Medphoto, the inaugural Mediterranean Photography Festival, will be taking place in the Summer of 2016 in Rethymno, on the island of Crete, Greece.
Medphoto extends an invitation to the global photographic community to participate in this dynamic artistic project, designed to be an annual lens-based arts celebration. By bringing together multiple cultural partners across Europe and the Mediterranean region, we hope to foster and sustain a vivid community of artists and to promote meaningful social dialogue.
Crete is located at a crossroads of major geopolitical importance. At the center of the Mediterranean region, the island constitutes a gateway to the three continents of Europe, Africa and Asia. Upholding the status of the periphery, the island of Crete also highlights the meaning of geographical and cultural borders, a focal point of the festival’s sensibility and exploration. In addition, the current refugee crisis has pushed the meaning of identity and dislocation to the forefront. As a reaction to the dire reality of our times, the festival’s theme this year will be “Borders / Crossroads.” MedPhoto will also explore the situation in crisis-stricken Greece, as well as present more symbolic, subjective and existential ideas of boundaries.
Medphoto will host and organise exhibitions, presentations, workshops, publications, open discussions, an international photography prize (in effect for the first time in Greece) and various other events engaging the local community as well as international audiences.
EXHIBITIONS
“Critical Archives I: Ruins”
Museum of Contemporary Art, Rethymno
Duration: 9 June – 30 September
Curators: Maria Maragkou, Pasqua Vorgia, Pavlos Fysakis
ODYSSEIA
Antoine D’Agata
Personal odyssey is the focus of this body of photographic and video works by Antoine D’Agata. The raw French photographer sought out migrants in Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia in order to experience, document and understand the often harsh reality of their journeys. In a desperate quest to reach a better life in Europe, many migrants inhabit deteriorating urban landscapes, endure detention centres and slip past ports and borders undetected, fully aware of the danger and illegality of their situation, and nameless to the world. Includes striking photos and images from videos, statistical data and texts by Bruno Le Dantec and Rafael Garido. When I was on the ground, I constantly questioned the usefulness of my presence. I photographed people dying, to show them to those who let them die.
HOMESICK
Hrair Sarkissian
In “Homesick” (2014) Hrair Sarkissian recreated and destroyed an architecturally exact scaled model of the apartment building in Damascus where his parents are still living. Like many of their generation, they have until now refused to leave Syria. Sarkissian grew up in this building, and lived there until he left Syria in 2008. It represents more than just a house. In addition to providing shelter to his parents, it is the place where he belongs, a container for his memories, and a place for his family’s collective identity.
Through “Homesick” Sarkissian constructs a story that, considering the current political situation and the ongoing destruction in his home country, could very well take place in the near future. What would be the consequences? What is it to expect the worst? Can we fast-forward the present and acknowledge loss and begin reshaping a collapsed history before the event? At the same time, by taking fate into his own hands, he is trying to regain some control over the situation and to tear down an unreal imagination.
ABBANDONI
Davide Monteleone / Francesco Zizola
DEPRESSION ERA
group exhibition
Artists: Zoe Hatziyannaki, Kostas Kapsianis, Dimitris Michalakis, Spyros Staveris, Yiannis Theodoropoulos, Lukas Vasilikos, Pasqua Vorgia
THE ZONE
screening
18ANO photographic team
Old Commercial Bank (Old Town)
Duration: 10 June – 15 July
Curators: Giorgos Moutafis, Pavlos Fysakis
CROSSINGS
group exhibition
Artists
Sokratis Baltagiannis, Alfredo D’Amato, Dimitris Michalakis, Giorgos Moutafis, Myrto Papadopoulou, Alessandro Penso, Giuglio Piscitelli, Jerome Sessini, Aggelos Tzortzinis, Eirini Vourloumis, Achilleas Zavallis
Twin Building inside the Fortezza Castle
Duration: 11 June – 15 July
Curators: Yorgos Prinos, Pavlos Fysakis
ALIEN TERRITORY
group exhibition
Artists
George Awde, Konstantinos Doumpenidis, Antonis Damolis, Petros Efstathiadis, Giorgos Gavrilakis, Olga Gortsa, Yorgos Karailias, Giannis Karpouzis, Marily Konstantinopoulou, Charalampos Kydonakis, Randa Mirza, Marita Pappa, Georges Salameh, Orestis Seferoglou, Kosmas Stathopoulos, Eliza Tamo, Serkan Taycan, Antonis Theodoridis, Marinos Tsagarakis, Nikolas Ventourakis
“Critical Archives II: Testimonies”
Kara Moussa Pasha Mosque
Duration: 11 June – 20 July
Curators: Maria Maragkou, Pavlos Fysakis
STATE / screening
Apostolos Zerdevas
ARAB SPRING / screening
Giorgos Moutafis
NINE DAYS / screening
Issa Touma
SIDE EVENTS
ANTOINE D’AGATA LECTURE / 30 June
in the Cultural Centre of Rethymno (Old Town)
FETART / 10 June
Open exhibition with photographs placed on the walls of central spots of the Old Town on Rethymno
curated by Marion Hislen (Festival Circulations, 10 June)
WORKSHOP FOR KIDS AT EPISKOPI VILLAGE / 9-12 May
with Takis and Apostolos Zerdevas (FOCUS School of Art)
OPEN DISCUSSION and PHOTOGRAPHIC SCREENINGS
with the public and the artists
PORTFOLIO REVIEW and EXHIBITION / 25 July
of the work of the festival’s volunteers in Iliaki Gallery (Old Town)