THE OLD COFFEE SHOP OF THE SARDINE MAN

In this old coffeehouse, tucked away in a village of Northern Greece and abandoned for many years, I hoped to reawaken scents and feelings.  The theme of suspension was inspired by the social imaginary of a village preoccupied with solutions arrived from above and afar: from local stories of stolen harvests or impassable rivers to the living memory of those who evaded the political and economic problems through migration. While the impulse of memory is to roll the eye upwards, the installation of suspended paper figures and other objects was intended to sustain the gaze.  It was an invitation to stay awhile in memories and stories from the past.  Similarly, the portraits of people from the area were hung higher than eye level.  Local landscapes, on the other hand, were placed directly at eye level, absorbing the visitors into a ''legitimate'' artistic space.  To ground visitors in the present, and to convey the weight of personal and collective histories, I incorporated wooden and metallic objects and tools (as if we were present together in a workshop).  Taken as a whole, the installation served as a reminder that “home” and local communities are themselves a source of artistic expression. I emphasized this point by contrasting it with contemporary and well-known urban landscapes.