Mediterranean Drifts: The Aesthetics and Politics of Contemporary Art in Greece in the Context of the ‘Refugee Crisis’

Anthi Argyriou | University of Amsterdam | | Supervisors: Maria Boletsi & Esther Peeren | 2018-2022

The proposed research project will focus on how artistic practices, exhibitions and cultural institutions have dealt with issues of migration in Greece from 2015 to 2018. In an attempt to respond to images and experiences of the ‘refugee crisis’ and their implications, individual artists, museums and cultural initiatives have renegotiated the concepts of dislocation, hospitality and agency in the framework of globalized (forced) displacement and socio-political upheaval. I will unfold these aesthetic and theoretical shifts by analyzing specific case studies and employing current concepts from cultural analysis, globalization and migration studies. In addition, I will study audiences’ reception of and involvement in the analyzed practices, exhibitions and institutional strategies in order to delineate the social and cultural impact of contemporary art in this context.