What we are looking at is not an aesthetical approach, rather emotional immediacy: bodies made of sound and vision populate the Greek Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Art Biennale in what looks like a barn, or maybe a piece of religious architecture, offering a reflection on the relationship between folklore experience and its representation. Xirómero/Dryland is a hybrid audio-video installation and a unique piece of art blending research, performance, sound sequences, and video installations curated by Panos Giannikopoulos. Based on an idea by artist and composer Thanasis Deligiannis and by playwright and philologist Yannis Michalopoulos, the installation is an irrigation system synchronized with all other elements. Specifically, the reference is to local folk fetes, panighiría, that are common in Thessaly and in the Xirómero area, whence the exhibition’s title. Half-ritual, half-entertainment occasion, the fete is saturated with information and meaning. It is about field work, about seasonal cycles, about communities, and about the image communities have of themselves. Local customs are compared to global conditions, with changing traditions, rural lives, and celebratory rituals.

Featured image: Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia – Photo Marco Zorzanello