2021

Ocean Flower Island in Southern China

Cultural Diplomacy

Greek Participation in the International Exhibition “The Tides of the Century – 2020 International Art Exhibition” at Ocean Flower Island in Southern China

PostScriptum carried out the production and coordination of the contemporary art exhibition “Thesis – Antithesis – Synthesis. On the Trajectory of Change,” curated by Katerina Koskina. The exhibition constituted Greece’s official participation as the honored country in the “The Tides of the Century – 2020 International Art Exhibition,” held at Ocean Flower Island in Hainan, the new economic and tourist destination in Southern China. This international exhibition spans across seven museums, one of which was entirely dedicated to the Greek participation for the 2020 edition.

The participation was approved following a special invitation received by PostScriptum in January 2020 to submit a proposal for Greece’s participation as the honored country from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, specifically from the Chinese International Exhibition Agency (CIEA). This invitation followed the successful participation of the Greek pavilion in the international exhibition “China International Import Expo – CIIE” held in Shanghai in November 2019.

The proposal, developed in collaboration with curator Katerina Koskina and the Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF) as an invited participant, was selected as the best. The setup of the exhibition was completed in an unprecedented manner, conducted remotely due to the pandemic, in February 2021. Amidst a general lockdown and the particular conditions in cargo transportation, over fifty (50) significant works of contemporary Greek art traveled from around the world to the border region of Hainan. For three entire weeks, the curatorial and production teams overcame distance, language barriers, time differences, and, with the assistance of PostScriptum’s partners in China, managed to set up an exhibition in a 1,500 sqm space with the participation of thirty-four (34) Greek artists.

The Greek participation was also carried out under the auspices of the General Secretariat for Public Diplomacy and Greeks Abroad of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and Sports, the Ministry of Tourism, the Greek National Tourism Organization, and the Municipality of Athens, and was included in the official events program of 2021, “Year of China-Greece Cultural and Tourism Exchange.”

Discover more about the exhibition “Thesis – Antithesis – Synthesis. On the Trajectory of Change” at thesis-antithesis-synthesis.site.