https://www.documenta14.de/gr/calendar/22028/weaving-together
http://www.documenta14.de/en/calendar/22028/weaving-together
http://www.documenta14.de/en/calendar/22028/weaving-together
Υ Φ Α Ι Ν Ο Ν Τ Α Σ Μ Α Ζ Ι ΤΟ ΠΛΕΓΜΑ ΤΗΣ ΜΝΗΜΗΣ
W E A V I N G T O G E T H E R THE GRID OF MEMORY
Το "υφαίνοντας μαζί" είναι ένα έργο καλλιτέχνη και κοινού. Αφορά το να βρισκόμαστε μαζί, το να καθόμαστε μαζί, να μιλάμε μαζί, να φτιάχνουμε μαζί, να φέρνουμε τις ζωές μας, τον πολιτισμό μας κοντά, να μοιραζόμαστε λέξεις, τις ιστορίες μας, την ιστορία μας, τον πόνο και τους φόβους μας, τις ελπίδες μας. Πρόκειται για την συντροφικότητα. Πρόκειται για την συνάθροιση. Πρόκειται για την ανθρώπινη κατάσταση.
Πρόκειται για ένα υφαντό το οποίο το άρχισε η καλλιτέχνις Βάσια Α. Βανέζη και προσκάλεσε τον άλλο - τους άλλους σε συνάντηση κάθε Παρασκευή απόγευμα για να το υφάνουν μαζί, έργο στο υπό εξέλιξη κοινωνικό γλυπτό του καλλιτέχνη RICK LOWE, "πρότζεκτ πλατεία Βικτωρίας" στην documenta 14 στην Αθήνα.
Το πλέγμα της μνήμης
Η μνήμη μας είμαστε εμείς.
Η μνήμη είναι ένα πλέγμα από λέξεις, εικόνες, ήχους, μυρωδιές.
Τα αντικείμενα της μνήμης.
Ντύνονται σε λέξεις όταν επιστρέφουν στη συνείδησή μας.
Ηχούν όταν λέγονται, όταν γίνονται γλώσσα, όταν γίνονται ιστορία.
Ένα κάλεσμα, ένας καφές, λέξεις που ανασύρουμε από τη μνήμη,
τις πλέκουμε, τις κάνουμε ιστορία, αφήγημα.
«Είμαι πρόσφυγας.
Το σπίτι που γεννήθηκα είναι στην κατεχόμενη Λευκωσία.
Ήταν πολύ ωραίο το σπίτι μου.
Μπροστά είχε μια τζαμαρία και στην πίσω αυλή μια κληματαριά και μια λεμονιά.
Η τελευταία φορά που το είδα
ήταν στις 20 Ιουλίου 1974.
Την ημέρα της τουρκικής εισβολής.
Έφυγα και δεν ξαναγύρισα ποτέ.
Ήμουν πέντε χρονών.
Οι σειρήνες βούιζαν, οι βόμβες έπεφταν και ο ουρανός ήταν μαύρος.
Δεν πρόλαβα να πάρω μαζί μου τίποτα.
Ούτε την αγαπημένη μου κούκλα.
Φύγαμε με τα ρούχα που φορούσαμε.
Το μόνο που έχω είναι αυτό το φουστανάκι.
Ένας κόκκινος θησαυρός της μνήμης.
Δεν ξεχνώ
Και περιμένω να πάω πίσω.»
Προσωπική αφήγηση-καταγραφή
Β. Α. Βανέζη
Weaving together is a common work. It is about coming together, sitting together, talking together, eating and drinking together, making together, bringing our lives, our cultures together, sharing words together, sharing our stories and history together, confessing our pain and fears, our hopes. It is about companionship. It is about gathering. It is about human condition.
A grid, a woven structure which has been started by Vassia A. Vanezi, who invites others to gather every Friday evening, in order to weave it together.
It is a project in the Victoria Square Project, a social sculpture by the artist Rick Lowe, created upon his invitation to participated in documenta 14. in Athens.
The Grid of Memory
Our memory is us.
Memory is a grid of words, images, sounds, smells.
The objects of memory.
They are dressed in words when they return to our consciousness.
They sound when they are being spoken, when they become languages, when they turn into a story.
A call, a coffee, words that we recall from memory,
we knit them, we make them a story, a narrative.
“I’m a refugee.
The house I was born in is occupied Nicosia.
It was very nice my home.
In the front there was a window and a bower and a lemon tree in the backyard.
The last time I saw
it was on July 20, 1974.
On the day of the Turkish invasion.
I left and I never went back.
I was five years old.
The sirens were blowing, the bombs were falling and the sky was black.
I did not have the chance to take anything with me.
Not even my favorite doll.
We left with nothing but the clothes we wore.
All I have is that little dress.
A red treasure of memory.
I do not forget
And I expect to go back.”
Personal narration, recording,
V. A.VANEZI
2017 ABOG Fellow Rick Lowe
Victoria Square Project: Athens, Greece Field Research Report
Jan Cohen-Cruz
May 2018
«Vascia A. Vanezi is an artist who found VSP through Documenta. She has a nearby studio, has taught teenagers in the area, and has family ties here: her mom lives here and her son was raised here. She came to meet with Maria about a project she began four years ago. Walking her dog in the park, she began collecting objects, images, and sounds. She doesn’t photograph people but rather what they leave behind. She draws on Hannah Arendt’s book The Human Condition to divide life into three tasks: 1) we have to eat and breath and have sex, as animals; 2) we have to work to have our own identity; 3) we have to work together as community. The connection she saw to VSP is that the refugees became homeless, and are in a bare situation.
Rick told the story of a young refugee who said it has resulted in her “seeing myself small in my own eyes”— she’s only fifteen, but she can see her world shrinking in size. She doesn’t know the value of where she came from, having left under duress and maybe shame. He explained that the work they present at VSP in some way connects people from the area. Maria explained this is not a space of exhibition but more a laboratory for engagement with community. The question was how would Vanezi’s work benefit and engage that population? Rick mused that it would be good for people to learn how she collects these things; to engage them. How can they turn their dog walks into collecting? Could she connect with them as a collection team? So they grow in their understanding of this method. If it’s just an exhibition, they won’t invest themselves. But if they participate in doing it, they will be engaged and proud. The conversation eventually led to a “weaving workshop” that Vanezi facilitated later that month.»
https://www.abladeofgrass.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Lowe_formatted_FINAL.pdf
