DESCRIPTION

The Cultural Association Western Brushstrokes and the BUFF group, in collaboration with the Municipality of Prespa and the 3rd Painting Studio of the Department of Visual and Applied Arts at the School of Fine Arts of Florina, bring together visual artists from Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia, the three countries that meet in the Prespa tri-border area, in a shared artistic exploration of the life cycle of matter.

At the center of this journey lies the Prespa region itself, a place of strong symbolic presence and layered history. It is a cross-border landscape where languages, cultures, pasts, and contemporary ecosystems intersect.

In this same area once operated a canning factory in Lemos, one of the region’s main industrial units. It shaped local agricultural production while also leaving behind the marks of industrialization: waste, energy consumption, and decay.

Every form of production, even the most everyday one, carries an inevitable loss. Construction debris, industrial residues. What becomes of all this material? What is preserved and what is forgotten? And who looks at it again?

With patience reminiscent of the work of earthworms, the artist takes what remains and reworks it. Matter is transcribed and reshaped. Just before final recycling or disposal, in this in-between state, something new emerges: the artistic act as a counterforce, creating intellectual and emotional value from what is otherwise considered useless.

Matter comes back to life. It appears as imagined creatures of the lakebed, as ceramic chimneys emitting smoke, as forms inspired by local fauna and flora. Through this transformation, the hidden weight of materials is revealed, along with their memory and their potential for restoration and renewed meaning.

The exhibition is hosted at the premises of the Pelekanos Bean Producers Agricultural Cooperative, an active part of the local economy, closely connected to the land, the seasonal cycle, sowing, and harvest. In this setting, the natural element retains its significance, while the artworks form a contemporary archive of matter.

What is the life of matter after its industrial use?
Can what is considered surplus become valuable again?
Can art heal what civilization discards?

The answer may lie on the road to the tri-border area.

CREDITS

Artists: Kyriaki Angelidaki, Stratis Alvanos, Sofia Antonakaki, Eleni Dalaka, Stelios Karas, Haris Kontosfyris, Konstantina Lazaridou, Dimitra Marini, Fotini Minadaki, Leonidas Nikolaidis, Chrysanthi Sioti, Stavroula Stamkou, Maria Schina, Margarita Tsouloucha, Alexandros Chatzitimotheou, Vasko Gjorgiev, Driant Zeneli.

INFORMATION

The exhibition takes place in parallel with the TRIETHNÉS International Music Festival, held in the wider Prespa region from 28 to 31 August, in co-production with the Municipality of Prespa and under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

AKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sponsor: B & T Composites

The exhibition “After Matter” is supported by Psyche sto Laimo, a research-based visual art project active in the lake landscape of Prespa since 2011.