widmertheodoridis has brought together two Greek visual artists presenting new digital works. During the Athens Pride Week the exhibition will be shown at OTTTO, an artist run and exhibition space in Neapoli Athens – ottto.gr Jordanis Theodoridis and Werner Widmer founded in 2006 widmertheodoridis, Zurich to bundle their activities in the art world which involve gallery exhibitions, art fairs, bespoke art tours and curatorial projects in Switzerland and in Athens.

BLIND DATE PT.2 – John Mitropoulos
The artist presents the paradoxical and unorthodox turn that a blind date can take. He uses simple materials and creates emojis representing a person we only know from a chat. Emojis that change in a second like thoughts and feelings. The agony of the perfect turns into the boredom of the unsatisfied. A disastrous date evolves. John Mitropoulos humorously presents the modern phenomenon of erotic blind dates depicting them with fast beats, erotic greed, unpredicted emotions and no sense of patience. Blind dates in the age of the internet may be for many the comical version of flirtation. The slide show (4 min) will be displayed in a dark box within the exhibition space. John Mitropoulos is a visual artist, photographer and director. Since 2012, he has worked on large advertising campaigns of global standing. His photographs have been published in prominent fashion magazines such as Schön!, Vogue Hellas, Marie Claire and Esquire as well as others in Greece, Europe and the USA. In 2005, he represented Greece as a photographer at the 12th Biennale of New Artists in Naples Italy. His works are included in private and public collections, among them, the Red Bull Collection (awarded in 2003) and the Onassis Foundation Collection.

SAFE FROM HARM – Unseethat – Efthymis Charmalias A safe space is in a way like a safe house. You need it to keep you safe from external hostilities. But, if in order to be safe, you must always stay inside, doesn’t it become a prison? And what about the inner hazards of the person/s staying in? Their psychological state? Safe spaces like safe houses are little spots on a huge surface. Tiny sanctuaries here and there separated by long distances. Trying to get from one place to another can be dangerous. So how useful can a safe space be if after a while you feel like a prisoner? If there is no interaction with people different from you? How can you evolve? How can you create change when you always stay inside the boarders of a “ghetto”? Let’s take a moment and imagine this huge surface as an entire safe space. A country where the President of the Republic can wash her motorcycle in the gardens of the presidential palace wearing her Dykes on Bikes T-shirt. The Prime Minister can celebrate his anniversary with his husband. The head of the church can light a lamp (καντήλι) wearing a dress and the head of the Supreme Court can pose for an interview, talking freely about her transition. How safe must they feel to be able to do all those things? What kind of an example would they set for all citizens? In a country like Greece were LGBTQIA+ people have for many years been marginalised and exposed to different kinds of hazards without any kind of protection from the state. Privileged and high profile individuals that withhold a lot of power could create a safe space outside a safe space and thus empower a whole society. Unseethat – Efthymis Charmalias, is a multimedia artist/art director from Athens, Greece. He is creating queer art, touching on different topics and playing around with boundaries. What do we believe is pornographic? How do we expose ourselves on social media, where are the limits in public digital spaces? How comfortable are we with our own bodies and sexuality? What about group pressure within the LGBTQIA+ community? His works have been shown in many exhibitions and his Instagram stories are touching and provocative.

Exchibition:

• 10,11.06.2022 16:00-20:00
• 12.06.2022 12:00-18:00
• 15,16.06.2022 16:00-20:00