Trade with Greece
154
Polyglossia
March 15-June 30
Exhibition Hall
“Polyglossia” is a Greek word meaning both (1) the existence, use and knowledge of many languages, and (2) the
expression of multiple views simultaneously or sequentially.
This is the word’s dictionary definition. For their part, social linguists define polyglossia as a condition in which more
than two codes are used for clearly distinct reasons, or in which a community uses more than two languages.
As the title of this exhibition, Polyglossia relates both to artists of Greek descent who were born or live and work
outside Greece, in the US or Europe, and to a desire to cover every means of visual expression (painting, sculp-
ture, installations, environments, videos, multimedia works, photography, drawings) employed by artists of differ-
ent generations.
The title conveys the show’s style, both because the artists are from different countries and thus speak different
languages and bring different cultural conditions, representations and experiences, to the table, and because they
express themselves in different artistic idioms.
The challenge which the exhibition has undertaken is that of shedding light on the convergences and divergences
(in, for instance, the media chosen or how it is used), both between artists of roughly the same generation in rela-
tion to their American or European norms, and between artists of different generations who employ the same
means of expression.
In Polyglossia, the visual arts recall the literary in a reference to the dual focus of the Onassis Cultural Centre.
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