Villar Rojas developed it over a four-month period, with the assistance of a large crew sourced locally and from his studio in Argentina. Villar Rojas is brave for questioning the foundations of national identity in the midst of this crisis.Įssentially, Villar Rojas’s “Theater” manifests itself in three ways: a large-scale landscaping of the observatory gardens, a complete re-staging of the observatory’s interior, which is now a museum, and a transformation of wasteland at the back of the building into what can only be described as a dystopian, outdoor museum. Complaints leveled against “Crapumenta” include calling out the insensitivity of hosting an expensive festival in a place where residents are suffering financially, plus their initial underrepresentation of Greek artists. Meanwhile the other, concurrent large-scale art exhibition set in Athens, documenta 14, has been heavily criticized. Athens is a city that reveres its past, yet fears for its future. View after Installation of Adrián Villar Rojas, The Theater of DisappearanceĪn additional subtext to “The Theater of Disappearance” is Greece’s current national debt. Who should have authority to excavate it, I wonder: any of the archaeologists, politicians, or astronomers who have previously made their mark here, or an artist like the Argentinian-born Villar Rojas?

Thus, Greek people lay their identity in earth that remains loaded with the debris of past events. It was argued that any digging would “disrupt the tranquility and the architectural purity” of the hill. As the installation’s commissioner, NEON director Elina Kountouri, states in the exhibition catalogue, establishing the observatory in 1842 was fiercely opposed. I am informed that it is difficult to build on or excavate this land, in case anything precious in the soil is disturbed. History lives here in plain sight. The National Observatory is no exception situated on the Hill of the Nymphs, it has an unrivaled view of the Acropolis. To stand on this land is to stand within the cradle of Western civilization.

The Greeks have a very deep past to dive into, of course. Installation view of Adrián Villar Rojas, The Theater of Disappearance (all images © Panos Kokkinias, Courtesy NEON unless otherwise indicated)ĪTHENS - How do you define your national identity? Adrián Villar Rojas‘s new installation/intervention, “ The Theater of Disappearance” (2017) at the National Observatory of Athens seems to ask just that, prompting thoughts about what the soil beneath our feet contains and represents, and how far we should dive into the depths of our own past.

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