GEORGIA SAGRI GEORGIA SAGRI and I | Catalogue

The catalogue GEORGIA SAGRI GEORGIA SAGRI and I is published on the occasion of the eponymous solo exhibitions “GEORGIA SAGRI GEORGIA SAGRI” at Kunstverein Braunschweig, December 2017–February 2018, and “GEORGIA SAGRI and I” at Portikus, Frankfurt am Main, April–June 2018. As her first comprehensive publication, this catalogue surveys the multi-facetted oeuvre of the Greek artist Georgia Sagri. As the title of this book suggests, the staged objects Sagri produces are doubled modules, where each I or self can be “cross-eyed.” This effect, often produced theatrically, reorders the collective gaze to be subverted through a “catastrophe of emotions.” Across performance, video work, and sculpture, Sagri navigates the murky relationships between the artist’s body and her body of work, subjectivity and persona, original and reproduction with equal parts humor and severity.

Collected in this catalogue is both current documentation of Sagri’s work and rich archival material since 1999; together they are juxtaposed against essays by Sotirios Bahtsetzis, Daniel Horn, Ruba Katrib, Christina Lehnert, Diego Singh and Stephen Squibb, an interview conducted with Silvia Federici, and a conversation between the artist, Bettina Funcke, and John Kelsey.

A founding organizer of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Georgia Sagri’s social activism (alongside her artistic activities) dates back to 1997, when she was a member of the Void Network in Athens. Sagri has organized the perambulatory curatorial project Saloon and the audio-only magazine Forté since 2009. In 2013 she initiated the semi-public and semi-personal space Ύλη[matter]HYLE in Athens, with the mission to develop a new model for the contemporary work-life structure. She has exhibited and participated in documenta 14 (2017), Manifesta 11 (2016), Istanbul Biennial (2015), La biennale de Lyon (2013), Whitney Biennial (2012), Thessaloniki Biennale (2011), and the Athens Biennale (2007).