Center for the Critical Appreciation of Antiquity

foam and canvas blocks, dimensions variable | Donated to the YermilovCentre collection / 2022

Andreas Angelidakis lives in Athens, a place literally filled with ancient Greek ruins. These ruins are involved in the political economy of nostalgia. At the same time, they can be understood in terms of post-traumatic ingrowth. How can we re-think ruins by suspending processes of alienation and tourist commodification?

In his installation the Center for the Critical Appreciation of Antiquity, the artist proposes queering architecture. By reconstructing the existing ruins of the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, he proposes to reflect on architecture as a place of social interaction, turning the marble ruins into pieces of soft furniture that visitors can interact with, change and rearrange, and occupy space. In this way, Andreas Angelidakis erases the hierarchy between the person who builds a space and the person who lives in it.

In addition, the installation is a ruin of columns. During emergencies like earthquakes or bomb raids, it is often advised to stay near columns. This practice dates back to the Middle Ages when columns were believed to have apotropaic powers to ward off evil. Historically, towns were constructed around ancient columns to benefit from their protective qualities.

On the one hand, this work shows the fragile nature of safety. The transformation of hard marble into soft furniture refers to the famous phrase that all that is solid melts into air. On the other hand, the artist's gesture to place and present this artwork to YermilovCenter means creating an infrastructure of care. After all, if the space turns into a shelter, these soft elements of the ruins can be used by those taking shelter from shelling and bombing.

This installation highlights tactics for reframing traumatic experiences and converting them into collective efforts of political care to ensure and maintain safety.