NIKOS ALEXIOU
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11.11.2010 – 29.01.2011

Das Werk des griechischen Künstlers Nikos Alexiou gründet sich auf der manuellen und körperbezogenen Umsetzung mathematischer Konzepte. Fraktale, Strings und weitere, hypothetische physikalische Modelle, die die grundlegenden kosmologischen Gesetze und physikalischen Fundamentalkräfte bestimmen, werden in die Sphäre der alltäglichen, menschlichen Erfahrung übertragen. Mit Papier, Bambus und Computergraphik, die die Hauptmedien des Künstlers zu sein scheinen, werden Objekte einer zyklischen und sich wiederholenden Schönheit erschaffen. Sie verweisen nun haptisch auf diese kosmologischen Konstanten. Die Entdeckung des Künstlers war, dass solche grundlegenden mathematisch-physikalischen Konzepte zugleich als Musterübertragung in wichtigen Hochburgen westlicher Zivilisation zu finden sind. Abbilder des Universums, die als kosmos verstanden werden – was im Altgriechischen Schmuck bedeutet – finden sich in antik griechischen und byzantinischen Bodendekorationen (wie in der Basilika vom Heiligen Markus in Venedig oder im Katholikon des Klosters Iviron auf dem Berg Athos – eine der wichtigsten Werkzyklen des Künstlers, mit dem er den Griechischen Pavillon auf der Biennale von Venedig 2007 bespielt hat). Solche Muster zeugen von der zugrunde legenden und tief in unserer Erfahrung verwurzelten Poesie der Welt. Nikos Alexiou weckt diese oft vergessene oder verdrängte Erfahrung wieder auf. Der Betrachter teilt gern die kaleidoskopische Welt der schönen und mathematischen Komplexität von Nikos Alexiou. Er scheint sich oft an der Stelle des Hauptdarstellers in der bekannten letzten Szene, die so genannte star gaze sequence in Stanley Kubric’s Film "2001: A Space Odyssey" zu befinden, in der ihm die Geheimnise der Welt mit einem Blick offenbart werden. Die Wirkung der Werke von Alexiou ist ebenfalls kaleidoskopartig und labyrinthisch, wie in seinen höchst fragilen Gitterkonstruktionen aus Bambus und feinen, semitransparenten, spitzeartigen Geweben aus Papier. Die Endlosigkeit der Welt (man sollte in diesem Zusammenhang ruhig das Wort „Schöpfung“ benutzen) spiegelt sich in dem zeitaufwendigen, sich wiederholenden und handwerklichen Arbeitsprinzip des Künstlers wider. Nikos Alexious Werk ist ein Versuch, die Welt in einer Art Kartographie voller assoziationsreicher Deutungen zu erfassen. Licht und Raum in der Galerie werden von den endlosen Linien und semitransparenten Ebenen des Werks von Alexiou neu gestaltet.
Dr. Sotirios Bahtsetzis


In his work the Greek artist Nikos Alexiou translates mathematical concepts in manual and bodily terms. He transfers fractals, strings and other, hypothetical models held by physicists to form the basis of fundamental cosmological laws and physical forces to the realm of everyday human experience. Using what are apparently his principal media – paper, bamboo and computer graphics – the artist creates objects of cyclical, repetitive beauty that evoke cosmological constants in tactile terms. Alexiou discovered that basic physico-mathematical concepts inform certain features of many major monuments of Western civilisation. Images of the universe as an ordered whole – which in ancient Greece took the form of ornamental motifs – are found in ancient Greek and Byzantine floor decoration. Examples occur in the basilica of San Marco in Venice and in the catholicon of Ivíron monastery on Mount Athos, which inspired the outstanding cycle of works that the artist displayed in the Greek pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Patterns of this kind testify to the poetry underlying the world and our experience of it. Alexiou reactivates this deep-seated, but frequently forgotten or suppressed aspect of our experience. The viewer engages willingly with the beautiful, mathematical complexity of the artist’s kaleidoscopic world. Often we feel like the main character at the end of Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, who in the well-known Star Gate sequence perceives the secrets of the world at a glance. The effect of Alexiou’s works is as kaleidoscopic and labyrinthine as his fragile bamboo constructions and his delicate, semi- transparent, lace-like paper ‘nets’. His laborious, repetitive, craftsman-like working procedures reflect the endlessness of the world or, to use a word more appropriate in this context, of ‘Creation’. Alexious’s works seek to map the world through a series of richly associative interpretations. Their endless lines and semi-transparent planes re-shape the light and space of the gallery.
Dr. Sotirios Bahtsetzis

Nikos Alexiou ( → Artist Website)
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Biography

1960 geboren in Rethymnon auf Kreta
1982Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Wien
1984School of Fine Arts, Athen
2011gestorben in Athen

Solo Exhibitions

2021"r e v a l u e", II part Nikos Alexiou
2019"A Version" / Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens / cur. Christophoros Marinos, GR
2017"THE END" / Françoise Heitsch, München
2010/11"outline" / Françoise Heitsch, München
2010"The sense of order" / curated by Paolo Emilio Antognoli Viti, Margini arte contemporanea, Massa
"San Marco di Venezia 2010" / Zoumboulaki Gallery, Athen
2007"The End" / curated by Yorgos Tzirtzilakis, Byzantinisches Museum, Thessaloniki
"The End" / Zoumboulaki Gallery, Athen
"The End" / Françoise Heitsch, München
"The End 1995-2007" / 52. Biennale in Venedig, griechischer Pavillon, curated by Y. Tzirzilakis, Venedig
2004Unlimited Contemporary Art, Athen
365 Art Project, Athen
2003Lola Nikolaou Gallery, Thessaloniki
Rebecca Camhi Gallery, Athen
2002Gallery 3, Athen
2001Exervnitis, Athen
2000Alecton, Athen
Lola Nikolaou Gallery, Thessaloniki
1999Gallery 3, Athen
Tzamia Cristalla, Chania, Kreta
Gallery 3, Athen
1998Athens Art Gallery, Athen
1995Athens Art Gallery, Athen
1994Gallery 3, Athen
1992Athens Art Gallery, Athen
1989Gallery 3, Athen
1988ZM, Thessaloniki
1987Gallery 3, Athen
1985Desmos Art Gallery, Athen
1983Innsbrucker Werkstatt, Innsbruck

Group Exhibitions

2021"Portals" / Former Public Tobacco Factory, organized by NEON, Athens, GR
2020"Collectanea. The measure of all things" / The American College of Greece, Athens / cur. Christophoros Marinos, GR
2018"At the Beginning Was the Word. Concepts - Images - Script, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC)" / Curated by Katerina Koskina (EMST Director), Co-curated by Anna Mykoniati (EMST Curator), GR
2017"Antidoron" / Documenta 14 / Fridericianum, Kassel, DE
2009/10"Expanded Ecologies" / curated by Daphne Vitali, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, GR
"Celestial Contrakt" / curated by Christina Mitrentse und Jonas Ranson, Schwartz Gallery, London, EN
2009"Expanded Ecologies" / curated by Daphne Vitali, emst, Athens, GR
2008/09"And now? Visual Arts in Greece" / State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, GR
2008"HEDIYE" / Françoise Heitsch, München
"Games without Frontiers" / curated by T. Stathopoulos, Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, GR
2007"Recreation – Maid in Greece" / curated by T. Stefanidou, Greek Visual Artists, Parallelprogramm zur 1. Biennale of Contemporary Art Thessaloniki, GR
"Disco Coppertone" / curated by Maria Thalia Karas & Sofia Tournikiotis, Locus Athens, OLP Piraeus, GR

"The workshop" / curated by Maria Thalia Karas & Sofia Tournikiotis, Locus Athens, Zoumboulakis Gallery, Athens, GR
2006"Architectural Transparencies" / ILEANA TOUNTA, Athens, GR
"arthistory.com" / KALFAYAN GALLERIES, Athens, GR
"The Scarecrow" / curated by Ο. Danyilopoulou, Institution E. Averof, Metsovo

 "Apolis" / Hellenic- American Union, Athens, GR
"Totems of the City" / curated by T. Moutsopoulos, U-Bahn-Station, Chalandri, GR
22. Winter Festival Sarajevo / curated by C. Petrinou, Hotel Evropa, Sarajevo
23. Biennale of Alexandria / curated by C. Petrinou, Benaki Museum, Athens, GR
"The Scarecrow" / Institution E. Averof, Metsovo, GR
"An Outing" / curated by S. Bahtsetzis, L. Beltsios Collection, Trikala, GR
200523. Biennale of Alexandria / curated by C. Petrinou, Museum of Fine Arts, Alexandria, Ägypten
"A table" / Skoufa Art Gallery, Athens, GR
"Mysteries and Miracles" / Photosynkyria, Museum of Photography, Thessaloniki
"Get some fresh art" / Astrolavos Art Gallery, Athen
"Drawings" / Parnassos Literary Society, Athen
2004365 Project Space / Athen
"Athens by Art" / curated by C. Petrinou, Athen
"ausderferne ausdernähe ausdermitte" / Europäisches Patentamt München & Françoise Heitsch, München
"Light Between" / Municipal Art Centre, Volos & Diana Gallery, Athen
"Breakthrough!" / curated by K. Gregos, Sala Alcala 31, D. Zacharopoulos, S. Papa, Madrid
2003Outlook International Exhibition / curated by Christos Joachimides, Athen
Deste Prize 2003 / Deste Foundation, Athen
"The Pioneers" / curated by D. Zacharopoulos, Beltsios Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki
"Sketching out today, tomorrow and yesterday" / young greek artists, Macedonian
"Outlook" / curated by C. Joachimides, Athen
"Free Transit(!)" / curated by N. Argyropoulou, Zappeio, Athens & Porto Caras, Halkidiki, Griechenland
"Sketching Out Today, Tommorow, Yesterday" / curated by L. Tsikouta, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki
"Outlook, Factory" / School of Fine Arts, Athen
2002"Sketching out Today. Tomorrow and Yesterday" / Averoff Art Gallery, Metsovo, Griechenland
2001Glossalgia Frissiras Museum, Athen
"Art Paris" / Athens Art Gallery, Paris
2000"P + P = D" / curated by Y. Tzirtzilakis, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki
1999"P + P = D" / curated by Y. Tzirtzilakis, Deste Foundation, Athen
1998"Greek Artists – Quests 1950-2000" / curated by M. Marangou, Centre for Contemporary Art, Rethymnon, Kreta
1995"Alexiou-Varotsos-Totsikas-Tsoklis" / Mayia Tsoklis Gallery, Athen, GR
1994International Meeting of Sculpture / Europäisches Kulturzentrum von Delphi, Delphi, GR
1992"Spiral 1/12 Greeks" / Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, ES
1990"Borderline 80-90" / Municipal Art Gallery, Athen, GR

"Itérations" / Fondation Danae, Pouilly, France, FR

"2nd Minos Beach Art Symposium" / Minos Beach, Agios Nicolaos, Kreta, GR
1988"5 Greek Artists - 30 Works" / curated by N. Misirli
, Salle de Conferance de la Communaute Europeenne, Brussels, & Laiterie Centrale, Strasbourg, FR
"Meetings, Highlights, Conflicts" / curated by K.Stavropoulos, Municipal Gallery, Athen, GR
1987"Jeune Sculpture 87/1" / Porte d´Austerlitz, Paris
3. Biennale of Young Mediterranean Artists / Casa de la Caritat, Barcelona
19862. Biennale of Young Mediterranean Artists / TIF, Thessaloniki, GR
19855. Biennale of Sculpture / Skironio Museum Polychronopoulos, Megara, Griechenland, GR
1983UNICEF / Vienna Uno City, Wien, AT