NAXOS/DUSSELDORF/NEW YORK.- Spread all over the world, in America, in Europe, the whole Mediterranean - nearly everywhere in Greece - on every Island - you will find open dumping sites, where garbage and waste of any kind is being collected without any concept of separating or recycling or at least avoiding it. One example out of thousands: the Island of Naxos in the middle of the Aegaean Sea.
Against the backdrop of the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece, New York artist Elisa Pritzker has been invited to represent the United States in an international artistic and environmental project. The International Art Activity called "The Pyramids of Naxos" intends to point out the dimensions of such missing concepts of avoiding, separating or recycling the daily waste of an area. With every day and in any place of this planet the amount of waste is growing - day-by-day and place after place. It is intended to show with the tin can as an example, that the single amount of waste like the empty can - collected in a limited short time, might be an neglectable amount; but the collected amount of several such so called "single amounts" from different locations will have all together such dimensions that it cannot be overseen anymore.
Ten "little" pyramids will be spread over the Island of Naxos from the 15th of June 2004 until the 28th of August 2004, being filled with empty cans of the surrounding communities. On the final day - the day before the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Athens -these ten objects will be added to a single "big" pyramid of 5 x 5 meters nearby the harbour area of Naxos - near to the Portara.
In the same time in June 2004 - international art activities will be organised at different locations worldwide to call attention to the activities of "The Pyramids of Naxos". So far international artists from Germany, Greece, Scotland, Iceland, Sweden, Lithuania, Chile, USA, Mauritius, Australia, South Africa, Japan and China have been invited and promised their support and participitation. Together with other local artist at their places they will organise art activities with all possibilities of modern art to support the activities of "The Pyramids of Naxos" with exhibitions, performances or installations.
All involved international artists will be invited to participate in the International Art-Symposium within the last weeks of the "pyramid-activities" on Naxos in the week of the 21st to the 28th of August 2004. In this symposium they will demonstrate - together with local artists - multiple art activities covering the theme "The Pyramids of Naxos".
The International Eco-Art Activity called "The Pyramids of Naxos" is organized by Dr. Christian Henatsch from Duesseldorf / Germany, coordination by Lucy Irvine from Scotland, Saulius Valius from Lithuania, Naxotic artist Klaus Pfeiffer, in cooperation with the Ewald -Hein Foundation from Germany and curated by Alexis Tzimas from Greece living in Paris . "Using all possibilities of modern arts like painting, sculpturing, photography, video or film, performances or happenings," - so Klaus Pfeiffer to the press -, "we hope to make people aware of an existing problem like the worldwide unsolved questions of open waste deposits and to open a discussion about a necessary solution."
An International Art Exhibition with works of all the participating international artists will take place at the new built TOWNHALL of Naxos / including the beautiful and modern "Jakobos Kampanellis Theatre" in September 2003 with an official partnership with the CITY OF NAXOS - being officially supported by new municipality of Naxos, by the Hoteliers Association of Naxos and by the Minister of Culture. This exhibition will be a first step to call attention to the activities of "The Pyramids of Naxos" in 2004. At the same time it is planed to connect the art activities of the of the "Pyramids of Naxos" with the activities of the yearly Naxos Music and Theater Festival in 2004 as well. The International participants artists are: Guan Huai Bin - China, Wolf Broell - Germany, Lucy Irvine - Britain, Christina Lindeberg - Sveden, Yoshiko & Tokio Maruyama - Japan, Elisa Pritzker - USA, Johannes Rudel - Germany, Wendy Ross - South Africa, Mireya Samper - Iceland, "Colectivo" P.A.N. - Chile, Manou Soobhany - Mauritius Saulius Valius - Lithuania, Kevin Wilson - Australia, Giorgia Damopoulou - Greece, Lila Papoula - Greece, Opy Zouly - Greece, Christos Nicopoulos - Greece, and Mehmet Ergin - Germany.
With the global international character of all art projects, - taking place in Naxos and all over world in 2004 at the same time and parallel to the Olympic Games in Athens, the participating artists of the global art project intend to demonstrate that the dealed matter "waste" is not only a Naxos specific task but a not yet solved worldwide problem. "We combine our activities with the hope" - says Elisa Pritzker from NY - representing the US in this art activity - "that by this a discussion of experts will be started in order to find possible solutions for the local or regional or global waste questions. The language we have chosen to speak with in order to start such a discussion is the language of modern arts."
For this "needed discussion" the momentary mayors of the Island of Naxos -Vassilis Kokkotas and Yiannis Tzouanis already have announced their sympathy and support as well as Prof. Mr. Giorgios A. Mangakis, the former Minister on Intern Affairs.
