The G. & A. Mamidakis Foundation having at its very core the desire to encourage the dialogue between arts, the environment and people, following a series of artistic collaborations and in-situ projects instituted in the late 80’s, it organized a new art project for this summer, which focuses on the sea shore of Crete and particularly in the area of Agios Nikolaos, where Minos Beach art hotel member of bluegr Ηotels & Resorts is situated.
The G. & A. Mamidakis Foundation aiming at reviving its in-situ hosting of art projects, it is hosting the exhibition Sea to Shore Stories created by Kostas Ioannides, under the artistic curation of Katerina Gregou.
The exhibition consists of a multi-faceted project that will have a significant presence in various parts of the hotel, creating a ‘path’. The core idea and the thread that runs through the individual works of the project is the love of the simple yet crucial things in life: the love of nature’s beauty; the love of the sea, of reading a book in a summer afternoon; the love of creating something special, like a garden, and toiling daily to look after it and preserve its beauty.
The route starts at the hotel reception, where guests will meet the Everlasting Song, a video projection about the tale ‘The Fisherman and His Soul‘, where Oscar Wilde uniquely describes the magic of the world who lives under the surface of the water. The beauty of the place and the text of Oscar Wilde provide the inspiration and the material for the works.
The Sea to Shore Stories exhibition continues submerged under the waters of Agios Nikolaos, where one can admire the work ‘Lost Ears of Agios Nikolaos’. This is an underwater sculptural installation and the sequel to a project that Ioannidis started in 1992 in Paleopolis, Andros. Paleopolis is the island’s ancient capital, whose remarkable finds make it one of the most notable archaeological sites in Greece.
In the summer of 1992 nine large ears made of concrete were sunk in the ancient city’s waters, a location where diving is strictly prohibited due to the possible existence of antiquities. Today just two of the ears remain where they were placed, and the fate of the other seven is unknown.
The third part of the exhibition is the ‘Hanging Gardens‘ project, an underwater sound installation that the swimmers and divers of the hotel will have the chance to enjoy. The aim of the project is to create a sound environment in which the swimmer – listener is “transferred” into a magical underwater garden. For the creation of the underwater garden sounds, the artist used sounds of songbirds of Crete like nightingales, goldfinches, blackbirds etc. The soundscape from the mountains and plains of Crete is transferred beneath the sea level in a natural environment, creating the ‘Hanging Gardens’ project.
