Grant to the Museum of Cycladic Art towards the exhibition “Cycladic Society 5,000 Years Ago”. In addition to the financial support for the exhibition, upon the initiative of the Foundation’s president Mr Nellos Canellopoulos the Paul & Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum loaned exhibits to achieve the aim of bringing together artefacts from many different parts of Greece.
INTERVIEWS
Exhibition: Cycladic Society, 5000 years ago
An anniversary exhibition for the 30 years of the Museum of Cycladic Art brought together the most important Cycladic art collections from museums throughout the country to showcase a civilisation small in geographical area but great in artistic and aesthetic value which has influenced contemporary art on a world scale.
“Cycladic Society, 5000 years ago” was an idea by Nikos Stambolidis, professor of archaeology and director of the Museum of Cycladic Art, organised by the Museum with exhibits from its own collection as well as from the National Archaeological Museum, the Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum and the Museums of Naxos, Apeiranthos, Syros and Paros in collaboration with the Cyclades Ephorate of Antiquities.
“When the idea of the exhibition was first discussed, the Canellopoulos Foundation offered to participate, and joined Mr Stambolidis in selecting the exhibits. The loan of artefacts from the museums’ showcases rather than their storerooms gives the exhibition a different gravity, representing a joining of forces among museums with Cycladic items in their collection which visitors can come and see gathered in one place.”
Most visitors may realise for the first time two major parameters of Cycladic civilisation and its art: that it is a very early civilisation that precedes the emergence of writing in these parts, and that the artefacts we now admire for their white or off-white appearance were originally coloured. A chronology of events in the exhibition demonstrates how old this small civilisation really is and yet how minimal, modern and timeless; indeed, it is no accident that it has had so much influence on so many artists to this day.
“In 2015 the Museum of Cycladic Art had organised a very interesting event in New York to promote the Cycladic civilisation. One of the invited speakers was Ann Temkin, a leading curator at the MoMA which, at the time, happened to present the biggest exhibition of Picasso’s sculptures, including a series called Cycladic Pebbles.. It is impressive how many artists come to Greece to admire the Cycladic art and find inspiration from it, or go to the Louvre or the Metropolitan to see them”.
This and all other special exhibitions of the Museum could not be realised without the aid of the private sector, without its sponsors and supporters. In its 30 years of operation the Museum of Cycladic Art has never received any funding from the State. If it relied solely on the display of its permanent collection, the trust that “supports” it would be exhausted at some point, since visitors would not support with their presence a Museum with nothing new to offer.
“The permanent collection of a Museum renders it static; it gives no extra reason to people to come back. So if a Museum is to remain active and keep its necessary, renewed public, it must have something new to propose. Yet no new actions, programmes and exhibitions would be possible without the sponsors’ invaluable aid. In this instance of the Cycladic Society exhibition, the Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum helped with exhibits loaned for a more comprehensive exhibition, while the Paul & Alexandra Canellopoulos Foundation contributed the funds necessary for the implementation of the project. The Foundation showed implicit trust to the concept of the show and its different approach through the pioneering layout designed by the architect Aris Zambikos. The exhibition fitted in admirably with the high quality and aesthetic that characterises the Foundation”.
* Discussion with Ms Christodoulakou, Head of Communication & Development of the Nicholas & Dolly Goulandris Foundation and the Museum of Cycladic Art.