OPENING OF «WHY CINEMA NOW?» EXHIBITION BY THE STUDENTS OF THE ATHENS, THESSALONIKI AND FLORINA SCHOOLS OF FINE ARTS
The role of cinema and artists in modern society is the question answered by the students of the Athens, Thessaloniki and Florina Schools of Fine Arts, using a wide variety of expressive means that are primarily guided by feeling, in the «Why Cinema Now?» exhibition, which opened on Sunday, November 15 at the packed Thessaloniki Cultural Centre of the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, in the framework of TIFF. Present at the opening were Mr. Giannis Chrisafis, member of TIFF’s board, the Director of the National Bank Cultural Foundation Giorgos Kordomenidis and the President of the School of Visual and Applied Arts Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Kiriakos Katzourakis.
Anger, tenderness, humor, pain, irony, lyricism and an intensity of composition and color are combined in an associative, explicit but also metaphorical artistic approach through the eyes of young people, who express their worries and thoughts by means of painting, sculpture, gravures, videos and constructions. The exhibition’s curator Marion Inglessi spoke of the hopeful message conveyed by the exhibition: «We grow up in a country that considers young people as ‘kids’, in a country where the young are not being heard, whereas the opposite should have been the case. This exhibition emits the confidence that there is still hope that older people will finally listen to what the younger generations have to say». Mr Chrisafis, speaking on behalf of TIFF’s president Georges Corraface and TIFF’s director Despina Mouzaki, underlined that ‘’Why Cinema Now?’, TIFF’s motto for 2009, is not limited to the world of cinema. The students give answers with their inspiration. Their work is characterized by their anxieties, their passion, their sense of humor, their anger. Their work satisfies not only our senses, but operates as a stimulus for further thought and reflection».
Mr. Katzourakis underlined that the focal point of the exhibition is the relationship between painting and cinema: «Comparing the two arts, the cinema, despite being a popular art, is an ‘expensive sport’, contrary to painting. This is the reason why this exhibition gives us the opportunity to watch how young painters dare do things that filmmakers are financially unable to attempt». Mr. Kordomenidis noted: «We are happy to begin our collaboration with TIFF with such an interesting exhibition, which hopefully will attract the interest of the people of Thessaloniki».
The «Why Cinema Now?» exhibition will be open until November 20th. The works of participating artists are shown as giant posters at bus-stops in both Thessaloniki and Athens.
