Maria Hassabi
DESTE PRIZE 2015 nomination

May 28, 2015–September 30, 2015
Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens


The DESTE Prize was established in 1999 as part of the DESTE Foundation’s policy of supporting and promoting contemporary art in Greece. Awarded biannually to a young Greek or Cypriot artist, the Prize aims to identify and showcase the work of an emerging generation of contemporary artists who are actively redefining the parameters of cultural production and contributing to new issues in the artistic discourse. Through the Prize, the Foundation hopes to endorse the spirit of exploration, ingenuity, and ambition, which is essential to DESTE’s mission as well as to the vitality of contemporary art.

The 6 shortlisted artists for the DESTE Prize 2015 – Petros Moris, Yiannis Papadopoulos, Angelo Plessas, Natali Yiaxi, Maria Hassabi, and Socratis Socratous – will present their work during an exhibition that will take place at the Museum of Cycladic Art between May 28 and September 30, 2015. This collaboration between the DESTE and the Museum of Cycladic Art falls withing the scope of the latter’s “Young Views” program, which aims to develop artistic discussion with younger generations, inform the general public about contemporary art, and establish the necessary environment for the fruitful exchange of ideas.

The winner of the prize will be selected by an international Jury and announced during an award ceremony to be held on September 7, 2015. The winner receives the amount of €10,000.

SELECTION COMMITTEE:
Andreas Angelidakis, Artist; Architect; Curator
Evangelia Ledaki, Curator; Art Critic
Dimitris Passas, Collector
Kostas Sahpazis, Artist; Recipient of the DESTE Prize 2013
Daphne Vitali, Art Historian; Curator, EMST, Athens
Andre Zivanari, Director, Point Centre for Contemporary Art, Nicosia

JURY:
Bernard Blistène, Director, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Max Hollein, Director, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt
Dakis Joannou, President, DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art
Tom Morton, Writer; Curator; Contributing Editor, Frieze magazine
Jakub Julian Ziolkowski, Artist

A dance without a dance. Made up of pauses, interruptions and loops.

“Over the years, I have developed a choreographic practice centered on the relation of the body to the image – defined by sculptural physicality, extended duration, and aesthetic precision. My work, a practice in abstraction, draws its strength from the tension between the human subject and the artistic object, the dancer as a performer and as a physical entity. Exercised through the reduction of movement in relation to time, my use of abstraction develops a perception of the body as a fragmented form, and ultimately, as an affecting force. With its distinct slowness and gradual progression, my choreography enables “a waiting,” where form is captured and can be contemplated. As images shift, the relation between space, duration and movement is intensely magnified, and the viewer is given the chance to enter another realm of consciousness and awareness.

For this event, an “un-performance”, where elements are extracted from my choreographic work, allowing it to unfold with the visitor over time.