Just getting caught up on some blogs I lost track of the last couple of months. Regine at We Make Money Not Art has a great writeup of an amazing-sounding show in Athens at the DESTE Foundation titled, “A Guest + A Host = A Ghost,” which is a witty play on words taken from a 1953 Marcel Duchamp piece. Here’s what the DESTE Foundation is:
Each year, a show at DESTE focuses on the collection of Dakis Joannou, the industrialist who established the foundation in 1983. New acquisitions are standing side by side with older pieces, making emerge new meanings and relationships between the artworks.
What makes the show so interesting is that it was curated by artists whose works are in the collection. DESTE’s curatorial adviser is the artistic director of the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Massimiliano Gioni, and he put the show together with Maurizio Cattelan, Urs Fischer, and Cecilia Alemani.
Up top is an Urs Fischer hole in the floor surrounded by Kara Walkers. Below is a Cattelan hole in the floor with a little Maurizio peering out at Paul Chan’s portraits of the US Supreme Court.
Reg has tons more photos and information. Jouannou’s collection sounds amazing, and to see it through artists’ eyes? Wow, where could you ever have something so cool, but in Greece? Unfortunately, we’ll never get to see a show this cool, because “A Guest + A Host = A Ghost” closed Dec. 31. Oh well, an art lover can dream! Thanks, Reg, for sharing such a rare and innovative artistic treasure!