Galery

2

1

Victoria Mindova

Since its independence announced in 1829, Greece has gone bankrupt at least four times. Its people know the hardships of economic crisis but the deceptive prosperity, into which the country plunged in the last three decades, is making the current economic crisis especially hard for modern Mediterraneans. However, students at the Department of Media, Communication and Culture at Panteion University have found a way to connect the past with the present and to seek the comic side of the dramatic developments with which Greece is struggling today and struggled in the 19th century. They are the initiators and organizers of an exhibition, looking at the comic side of all major economic crises the country experienced through the eyes of cartoonists. Student Olga Azilazian spoke about the idea behind the exhibition.

How was the idea of the specific theme of the exhibition born?

We organized the exhibition "Cartoons - both then and now" in our educational programme this year. Professor Andromachi Ghazi gave us the idea for the exhibition and it has been inspired by the difficult situation in which Greece finds itself today. It examines political cartoons in times of economic crisis from the 19th century to today.

The exhibition contains cartoons of 3 +1 bankruptcies of Greece. What is the message you want to transmit through the exhibits?

Students as well as other citizens have witnessed the socio-political turmoil in Greece recently. We want to express in a humorous way our personal concerns about contemporary Greek reality by finding analogies with the past. An important fact about the exhibition that you should know is that the students did their own research of past Greek failures. We found out that the country had the same problems in the past and the same mistakes as today’s were made – external debt, unemployment and other problems. Therefore, we believe that the exhibition is classical in the sense that it is beyond the time when the works were created. During the research, our attention was particularly drawn to political cartoons to reports, which show how art has found its expression in this type of journalism.

Who helped you to search the right places and find the specific objects - drawings, newspapers and cartoons?

Professor Andromachi Ghazi helped us to find the "elements" of the exhibition. We divided into small groups and went to libraries and other places to look for drawings, images and objects that fit in with the theme. This process helped us to collect all possible sources that we could use. We are currently trying to promote our project with bazaars and concerts sometimes, so that we can fund other initiatives. We consider it a great success that the exhibition has attracted much greater attention than expected.