Vryaxidos 11 and Aspasias: The unknown sideShare ↗

On view on the Ground Floor of the ONASSIS STEGI is an installation consisting of a number of panels attached to a corner wall of Rena Papaspyrou’s (b. 1938) own design. These panels are wall sections detached by Papaspyrou from an abandoned house, now demolished, formerly located on the corner of 11 Vryaxidos Street and Aspasias Street in Pangrati, Athens. Ranging in scale, these fragments reveal the unseen side of the exterior walls of the building; several show traces of graffiti, stratification, and marks accumulated over time.

The detachment process began in 2015, then stopped, resumed in January 2020, and was completed on July 25 of the same year. Most panels were detached during the time of the first lockdown. Reflecting on her experience while engaged in this work, the artist notes that detaching ‘was the main task of the day, the one that gave meaning to the day. It was a way to count days, a way not to lose oneself.’

Papaspyrou’s installation – the reconstruction of a wall that never was – is above all allegorical. A reflection on the female psyche and the condition of prolonged worry and social distancing which we have all experienced recently.

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Links

Video

Onassis Stegi exhibition page