With Olga Migliaressi-Phoca and Inga Meldere, moderated by Denis Maksimov-Gupta
September 27, 19.00 – 21.30
From ancient Mycenaeans to contemporary Athenians, decoration and writing on the walls have been ubiquitous. Murals, inscriptions, paintings, mosaics, graffiti – as well as interpersonal messaging – the medium of inscribing in the public space is vast. By exploring the practices of two visual artists from distant geographies, we will look into engagement with the city’s public space in contemporaneity. In the conversation, we will focus on artists’ engagement with historical and cultural values through ideographs, symbols and signs from the ancient Mediterranean cultural heritage.
Inga Meldere is a Helsinki-based visual artist. She studied at the University of Latvia and the Art Academy of Latvia. Between 2013 and 2014, Meldere was a researcher at Jan Van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. She graduated from the Painting MA programme at the University of the Arts in Helsinki in 2021. Trained as a restorer, she is particularly interested in colour and pigment. Her work is often inspired by the motives from mural painting originating in the ancient Mediterranean. She describes her work as being about art practices and painting methods. Interested in what she calls “the mood of a painting”, Meldere narrates these fragments into her works with care and precision, following their lead until they reach a focus. Inga spent a week at the Finnish Institute in Athens researching murals and pigments from the ancient Greek world in the city’s archaeological museums.
Athens-based visual artist Olga Migliaressi-Phoca was awarded her MFA in Photography & Related Media at Parsons, The New School for Design in New York, in 2009. Before that, she completed her Foundation Studies in Art & Design at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design and obtained her BFA in Fashion Photography at the London College of Fashion. Her multimedia work actively engages with the public space. As a part of her practice, she collects inscriptions on the walls of buildings for collages and other multimedia work. She also employs irony in addressing the omnipresence of neon signs, advertisements and another branding. She has exhibited her work in solo and group shows in art spaces and museums in Greece and abroad.
The event will also be available through Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85409780491?pwd=dFRHaXlIRldrT3N2MDZYbk92Ymw0UT09