Malvina Panagiotidi
Curated by Eva Vaslamatzi
Art direction by Giorgos Altouvas
29.07-09.09.2023
Town Hall of Syros-Ermoupolis
Photos: inbulb
In the exhibition The mornings grow silent, artist Malvina Panagiotidi presents an installation inspired by the industrial past of Syros. A plate from the former glass factory Ermis (1870–1898) in which a spider is depicted on its web is at the core of the artist’s research, who approaches the spider both as a symbol and as a carrier of different systems of perception and re-creation of the world. An oversized web containing anthropomorphic prey and a series of amorphous glass elements that spin hypnotically transform the empty atrium of the Hermoupolis Town Hall into a reservoir of narratives: about the island's industrial era, its laborious and anonymous production, the constantly woven architectural web of the city compared to the intuitive web of the spider, as well as the body’s idiosyncratic placement, human and non-human, in its surroundings.
During the exhibition, a small part of the installation is displayed in the Industrial Museum of Syros along with the glass objects of the Ermis glass factory. Such a gesture extends the installation beyond the Town Hall, inviting viewers to make their own path through the city, leading very close to the site of the now demolished former glass factory.