Maria Papadimitriou
Maria Papadimitriou is a Greek contemporary visual artist living and working between Athens and Volos, Greece. She was born in 1957 in Athens, Greece. After graduating with an honours degree in painting from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSBA), Paris, Papadimitriou began practicing as a visual artist in 1989. She uses the medium of sculpture, installation, public art, video and photography to realize her artworks.
In 2003 she won the DESTE prize for contemporary Greek art. In 2002 she represented Greece for the 25th edition of the São Paulo Biennial with the project T.A.M.A. (Temporary Autonomous Museum for All), an ongoing project still central to her artistic practice. She is the founder of the nonprofit association T.A.M.A. and the Art Canteen Souzy Tros. Since 2001 she is teaching visual arts at the Department of Architecture of University of Thessaly in Volos. Issues of identity, social integration and exclusion are the recurring issues in her work. Her work has been presented in numerous shows internationally.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2014 T.A.M.A. Overflow, Museum Alex Mylonas – Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art (MMCA), Athens, Greece
Souzy Tros, Eleonas, Athens, Greece
2013 Souzy Tros, Eleonas, Athens, Greece
2012 Over! Leftover, Batycki Factory, Gdansk, Poland
Souzy Tros, Eleonas, Athens, Greece
2011 T.A.M.A. The Roma Coat, Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens, Greece
2010 Otel Nokul, Sinopale3 – International Sinop Biennial, Turkey
Hotel Balkan, Haifa Mediterranean Biennial, Israel
2009 Infinito fa Rumore Eternità fa Silenzio, Mercato Coperto, Regio Emillia, Italy
The T.A.M.A. Party, a collaboration with the Roma community at Aliveri-Volos, Greece
2008 Corbu, Zina Athanassiadou Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
2007 Sa Ma Khol Truck – a City Tour, Teseco Foundation, Pisa, Italy
Novocomum on Wheels – Direct Architecture, Borgovico33, Como, Italy
2006 Hotel Plug Inn, 1ra Bienal de Arquitectura, Arte y Paisaje de Canarias, Lanzarote, Spain
2005 Two or Three Things I Know About Him, Riflemaker Gallery, London, UK
Screening at the Kinitron Gas Station, National Road Larissa-Trikala, Larissa Contemporary
Art Center, Greece
2004 We’ll Meet Again, Espacio Uno, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Temporary Office – Poetica della mobilità, Olivetti Foundation, Rome, Italy
Amphiareion 04 – Ilumina tus Sueños, Villa Olímpica, MM Proyectos, Rincón, Puerto Rico
Images, Zina Athanassiadou Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
2003 What Do We Really Remember, Ex-Convento Domenicani, Sternatia, Italy
2002 T.A.M.A. (Temporary Autonomous Museum for All), Official Greek Representative, 25th Biennial of São Paulo, Brazil
1997 Living Spaces III, FOKA Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
Living Spaces II, Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Athens, Greece
1996 Living Spaces I, Studio Barbieri, Venice, Italy
1994 Coming Soon, Courtesy Fac-Simile, Milan, Italy
Love Stories, Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Athens, Greece
1993 Draft for Two Towers, ZM Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
Martin, Martin…, Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Athens, Greece
Oral Exhibition, ARTI, Vol.17, November-December, Athens, Greece
1992 Project for Two Towers – the White Tower of Pisa and the Leaning Tower of
Thessaloniki, White Tower Of Thessaloniki, MMCA, Thessaloniki, Greece
1991 Small Roman Bridge, Desmos Art Gallery, Athens, Greece
Selected Group Exhibitions
2015 #On Food, Visible Office and Project Space, Galeri de l’erg, Brussels, Belgium
Adhocracy, Onassis Cultural Center, Athens, Greece
Fashion as a Social Energy, Palazzo Morando – Museo Moda e Immagine, Milano,
Italy
2014 DESTEFASHIONCOLLECTION 1 to 8, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
No Country for Young Men, BOZAR, Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium
The Desire for Freedom. Art in Europe since 1945: Beyond Boundaries, MMCA,
Thessaloniki
Everywhere but Now, 4th Thessaloniki Biennial of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki,
Greece
Expansion, Siemens Art Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2013 Plug_in Backstage 2003, Museum of Villa Croce, Genova, Italy
The Great Eastern (After Andreas Embiricos), Lustlands II, Thermisia, Greece
Greece The System of Objects, DESTE Foundation, Athens, Greece
Hell As Pavilion, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2012 The Mediterranean Approach, SESC Pinheiros, São Paulo, Brazil
Fight-Specific Isola, Frigoriferi Milanesi, Milan, Italy
Public Speech, Koroška Art Gallery, Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia
A Gathering, MMCA, Thessaloniki, Greece
Roma-Sinti-Kale-Manush, Autograph ABP, London, UK
The Mediterranean Approach, Museum of Contemporary Art, Marseille, France
Evil, La Galerie Utopia – The Forgotten Bar Project, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2011 The Mediterranean Approach, Palazzo Zenobio, Venice Biennale, Italy
Living – Frontiers of Architecture III, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
Ministry of Education Warning: Segregation Harms You and
Others Around You, Nosticky Palace, Prague, Czech Republic
Le Paris Bar à Paris, Suzanne Tarasieve, Loft 19, Paris, France
Greek Art, Sem-Gallery, Monaco
The Ark-old Seeds for New Cultures, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
Monodrome, 3rd Athens Biennial, Greece
2010 Aware – Art Fashion Identity, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
The Ark-old Seeds for New Cultures, Participation at the Greek Pavilion, 12th
International Architecture Exhibition,Venice Biennale, Italy
Fabricators of the World. Scenarios of Self-Will, Trautenfels Castle,
Universalmuseum Joanneum, Austria
Mute Signs – Contemporary Approaches to (In)tolerance, Hungarian University of
Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary
Mixed & Mastered: Greek Video Art from the 00s, Center for Visual Introspection,
Bucharest, Romania
Dwelling in Travel, Center for Contemporary Art, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2009 The First Image – Sequences, MMCA, Thessaloniki, Greece
The Spectacle of the Everyday, 10th Lyon Biennial, France
We Do It, Kunstraum Lakeside, Klangerfurd, Austria
La Première Image, Centre Régional d’Art Contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon,
Sete, France
Naughtiness, Beltsios Collection, Margaris Foundation, Amfilochia, Greece
Amateur Bicyclism, ReMap2, Locus, Athens, Greece
EU-Roma Dwelling, Autograph ABP, London, UK
2008 Common View, National Theater of Greece and National Museum of Contemporary
Art, Thessaloniki, Greece
A Dialogue Between Greek and Chinese Artists, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Shanghai, China
Women Only, Beltsios Collection, Margaris Foundation, Amfilochia, Greece
Ideal Homes, Casa del Lago, Mexico City, Mexico
Sueño de Casa Propia, VIMCORSA, Córdoba, Spain
Games Without Frontiers, Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, Greece
2007 Volksgarten: Politics of Belonging, Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria
Heterotopias, 1st Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, State Museum of
Contemporary Art, Greece
Sueño de Casa Propia, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain and 7th Gwangju
Biennial, Gwangju, Korea
Habitation Variation, Bâtiment d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
Who’s There, MMCA, Thessaloniki, Greece
Mapas, Cosmogonías e Puntos de Referencia, Centro Gallego de Arte
Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Summer Cinema, Nice and Fit Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Topos: Egonopoulos, MMCA, Thessaloniki, Greece
Two or Three Things I Know about Him, Photosynkyria 19, International Festival of
Photography, Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece
Cities from Below, Teseco Foundation, Pisa, Italy
L.i.g.h.t., Gwangju Design Biennale 2007, South Korea
2006 Less: Alternative Living Strategies, Pavilion of Contemporary Art, Milan, Italy
The Athens Effect, Mudima Foundation, Milan, Italy
What Remains is Future, Old Arsakeion School, Patras, Greece
The People’s Choice, Isola Art Center, Milan, Italy
An Outing, Beltsios Collection, Matsopoulos Mill, Trikala, Greece
EuroPart, Aktuelle Kunst Aus Europa, Vienna, Austria
Check-In Europe: Reflecting Identities in Contemporary Art, Munich, Germany
2005 EuroPart – New Contemporary Art from Europe, Rolling Billboard Project, Vienna
Myths/AntiMyths, Forum Plus, Wroclaw, Poland
The Gesture. A Visual Library in Progress, MMCA, Thessaloniki, Greece
Going Public 05: Communities and Territories, Larissa Contemporary Art Center,
Greece
Biennial on the Mediterranean Landscape, Pescara, Italy
Mira Como se Mueven, Telefónica Foundation, Madrid, Spain
2004 Videokunst, Locus Athens, Greece
Staying or Leaving, Camera Austria, Kunsthaus, Graz, Austria
Tribute to the Messenger, MM Proyectos, Rincón, Puerto Rico
Bleiben Oder Gehen? Art Pavilion, Zagreb, Croatia
Bodyworks, Nicosia Municipal Arts Center, Nicosia, Cyprus
Breakthrough Greece 2004, Alcala 31, Madrid, Spain
Paradigmata, participation at the Greek Pavilion, 9th International Architecture
Exhibition, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
2003 Outlook, Factory, Athens, Greece
In Den Schluchten des Balkan, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
Transformers, Bikinihaus, Berlin, Germany
Dubrovnik: Here and Elsewhere, Umjetnicka Galerija, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Going Public, Provincial Station of Modena, Modena, Italy
DESTE PRIZE, DESTE Foundation, Athens, Greece
The Pioneers, MMCA, Thessaloniki, Greece
2002 Manifesta 4, Frankfurt, Germany
Fusion Cuisine, DESTE Foundation, Athens, Greece
Balkania 2002, Neue Galerie, Graz, Austria
4th Cetinje Biennial, Cetinje, Montenegro
The Pioneers, Beltsios Collection, Kalambaka, Greece
2001 1st Biennial, Tirana, Albania
Overexcited Body, SESC Pompeia, São Paulo, Brazil
Legend 2001, Sylo Depot Sarantopoulos, Piraeus, Greece
Body, Vafopoulio Cultural Center, Thessaloniki, Greece
2000 Kiss from Greece [3], Wohnmaschine, Berlin, Germany
Europa Edition, Saeulenhalle des Parlaments, Vienna, Austria
Playgrounds and Toys, Red Cross Museum, Geneva, Switzerland
51st Premio Michetti, Europe-Different Perpectives on
Painting, Museo Michetti, Francavilla al Mare, Italy
P + P = D, Contemporary Greek Art: Desmos Gallery Archive, MMCA, Thessaloniki,
Greece
1999 Kiss from Greece [2], Galerie Stalzer, Vienna, Austria
Bloom Contemporary Art Garden, c/o Lolmocolmo, Brescia, Italy
Europa Edition, Portfolio Kunst AG, Vienna, Austria
Cosmotel A3 Presents: the Artist’s Ideal House, FOKA Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
Objecthood, Hellenic American Union, Athens, Greece
1998 Kiss from Greece [1], N.O.M.A.D.E., Paris, France
XxYxZ The End of the Line, Unlimited Gallery, Athens, Greece
1997 Image and Icon, MMCA, Thessaloniki, Greece
FotoMässan, Göteborg, Sweden
The Painter Til Oilenspiegel, FOKA Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
Loops, Soap Factory, Athens, Greece
Group Show, Wigmore Fine Arts, London, United Kingdom
1996 Video1: Nouvi Tempi nel Video, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Italy
Garbage, Larissa Contemporary Art Center, Greece
1995 Greek Realities, Galerie im Marstall, Berlin, Germany
Push Ups, Factory, Athens, Greece
Spring Collection, House of Cyprus, DESTE Foundation, Athens, Greece
Mito, Operat ’95, Ex-Fornace Adriatica, Russi, Ravenna, Italy
1994 Techne & Metis, Gate of Famagusta, Nicosia, Cyprus
Ritratto & Autoritratto, Flash Art Museum, Trevi, Italy
The Wall, Galleries of Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Made in Bo, Ars Lux, Torino, Napoli, Florence, Roma, Naples, Palermo, Italy
Group Exhibition, Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Athens, Greece
Fragile, Austrian Hungarian Market, C.R.E.M.A., Italy
1993 4th Biennal of New Art, Zielona Gura, Poland
Hond & Hamer, Daglicht & de Fabriek, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Personal bibliography
Maria Papadimitriou, Situations, Co-existences, Commons, edited by P. Tan (Barcelona; dpr-barcelona, 2015)
Maria Papadimitriou, Free Hotels, edited by the artist, with V.-M. Plavou and A. Papazacharias (Milan; Postmedia Books, 2014)
Maria Papadimitriou, ΦIRMA GYPSY GLOBALES, edited by the artist (Athens; The DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, 2014)
Maria Papadimitriou, We’ll Meet Again, edited by the artist (Madrid; Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte / Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 2004)
Maria Papadimitriou, T.A.M.A., edited by E. Strousa (Athens; Futura, 2002)
Maria Papadimitriou, Living Spaces (perhaps the furniture we need does not exist), edited by the artist (Syros Island; Municipality of Ermoupolis, 1996)
Maria Papadimitriou, Dear Dr Joseph Kosuth, edited by the artist (Thessaloniki; Foka Gallery, 1996)
Maria Papadimitriou, Project For Two Towers: The White Tower Of Pisa and The Leaning Tower of Thessaloniki, edited by C. Cafopoulos (Thessaloniki; Ministry of Culture / Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, 1992)
For further information: www.mariapapadimitriou.com
