Commissioned by
Korax
Makryammos Ephemeral Art Residency
Artist
Chiara Camoni
Team
Maria Mitzali, founder
Sylvia Sachini, director
Kim Knoppers, curator
Date
23 september – 23 october 2023
Managed by Korax and initiated by Maria Mitzali, the Makryammos Ephemeral Art Residency offers a one-month residency by invitation to an artist or creative practitioner with the opportunity to rest and ruminate, reflect, as well as brainstorm and develop an ephemeral artwork in conversation with the surroundings of the Greek island of Thasos. The resident’s work takes place at the intersection of ephemeral art, nature and craft.
It is a pleasure to announce that Chiara Camoni (Italy, 1974) has accepted our invitation to become the second resident of the Makryammos Ephemeral Art Residency. The work of Chiara, which comprises drawings, sculptures, videos and installations, materialises in the domestic sphere and characteristically results from collective experiences. Since her studies at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, Chiara has allowed art to penetrate every aspect of her life – or rather has turned her life into a simultaneously communal and introspective form of art. Drawing on a tradition that ranges from Arte Povera to regional crafts, she makes art from natural materials (clay, wood, plants, wool, natural dyes and fibres) that she collects around the mountain village in Tuscany where she lives and works surrounded by her family and friends. Letting go and intuition are two key operating principles in the artist’s work. Ancestral knowledge and vernacular know-how, and the way in which they are transmitted from one generation to the next, are at the heart of her daily practice.
Following last year’s successful first edition with farmer-artist Peng Zhang (China 1990), centered around the questions What Trace Do You Leave Behind?, the second edition will focus On Weaving. Crafting techniques like weaving, pottery and natural dying offer necessary insights to slower and more sustainable modes of production, art making and community building. Greece, and especially the islands have long standing weaving traditions and a heritage that is worth preserving and applied in different forms today. Contemporary artistic practice can be infiltrated by these systems of knowledge in innovative ways.
Next to a residency Makryammos Ephemeral Art Residency offers this year a unique one week workshop Threads of Nature. On Weaving for national and international artists/crafts people and dedicated amateurs. It will consist of talks on the history of weaving, the art of natural dying, the tradition of weaving and contemporary art, botanical walks, museum visits and obviously weaving (on looms and non-conventional looms) at different locations. More information can be found at the website