PCAI presents Sheltered Gardens

September 22–November 30, 2022

Parallel performance programme: September 22–24

More than 35 international artists, authors, and performers are featured in the hybrid visual arts exhibition Sheltered Gardens. The J. & A. N. Diomedes Botanic Garden, one of the biggest and most significant botanical gardens in the Mediterranean, is the setting for PCAI’s new multimedia program, which is based on the poem Sheltered Garden (1916) by H.D. Beginning on September 22, Sheltered Gardens will be presented through a limited edition publication, a group exhibition of contemporary art, a series of performances, an online, digital exhibition accessible at pcai.gr, and a contemporary art group exhibition at the Diomedes Botanic Garden in Athens.

With drag performances by Sasha Velour, punk photomontage by Linder, super 8 films by Chris Kraus, and poetic tales by Leda Papaconstantinou, the show creates a virtual voyage via climbing plants, bamboo clusters, and she-shed greenhouses. It takes on a physical reality as performances, archives, and evidence of ecosystems and conflicts that emerge within modern female gardens. The exhibition’s opening piece is the avant-garde imagist American work Sheltered Garden (1916), by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle). a poem about H.D.’s connection to nature that explores her literary explorations as a gay writer in the early 20th century. Many important works by female writers have addressed issues such as gender inequality, kinship with mother Earth, and cosmogony as a mythological element. In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, written by Alice Walker in 1983, conveys the author’s own exploration of her ancestry, art, and identity as an African-American woman amid a difficult time for civil rights in the United States. Virginia Woolf dedicated one of her earliest works to the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens of London in 1919, and her well-known essay A Room of One’s Own vividly conveyed her introspective views on subjects like spatiality and gender (1929). In reference to Donna Haraway’s (Cyborg Manifesto, 1985) rejection of rigid identity boundaries and spatial-physical restraints, the exhibition Sheltered Gardens is a unique hybrid habitat that suggests alternative, creative, and environmental pursuits in times of instability.

Participating artists: Margarita Athanasiou, Eleni Bagaki, Michel Delsol, Kathleen Hanna & the Julie Ruin, Evan Ifekoya, Irini Karayannopoulou, Lito Kattou, Chris Kraus, Linder, Polonca Lovšin, Campus Novel, Selina Nwulu, Leda Papaconstantinou, Eva Papamargariti, Afroditi Psarra, Gloria Steinem, Eva Stefani, Maria Varela, VASKOS (Vassilis Noulas & Kostas Tzimoulis), Marina Velisioti, Sasha Velour

Curated by: Kika Kyriakakou

Public programme

The Diomedes Botanic Garden will host a number of live performances, readings, and workshops from September 22 to 24. Free admission is available with a timed ticket reserved in advance online at diomedes-bg.gr. Visit pcai.gr to learn more about the open program.

Performers: Theodoros Chiotis, Phoebe Giannisi, Ermira Goro, I broke the vase, Dimitra Ioannou, Chrysanthi Koumianaki,  Leda Papaconstantinou, Aris Papadopoulos & Martha Pasakopoulou, VASKOS (Vassilis Noulas & KostasTzimoulis), VIGIL (Despina Sanida-Krezia & Fotini Stamatelopoulou), Iria Vrettou.

Curated by: Kika Kyriakakou and VASKOS (Vassilis Noulas & Kostas Tzimoulis)

Opening: Thursday, September 22, 4–7pm

Physical exhibition: September 22–October 2, 2022, 4pm-7pm
Digital exhibition: September 22–November 30, 2022 via pcai.gr
Performances in the Garden: 22-24 September, 2022, find out more at pcai.gr

Diomidous Botanical Garden
Iera Odos 403, Haidari
124 61 Athens
Greece