Coniunctio - group exhibition

Press Release

Group exhibition

Coniunctio

Opening: Friday, December 20, 2024 at 19:00

Snehta Residency, 47 I. Drosopoulou str., Kypseli, Athens, Greece

Participating Artists: Lea Culetto, Lenka Kubelová

Duration: December 20, 2024 – January 2, 2025

Opening Days and Hours: 21, 22, 23 December 14:00 – 20:00 | 27, 28, 29, 30 December and 2 January afternoon hours by appointment at: admin@snehtaresidency.org

Important note: the exhibition will remain closed on the 24th, 25th, 26th and 31st of December, as well as on January 1st 2025)

Snehta Residency proudly presents a group exhibition showcasing works created during the second phase of the SAiR (Sustainability is in the Air) residency program. Featured artists include current Snehta residents Lea Culetto (Slovenia) and Lenka Kubelová (Czech Republic). Join us for the opening on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 19:00.

Coniunctio is the Latin term for “the alchemical symbol of a union of unlike substances; a marrying of the OPPOSITES in an intercourse which has as its fruition the birth of a new element” (https://pacifica.libguides.com/Jung/coniunctio).

Two artists working with different media, but both adopting sustainable artistic practices, using bio-materials, natural ingredients and recycling in order to produce new works which bear the traces of various traditions, myths and stories interpreted through the lens of the artists’ short stay in Athens.

SAiR – co-funded by the European Union – is a two year long project, which, through the operational strategies of four residential centers: in Ljubljana (MGLC), Madrid (Matadero), Prague (MeetFactory) and Athens (Snehta) aims to encourage sustainable artistic practices and promote an inventive, ongoing creative exchange between artists originating from diverge cultural and sociopolitical backgrounds.

As a result, each of the selected artists from the countries mentioned above, is working on a specific research idea that will take its final form and be presented at the end of the SAiR program, in 2026.

The exhibition Coniunctio gives the viewers just an insight into Lea Culetto’s and Lenka Kubelová’s work after their interaction with the Athenian cityscape and the Greek mentality, history and culture.

Artists’ Statements:

Lea Culetto “Leftovers”

Leftovers revolve around body waste, with focus on human hair. I'm fascinated with bodily traces we humans leave behind, knowingly or unknowingly. Hair is historically associated with memory and power, often evoking different emotions. In the course of my second SAiR residency, this time at Snehta, I focused on the history of hair and its connection to myths, fairytales and magic. During my research, various stories and symbols were discovered, through them I'm trying to understand the meaning of hair or rather what they represent, which always has a dual connotation: it is both alive and dead. Strong and fragile. Can be long or short. Lush or sparse. It also evokes contrasting feelings of cherish and/or disgust. It implies strength or weakness. Beauty or sickness. It can simultaneously be seductive or repulsive…

Lenka Kubelová “Hungry ghosts and pomegranate seeds”

Can our society be nourished and move on from the insatiable hungry ghosts who always need more? Mediterranean autumn as a metaphor for descending to the underworld with pomegranate seeds in ones hand. It is the conflicting season of fertility and mortality. Wax batik prints on dining sets, Turkish red madder root dyes, autumn quality kombucha tastes, seasonal ferments and a series of nourishing and capacity building meditations.