Date/Time
24/11/2021 - 20/01/2022
00:00

Location
B&M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music

We would like to inform you that the exhibition “The Swimmer” will be temporarily closed

Thank you for your understanding and we apologize for any inconvenience caused

The Swimmer

A solo show by Natasa Efstathiadi

Curated by Maya Tounta

In order to visit the exhibition you must book an appointment 

RSVP: 210 3611206

The opening of the exhibition at the B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation will take place on November 24, 2021, at the balcony of the building from 18:00 to 20:45, and will be followed by a free screening of Frank Perry’s film The Swimmer (1968) at the Foundation’s auditorium at 21:00. 

Α variation on Natasa Efstathiadi’s solo show of the same title, which was presented at CAN Christina Androulidaki Gallery in Athens in 2014, the exhibition borrows its title from Perry’s film and from John Cheever’s 1964 New Yorker short story on which the film is based.

The Swimmer tells the story of a suburban middle-aged stud (played by Burt Lancaster in the film) who one afternoon, while paying a visit at some friends’ garden, decides to swim home across the county, pool by pool. As his friends are lounging, dog-day lethargic, drinking gin, he pictures “the quasi-subterranean stream that curves across the county,” the string of swimming pools that separate him from his home, and without hesitation he sets out to swim across it. His journey across the “Lucinda River” (he dubs the route after his wife) feels liberating and life-affirming in the beginning, but soon is given over to a haunted feeling. Ηis aquatic journey is quickly revealed to be the catalyst of his imminent disintegration. 

Exposed to the elements, laid on the floor on the balcony of the B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation, ten compact pools made of plaster model the succession of swimming pools that appear in the film. Nine of the pools shown here were included in the original The Swimmer 2014 exhibition. The tenth pool, placed to the side of the balcony overlooking the Greek Parliament, is Efstathiadi’s most recent addition to the work, fully rendering the “Lucinda River” into its sculptural echo. The work now seems to address that same confronting question that laces the film’s poster: “When you talk about The Swimmer will you talk about yourself?”

Artist: Natasa Efstathiadi

Curator: Maya Tounta

Artistic Director: Marina Miliou-Theocharakis

Exhibition Production Assistant: Nefeli Siafaka

Copy-editor: EG (Eleanna Papathanasiadi, Geli Mademli)

Duration: November 24, 2021–January 20, 2022

Opening hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10:00-17:00 hrs, Friday 18:00-22:00 hrs

BIOS

Natasa Efstathiadi is a visual artist living and working in Athens. She studied visual arts at the Athens School of Fine Arts, as well as woodworking at the Sivitanidios Technical School in Athens. She has participated in several group exhibitions throughout the past years. In 2014, she presented a solo show at CAN Christina Androulidaki Gallery in Athens. She is a member of the art collective Arbit City Group, a group of five artists and friends interested in matters of public space and the collective unconscious.

Maya Tounta is a curator and currently the director of the non-profit exhibition space Akwa Ibom, which she co-founded in Athens with artist Otobong Nkanga. Drawing inspiration from a broad range of sources, including cinema, literature, interior design, and music, Tounta works across video, photography, sound, and exhibition making to explore exhibitions’ extended lifespans. She is also the Art Director of the e-flux journal.

Photo: The Swimmer by Frank Perry, 1968, Backstage Photo