ARTinTRA | fournos

FOURNOS, meaning bakery in Greek, is an art project by Vasiliki Sifostratoudaki and Maria Tzanakou consisting of a visual platform and spatial intervention that will take place at a traditional bakery in Gythio, Lakonia, Greece, from the 1^st to the 4^th August 2016. The bakery will maintain its normal working hours (7am-3pm) throughout the project.

FOURNOS’ principal aim is to open up a transformative, site-specific community dialogue between the bakery’s everyday customers and the artists. The bakery, located in Gythio’s central marketplace, has been active since 1890. Throughout this time, it has created a strong relationship with the local community. During German occupation in World War II, it was requisitioned by the occupying forces to produce bread. Unlike contemporary Greek bakeries, which function exclusively as places of distribution, the traditional bakery is characterized both as workshop and commercial shop. Bringing together notions of production, consumption and trade, FOURNOS will explore how the workings of the bakery and bread relate to the artist’s studio, artistic practice, the work of art and their impact in the construction of culture. Being a basic food product with great nutritional value, bread has always been part of a traditional diet for many civilizations, especially in poor communities. Its social and emotional character plays an essential role both in religious rituals and secular culture.

FOURNOS’ approach is one of participatory process. The visual platform will integrate with the local market to mold and ferment with the local community, suggesting a place of memory, tradition, everyday reference and a meeting point. In the spirit of opening the producer’s workshop doors to the public, there will be no exhibition private view or closing events. The works of the guest artists and researchers, ranging from sculpture, painting, video and sound art to lectures, interventions and tours, will not all be exhibited or presented simultaneously. Rather, they will develop and be presented gradually over the period of four days.

ARTinTRA is a project supporter, while Vassiliki Tzanakou, its director, was invited to contribute to FOURNOS as a guest researcher. Vassiliki is conducting ongoing research on the history of the bakery and its impact on the local society. She would like to especially thank Dr. Drogkaris and the Spanidis family for their contribution to her research. The findings will be exhibited as an in situ installation.

45 Vassileos Georgiou str., Githio, Lakonia, Gr.
Duration: August 01-04, 2016
Operating Hours: 07:00-15:00
Free Entrance
fournosplatform.wix.com/fournos

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