ARTIST PRESENTATION & CONVERSATION
COMMUNE: MARINA XENOFONTOS

PROGRAMME

5.30pm
Artist talk & conversation
UKS, workshop room

On view throughout the event (5–8pm)
I don’t sleep, I dream (2011)
02:01 min
UKS, exhibition space

*

Please join us on Monday 11 December from 5pm for the second iteration of the new event series COMMUNE. For this last event of the year, Athens-based visual artist Marina Xenofontos joins us for an artist talk and conversation at UKS’ premises in Keysers gate 1.

Working in a variety of media, spanning found objects, kinetic sculpture, light installations, digital and analogue avatars, writing and film, Xenofontos examines the material and personal manifestations of ideology and knowledge. Particularly interested in failure and glitches – whether the two-toned plastic chairs created as the production line switches colour, or unforeseen happenings in her own art making – Xenofontos’ practice incorporates methods for recovering the fantastical, imaginary aspects of culture obscured in the recording of history.

At 5.30pm, the artist will give a presentation of her work in the UKS workshop room, before an informal conversation. In addition, Xenofontos’ video work I don’t sleep, I dream (2011) will be on view in the exhibition space during the event (5–8pm). Created as a result of an error that occurred when exporting material from a VHS tape, the work builds on Xenofontos’ fascination with contemporary ruins, consisting of footage from a break-in to an abandoned factory in her hometown overlaid with footage from a group performance involving objects left behind by the previous owner of an artist-run space she once owned. UKS’ Minibar will be up and running, and serving ‘gløgg’ for this special evening as we approach the holidays. All are warmly welcome.

*

Marina Xenofontos (b.1988, Limassol, Cyprus) lives and works in Athens, Greece. Recent solo exhibitions include: Public Domain, Camden Art Centre, London (2023); In Practice, SculptureCenter, New York (2023); failed cache, Hot Wheels Athens (2023); and Safe Spaces, Ermes Ermes, Rome (2022). Her work has been exhibited at Eva Presenhuber Gallery, Zurich; Sweetwater, Berlin; Phenomenon Biennale, Anafi; Scheusal, Berlin, amongst others. Xenofontos is represented by Hot Wheels Athens and was one of the founding members of the collective and artist-run project space Neoterismoi Toumazou.

*Images: Marina Xenofontos, I don’t sleep, I dream (2011), film stills.