The title of the exhibition by Maro Avrabou and Dimitri Xenakis is borrowed from a phrase by Marie Dorval (1798‑1849), an actress renowned for her dramatic performances and her ability to embody complex passions and contradictions on stage, challenging conventional standards of beauty.
The artist duo works within the realms of public art and land art, creating pieces that engage with both natural and urban contexts. Each intervention emerges from a careful observation of the site, transforming reclaimed materials into a language capable of interacting with and reshaping the surrounding environment. The space of Un gramme in Syros is occupied by the duo with a site-specific installation.
Rusty metal meshes imprisoning objects, suspended and backlit bags, reclaimed materials. Here, beauty is ethical and ecstasy is absent. The works forgo any consolatory horizon, embracing the rawness of the present. Imagine something beautiful that has absorbed all the energy of the ugly and you have fashion. Imagine the truth that has absorbed all the energy of the false and you have simulation. From this proliferation arises inertia, an excess that immobilizes, an overload that paralyzes. The works on display move in the opposite direction, they do not feed aesthetic saturation, nor seek the ecstasy of signs, but reclaim wounded matter, residue, and body, transforming waste into political presence and opening spaces of resistance to paralysis.
The artists complete their works by changing media, using photography to capture in two dimensions the complexity of their interventions. Through these images, they create a mise en abyme effect, where the work is mirrored within the representation, generating a play of reflections and layers that multiplies the perception of space. In this visual vortex, the boundary between real and represented blurs, amplifying the narrative and conceptual power of their works.
The exhibition reflects the non-profit Un gramme’s commitment to environmental awareness and social engagement, from caring for the land to supporting local artists and generating value through art, making artistic practice an act of responsibility and contemporary awareness.
