Curator | Dimitris Paleocrassas and Maria Marangou

NEON’s exhibition Flying over the Abyss, previously shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete (02/05/2015 – 14/10/2015) and at the Contemporary Art Centre of Thessaloniki (07/11/2015 – 29/02/2016), opens this autumn at the Athens Conservatoire.

Participating artists, both international and Greek, have been inspired by Ascesis: The Saviors of Gods (Ασκητική), the spiritual exercises written by the renowned Cretan thinker, Nikos Kazantzakis.

We came from an abyss of darkness; we end in an abyss of darkness: the interval of light between one and another we name life.

Nikos Kazantzakis

The exhibition will establish a creative dialogue between the artists’ works and the essay, tracing the journey towards enlightenment from the time of birth until death.  The original manuscript of Ascesis is on display courtesy of The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum.

Artists | Marina Abramović, Alexis Akrithakis, Matthew Barney, Hans Bellmer, Lynda Benglis, John Bock, Louise Bourgeois, Heidi Bucher, Vlassis Caniaris, Paul Chan, Savvas Christodoulides, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Stavros Gasparatos, Gilbert & George, Robert Gober, Asta Gröting, Jenny Holzer, Kostas Ioannidis, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Giorgos Koumendakis, Sherrie Levine, Stathis Logothetis, Ana Mendieta, Maro Michalakakos, Bruce Nauman, Aliki Palaska, Ioanna Pantazopoulou, Doris Salcedo, Kiki Smith, Paul Thek, Costas Tsoclis, Mark Wallinger, Gary Webb.

The basement of the Conservatoire building is re-opening after four decades as a new exhibition venue.  Its transformation and refurbishment have been entirely funded by NEON.

Our warmest thanks to the D.Daskalopoulos Collection and Nikos Kazantzakis Museum for their generous loans to the exhibition.