FLAG XI-PEACE by Christina Mitrentse

The Greek artist Christina Mitrentse has especially created and presents at the Town Hall of Thessaloniki a large-scale artwork FLAG XI - PEACE as well as a selection of Book Sculptures, as part of the ‘Cultural walk’ organized by Deputy Major of Culture tourism and education of Municipality of Thessaloniki, as part of the International Book Fair on 5th-8th May 2011. The FLAG is a cultural statement on the current, global social issues and it consists of 18 double sided screen prints, as part of Mitrentse’s ongoing book Art series entitled "Flags / Emblems" and the project "Building My Library".

The works are made by uncovering, defacing and destructing books from the artists’ own collection. A montage of reproduction of radical philosophy, popular novels, science and art books that have formed Mitrentse’s artistic identity the last 15 years. Demystified as "significant objects" and ‘media spaces’ these non-readable books can now be organised as emanations of social experiences. Dialecting with important historical European book art practices, Mitrentse’s inventive projects allude to an educational institution or a meta- Library that explores notions of book destruction and the changes in the relationship between the social purpose and cultural significance of ‘the Book’ as a powerful container for shaping knowledge and subjectivities. Her works critically question the fragility of distributing knowledge in the current Educational and socio-political persecution as this is widely experienced within the global crisis.

Who manages and has access to the repositories of knowledge and information in our society? What is the value of the traditional book nowadays? What does materiality mean in a digital era? The FLAG/PEACE is calling the viewers to re-interpret their own ‘believe system’, while allows them to explore new possibilities by visualizing their bibliographic experiences.

Christina Mitrentse is an established, interdisciplinary Greek- born artist and art educator based in London. She is widely known in UK for her provocative project ‘The Secret School’ 2005 as well as a number of significant book art contributions amongst contemporary international Art. Her works have been acquired by prestigious private and public collections in Europe and USA including Greenwich Heritage Museum, Woman’s Library Goldsmiths College, Sill Library Bath University, Tate Archive, Zabludowicz Collection, HET WILDE WETEN, Amsterdam, Griechische Kultustiftung Berlin, American Book Centre, M. Altenman N.Y, L. Beltios and Nikos Alexiou Collection Athens, E.Venizelos Airport Athens. With an A. Recent Awards include: WILDBOOKFAIR, Rotterdam’11, Salon Art Prize 2010, Matt Roberts Foundation London, Hackney Wood Award-The Residence gallery London ‘10. Overlay street Gallery-CIDA London.

More information can be found on the www.christinamitrentse.com and Lola Nikolaou gallery Thessaloniki

The exhibition is Curated by Despina Gerasimidou