Patission 179”, in 2008, Stefanidaki presented two panoramic drawing-installations focusing on her atelier’s private space, but also on the view to the public space. The placement of the observer within the aforementioned works created a seemingly stable, transfixed point of view which oversaw the interior as well as the exterior of the building.
At her drawing-installation “This is the Place, Gentlemen!” of 340 cm x 1470 cm x 420 cm dimensions, Stefanidaki while remaining at the same point of view, uses the same technique and methodology. She places in a successive way different size papers on a portable, folding, wooden construction, composing anew an inverted space. The papers, placed on the ground, reveal the procedure itself, that is, the attack, the act of undoing and the fitting of images, while the layers of paper give the impression of a city on the verge of ruin.
Different angles, smoke, ruins and backfillings act as obstacles to the eyesight. They prevent the visitor to recognize a familiar urban image while the world around him/her seems to collapse. Not being obvious whether the collapse results from a war or a natural disaster and avoiding specifying a determined geographical point of reference, the work focuses once more on the spectator. His presence completes the condition of the installation, detaining him to the focus of the events.
*Verse from the poem “Stratis Thalassinos on the Dead Sea”, Logbook II, by George Seferis.
