Lot 315 | Danai Emmanouilidis | Georgia

EMMANOUILIDIS, DANAI
1997 Hagen

Title: Georgia.
Date: 2019/20.
Technique: Acrylic on paper.
Measurement: Ca. 20 x 30cm.
Notation: Signed verso: Danai.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.

An illegally smuggled-in picture - in an exhibition that is about Germany as a country of immigration. The Bundeskunsthalle was astonished when it came across the painting that had been smuggled in unnoticed. In the meantime, the artist has become well-known: In a rather elaborate move, Danai Emmanouilidis included the work in the exhibition "Who we are. Questions for an Immigration Country". She was inspired by another artist whose work was shown in the exhibition: in 1976, the action artist Ulay stole a Spitzweg painting from the National Gallery, drove it to Berlin-Kreuzberg and hung it in the living room of a Turkish family. The artist Danai now turns the story around. She inserts herself into the exhibition, adds something that is often missing in the art world: the perspective of people who do not fit the academic criteria. Most of her works show people who - like the artist - are often perceived as "different" from the norm. In this case, it is Georgia Polks, an Australian model who, like the artist herself, is constantly asked: Where are you from anyway?
Text: Johanna Adam, curator of the exhibition "Who We Are. Questions to an Immigration Country" (26 May - 08 October 2023) at the Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn

Many thanks to the Bundeskunsthalle for their support.

Prize according to call.

THE WORK WILL BE AUCTIONED FOR THE BENEFIT OF ARTASYL E.V., COLOGNE.