11.10 | 19.11. 2016
Yeni Jami, Thessaloniki
Gini coefficient
Curated by Yannis Bolis, art historian, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki
Gini coefficient, Catalogue, 2016
Texts :
Apostolis Artinos
Yiannis Bolis
Thouli Misirloglou
The Gini Coefficient
The Gini coefficient, title of the new exhibition by Lydia Dambassina at the Geni Mosque (Yeni Jami), is a statistical measurement of revenue and the distribution of wealth. Is a number between 0 and 1, where 0 indicates the perfect equality and 1 indicates the perfect inequality.
During her last nine years of work, Lydia Dambassina focuses on the global economic and moral crisis and the inequalities that unfold impetuously, as well as on her innermost correspondence.
The recent works that she exhibits at the Geni Mosque (Yeni Jami) compose, jointly, a uniform installation.
Her work «The Omphalos», in the middle of the Ottoman monument is the nucleus of the installation. It expresses a somber and cynical ascertainment. Τhe embalmed head of a massive deer, over which there is a sheet of paper hanging, with the phrase: “The world’s 62 richest people have as much as half of the world’s population – that is 3.5 billion people”.
The series with the scales, is developed in the area creating a labyrinth. Dambassina proceeds to «weigh» her personal experiences and truths, her memories and descent, to refer to the current situation in an epoque where numbers, measures, sizes, tables of statistics and analyses are omnipotent .
Her photographs, portray versions of the same area, positioned in the part of the mosque, which was intended for women, in distinct separation from men who occupied the whole of the central part.
In direct connection and in a dialogue with the photographs, the installation of doors with black windowpanes is deployed, in order resembling an impassable wall. They function as «cartographies» of the limits between a woman’s and a man’s position, and as a signal to the impetuously expanding refugee issue.
The component that determines the works of the exhibition is duality: an «establishing», primordial and fundamental world-viewing concept that contains antithesis, co-existence, equilibrium. With a non-negotiable viewpoint and timely deliberation, avoiding description and recounting in her work and at the same time maintaining a moral stand, Lydia Dambassina acknowledges her vital liaison with world, she detects incomplete endeavors at personal and collective levels.
On the opening night, Joachim Latarjet, a musician, multiple instrument player – trombone, guitar, bass – performed
some of his compositions to accompany and talk with the works of Lydia Dambassina.
Gini coefficient, 2016, installation view
Untitled, detail, 2015, scale, glass globe, one euro, one drachma of the dictatorship
Gini coefficient, 2016, installation view
Gini coefficient, 2016, installation view
Omphalos, 2015, installation view, stuffed deer 82 x 151 x 91 cm, metal rod, written paper, variable dimensions
Ο ΟΜΦΑΛΟΣ, ΤΟ ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΤΗΣ ΓΗΣ ΤΟΝ 21ο ΑΙΩΝΑ
Τα 62 πλουσιότερα άτομα κατέχουν τον ίδιο πλούτο με το ήμισυ της ανθρωπότητας –
ήτοι 3.5 δισεκατομμύρια άτομα
OMPHALOS, THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH ΙΝ ΤΗΕ 21st CENTURY
The world’s 62 richest people have as much as half of the world’s population –
that is 3.5 billion people
L’OMPHALOS, LE CENTRE DE LA TERRE AU 21e SIÈCLE
Les 62 personnes les plus riches possèdent autant que la moitié de la population mondiale – soit 3.5 milliards de personnes
OMFALOS, DAS ZENTRUM DER ERDE in der XXI Jahrhunderts
Die 62 reichsten Menschen der Welt besitzen so viel wie die Hälfte der Weltbevölkerung:
3,5 Milliarden Menschen
Пуп земли ХХI века
62 богатейших людей мира обладают богатством равным совокупному богатству половины остального человечества – то есть 3,5 миллиардов людей
ÓNFALOS: EL CENTRO DE LA TIERRA EN EL SIGLO XXI
Las 62 personas más ricas del mundo poseen tanto como la mitad de la población mundial: 3500 millones de personas.
OMFALOS, IL CENTRO DELLA TERRA NEL SECOLO XXI
Le 62 persone più ricche del mondo possedono tanto quanto la metà della popolazione mondiale : 3,5 miliardi di persone
翁法罗斯：二十一世纪的世界之脐
世界上最富有的62人拥有着等同于世界一半人口的财富总和－即35亿人口
翁法羅斯：二十一世紀的世界之臍
世界上最富有的62人擁有著等同於世界一半人口的財富總和－即35億人口
Installation view, The golden egg chicken, 2015, iron, black pigments, stuffed chicken, broken egg, gold leaf, 180 x 180 cm
The golden egg chicken, detail, 2015
Untitled, 2015, scale (76,5 x 50,5 x 21,3 cm), gold thread, needle, paved, variable dimensions
Gini coefficient, 2016, installation view
Gini coefficient, 2016, installation view
Untitled, 2016, scale for babies, skull of goat, human ear mold, 36 x 57 x 49 cm
Untitled, 2016, scale, 243 cartes de visite, plaster, 21,5 x 15,5 x 6,5 cm
Spider (Αράχνη), Hommage to my father, 2016, scale, stuffed spider, red pigments, 23,5 x 20 x 15,4 cm
Untitled, 2016, scale, sea sand, terrestrial globe that rotates with solar energy, 27 x 47,5 x 18 cm
Black and white, 2015, scale, 2 ostrich eggs, 30,5 x 40,5 x 15 cm
Untitled, 2016, scale, bread, salt, 24,8 x 49,5 x 20 cm
Gini coefficient, 2016, installation view
Untitled, 2015, scale, glass globe, one euro, one drachma of the dictatorship, 25 x 31 x 15,3 cm
Untitled, 2015, scale, red pigments, my home’s keys, 23 x 31 x 15,3 cm
Which came first, the chicken or the egg ?, 2013, scale, stuffen chicken, egg, 49 x 40,5 x 22,5 cm
Untitled, 2015, scale, fishing line, hook, 36 x 46 x 24 cm
Untitled, 2015, scale, graphite, 85 blades, bred, fabric, 85 needles, 35 x 70 x 27,8 cm
Untitled, 2016, scale, porcelain head, 20,5 x 9 x 11 cm
Untitled, 2016, scale, my daughter’s hair, ½ glass globe, wishbone, 14 x 31,9 x 12,8 cm
Untitled, 2015, two horns, 45,5 x 49 x 24,6 cm
Nathalie II, c-print, 2016, 250 x 237 cm, installation view
Two screens video projection, installation view
2100 mots d’amour, still, 2013, video, 17 min.16 sec.
2500 mots d’amour, still, 2015, video HD, 18 min. 52 sec.
Gini coefficient, 2016, installation view, untitled, c-print, 2006, 204,4 x 237 cm
Gini coefficient, 2016, installation view, untitled, c-print, 2006, 204,4 x 237 cm
Gini coefficient, 2016, installation view, untitled, c-print, 2006, 204,4 x 237 cm
Untitled, detail, 2015, scale, graphite, 85 blades, bred, fabric, 85 needles, 35 x 70 x 27,8 cm