NIKOS KAVVADIAS 2006 – 30 years since his death

In 2006 to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of Nikos Kavvadias EKEBI organised an exhibition with rare portraits from the collection of the poet’s family and works by modern artists from the Athens School of Fine Arts along with a literary event and a concert of his poetry set to music.

Exhibition:
Fata Morgana, artistic perspectives on the poetry of Nikos Kavvadias, young artists and graduates from the Athens School of Fine Arts 6th Painting Workshop under the guidance of Prof. Giannis Psychopedis re-interpreted the poetry of Nikos Kavvadias and, inspired by it, brought poetry and art into a daring juxtaposition to highlight the interest one of Greece’s greatest 20th century poets has for young and mature artists. Certain well-known poems by Kavvadias such as “Marabou”, “Mist”, “Traverso” and “Watch” were the poetic raw material for the young painters who created modern, innovative and experimental works in various media such as painting, video, installations, mixed media, and 3D. The exhibition entitled ‘Fata Morgana, artistic perspectives on the poetry of Nikos Kavvadias’ was organised by the National Book Centre and the Athens School of Fine Arts 6th Painting Workshop in collaboration with the Benaki Museum and was hosted at the Museum’s Pireos St. building from 24 January to 5 February 2006. The exhibition also features old rare portraits of Kavvadias and archival materials from the collection of the poet’s family.

Round Table Discussion: 
‘The Sea is the pretext’. The exhibition was accompanied by a discussion on 24 January at the Benaki Museum Amphitheatre on Pireos St. entitled The Sea is the Pretext, on the dialogue between poetry and art. The round table was attended by Giannis Kontos, poet, Panagiotis Poulos, Asst. Professor of Aesthetics at the Athens School of Fine Arts, Dimitris Frangos, painter – Adj. Professor of visual arts, Dept. of Architecture / Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Giannis Psychopedis, painter – Professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts. The meeting was coordinated by Dimitris Nollas, author and EKEBI chairman. The event was concluded with an appearance by Mariza Koch, singer, who gave a sensitive rendition of the poems of Kavvadias set to music, including the well-known and much-loved poem Fata Morgana, which has been a reference point for other fields of art too.

Publications:
EKEBI published an exhibition catalogue entitled Fata Morgana, artistic perspectives on the poetry of Nikos Kavvadias featuring all works which were presented. The book includes works by:
Michalis Adami, Dimitris Andreadis, Sylvia Antoulinaki, Effie Asteri, Erifyli Veneri, Christos Giannakopoulos, Nikos Doulos, Vangelis Theodoridis, Anna Karatza, Sofia Kyriakou, Nikos Lagos, Sofia Bebeza, Katerina Botsari, Alexandra Nasioula, Konstantinos Patsios, Antonia Pafiliari, Nikos Sepetzioglou, Litsa Sepyrgioti, Evangelia Spiliopoulou, Panagiota Staikou, Myrto Stamboulou, Leda Tentoma, Iris  Touliatou and Kostas Christopoulos.