Instructions for Happiness / Curated by Severin Dünser, Olympia Tzortzi
Featuring works by: Anna Sophie Berger, Liudvikas Buklys, Heinrich Dunst, Simon
Dybbroe Møller, Christian Falsnaes, Benjamin Hirte, Barbara Kapusta, Stelios Karamanolis,
Alexandra Kostakis, Adriana Lara, Lara Nasser, Rallou Panagiotou, Natasha Papadopoulou,
Angelo Plessas, Maruša Sagadin, Hans Schabus, Björn Segschneider, Socratis Socratous,
Misha Stroj, Stefania Strouza, Jannis Varelas, Kostis Velonis, Salvatore Viviano
21.12. – 30.12.2016
Lekka 23 – 25 & Perikleous 34, Athens
Featuring works by: Anna Sophie Berger, Liudvikas Buklys, Heinrich Dunst, Simon
Dybbroe Møller, Christian Falsnaes, Benjamin Hirte, Barbara Kapusta, Stelios Karamanolis,
Alexandra Kostakis, Adriana Lara, Lara Nasser, Rallou Panagiotou, Natasha Papadopoulou,
Angelo Plessas, Maruša Sagadin, Hans Schabus, Björn Segschneider, Socratis Socratous,
Misha Stroj, Stefania Strouza, Jannis Varelas, Kostis Velonis, Salvatore Viviano
21.12. – 30.12.2016
Lekka 23 – 25 & Perikleous 34, Athens
Liudvikas Buklys
Alexandra Kostakis
Heinrich Dunst
Christian Falsnaes
Socratis Socratous
Courtesy The Breeder, Athens
Rallou Panagiotou
Barbara Kapusta
Barbara Kapusta
Anna Sophie Berger
Misha Stroj
Simon Dybbroe Møller
Adriana Lara
Maruša Sagadin
Kostis Velonis
Kostis Velonis
Kostis Velonis
Stelios Karamanolis
Lara Nasser
Benjamin Hirte
Jannis Varelas
Natasha Papadopoulou
Stefania Strouza
Björn Segschneider
Angelo Plessas
Courtesy The Breeder, Athens
Hans Schabus
Salvatore Viviano
Happiness can be understood as a basic human need. And the exhibition is all about the
personal pursuit for happiness. But instructions for happiness? As happiness is quite an
individual matter, instructions for happiness are of course a pretty absurd promise.
Regardless of whether happiness is sought after in the interpersonal, the immediate or the
everyday respectively the beauty of the small things in life – the exhibition tries to question
the notions of happiness.
Selected artists were invited to contribute a work, that also includes a manual: A work that –
based on an instruction – invites to do something, for instance use an object, react to a
situation, interact with others under certain rules, perform something for others or oneself or
simply initiates a thought process. The form of the work (as well as the instruction) could take
any possible shape – resulting in artworks that are as diverse and formally divergent as the
technical possibilities. But the seemingly chaotic diversity also reflects a plurality of
perspectives on happiness that the artist (as well as society) share.
Aside from the question of happiness in the context of today’s Athens, the exhibition also
tries to reflect upon art’s possibilities of immediate effects on society. Thus the boarders of
the power of the aesthetic field can be questioned in the show on one side, while tracing the
notions of happiness on the other side through experiencing the works in order to maybe
also find answers for oneself.