Constantin Pittas

Exhibition in Prague, in the Clam Gallas Palace, 14-24.9.2023
 

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                                                                Εικόνες μιας άλλης Ευρώπης

                                                                 Images of another Europe

                                                                                                1985-1989

 

 

                                                                                                    Φωτογραφική έκθεση στο Μουσείο Μπενάκη

                                                                                                  26 Σεπτεμβρίου - 27 Νοεμβρίου 2016

 

                                                                                                     Photographic exhibition at the Benaki Museum, Athens

                                                                                                   September 26 – November 27, 2016

 

 

                                                                                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

25 χρόνια μετά, οι εικόνες παίρνουν εκδίκηση από τον δημιουργό τους, βγαίνουν τυχαία στο φως και τον παρασύρουν να μοιραστεί πια όλα αυτά τα βλέμματα, τις στιγμές, την απεραντοσύνη των δρόμων, τη μοναξιά, την καλοσύνη των ξένων, το τέλος μιας εποχής. Ιστορικό ντοκουμέντο και ταυτόχρονα καλλιτεχνικό επίτευγμα από ένα φωτογράφο που δεν “καταγράφει”, ούτε κάνει “Τέχνη”. Η πολύτιμη αυτή εργασία παρουσιάζεται για πρώτη φορά ολοκληρωμένη στο κοινό, σε μια μεγάλη (160 φωτογραφίες) έκθεση στο Μουσείο Μπενάκη, απο τις 26 Σεπτεμβρίου 2016.

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O φωτογράφος που συνέλαβε την Ευρώπη ν' αλλάζει

(Popaganda, 3.11.2016)

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Η ασπρόμαυρη μελαγχολία της Ευρώπης

(εφ. Αυγή 29.9.2016)

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Long-buried photographs document divided Europe ahead of watershed moment

(New York Times-Kathimerini 2.11.2016)

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In the last few years before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, in the end of the 80s, Costantinos Pittas roams all over the divided continent, from south to north and from Lisbon to Krakow,  in Eastern and Western Europe at the same time.  He points his camera to the faces of the scared and repressed people in the East, the faces of the lonely or the elderly in the West. Men and women who live on the verge of History deeply affected by it, all members of the big European family. His “naive” idea was to present the Europeans as an entity, as a big family, beyond borders and walls, in the space of a book. He stops shooting the day the Wall was down, on November  10, 1989, and he returns home with an impressive collection of images  which he buries in a box for a long time, not wanting to “make a career out of it”.

25 years later those photographs take revenge against their own creator, coming out into the light and taking him with them, making him share all these looks, the moments, the eternity of the streets, the loneliness, the kindness of strangers, the end of an era. Historical evidence and at the same time an artistic achievement by a photographer that neither reports  nor makes “art”. This unique work is presented for the first time in a large exhibition (160 photos) at the Benaki Museum in Athens, from September 26, 2016.

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Photos from the exhibition