Center for the Critical Appreciation of Antiquity (2022) is a site-specific installation by the artist Andreas Angelidakis at Espace Niemeyer in Paris. For his first solo exhibition in Paris, Andreas Angelidakis has transformed the interior of the iconic dome of the building by famous architect Oscar Niemeyer. The artwork has been commissioned by Audemars Piguet Contemporary and runs until 30 October 2022. It’s Angelidakis’ largest and most ambitious artwork to date.
Center for the Critical Appreciation of Antiquity (2022) is an immersive installation, imagined as both an excavation site and a study centre on antiquity and on the modern city. The work is intentionally situated in dialogue with the modern architecture of Espace Niemeyer, among the most lauded designs in Europe by posthumous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.
Andreas Angelidakis was born in 1969, he lives and works in Athens, Greece. Angelidakis is classically trained as an architect, though refers to himself as “an architect who doesn’t build”.
Andreas Angelidakis: Center for the Critical Appreciation of Antiquity (2022). Audemars Piguet Contemporary at Espace Niemeyer, Paris (France). Paris, October 20, 2022.
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Exhibition text (excerpt):
Center for the Critical Appreciation of Antiquity (2022) is Angelidakis’ largest and most ambitious artwork to date and first artwork commissioned by Audemars Piguet Contemporary to premiere in Paris, coinciding with the programme’s 10th anniversary year.
Based in Athens, Angelidakis is classically trained as an architect, though refers to himself as “an architect who doesn’t build.” In the early 2000s, Angelidakis moved away from designing physical buildings and started to create and engage with 3D virtual architectural spaces. His practice examines the idea of ruin—of both ancient and contemporary societies. He views architecture as a site of social interaction, creating works that reflect on the sociology and history of modernism in architecture, urban culture and digital media.
Center for the Critical Appreciation of Antiquity (2022) is an immersive installation, imagined as both an excavation site and a study centre on antiquity and on the modern city. The work is intentionally situated in dialogue with the modern architecture of Espace Niemeyer, among the most lauded designs in Europe by posthumous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.
The commission will create an immersive environment for visitors and draws on Angelidakis’ extensive research into the history of the Greek Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens. The structure mirrors the current remains of the Temple: a monumental column surrounded by ruins. Yet the artist adapts the aesthetic by using everyday materials. The column is made of printed fabric hung on scaffolding and beside it is a modern-day shipping container made of wood and printed fabrics, filled with 3D-printed sculptures, revealing an exhibition within an exhibition and referencing souvenir shops at archaeological sites.
Surrounding these central elements is a mix of sculpture, furniture, and life-size books—all of which can be touched, moved, and interacted with. The public is invited to make the installation their own, contradicting the traditional notion that artworks are not to be touched. Videos are also projected on stage, with musical sounds referencing Athenian nightlife. The darkened space and spotlight on the column more closely align with the atmosphere of a night club, further deconstructing contemporary art practices and the traditional display of artworks. This playful installation will act as an interactive social hub for visitors to contemplate themes around antiquity’s relevance today. It also marks an important moment for Angelidakis, bringing together the virtual and physical elements of his practice.
Andreas Angelidakis (B. 1968) lives and works in Athens. Trained as an architect with a Bachelor of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture and a Master’s degree in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University, he maintains a multi-disciplinary practice as architect, artist, curator and writer centred on research and exhibition, often examined through the lens of the internet.
Angelidakis has consistently challenged the end product of architectural practice by reversing the representation-to-realisation sequence of the production of buildings. He often starts with an existing building, producing models, films, ruins, installations or alternative histories, blurring fact and fiction and smoothing out the borders between the real and the virtual. He has contributed as an artist or curator in a range of global exhibitions including: “The State of the Art of Architecture” at the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial, the 12th Baltic Triennial at the Contemporary Art Center in Vilnius and “Super Superstudio” at PAC Milano, all in 2015, as well as “documenta14” in Athens and Kassel in 2017. In 2019, he participated in the Bergen Assembly, contributing a multifunctional social seating system to Paul B. Preciado’s “Parliament of Bodies” for documenta14, as well as the Biennial of Moving Image at OGR in Torino. Among the exhibitions he has curated are The System of Objects at Deste Foundation in Athens, Super Superstudio at PAC in Milano, Fin de Siècle at Swiss Institute in New York, Period Rooms at Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam, and OOO Object Oriented Ontology at Kunsthalle Basel.
