ΑΝCIENT GREEK ART - A history in images Permanent exhibition Museum of Cycladic Art Athens, Greece 2009 1. Concept "Why did the Greeks need images?" This is a question frequently raised in view of the wealth of public and private imagery surviving from ancient Greece. The amount of such imagery is rarely unparalleled in other cultures. In fact, the ancient Greek city is often called "a city of images". Based on the study of such images, the exhibition examines the history of Greek societies from their 2nd millennium BC origins, through the period of city-states, their subjugation to imperial power in Helllenistic times, until the end of Antiquity. Emphasis is laid on the interaction between art and society, and on how social and political developments affected artistic styles and forms of expression and re-presentation. Artifacts are not examined only for their practical use or artistic value but also for their possible symbolic meanings. Images painted on vases or carved on sculptures and metal objects are not treated as plain illustrations of mythical stories or everyday life, but as symbols which may have carried messages of religious, social, philosophical or even political content to the ancient Greeks. Trying to decipher those hidden meanings offers deeper insights into the nature and history of ancient Greek societies. 2. Exhibition structure The exhibition is structured along two axes: a) Chronological exhibits are organized in 5 broad chronological groupings, corresponding to major historical phases of ancient Greek culture: Late Bronze Age Geometric period Archaic period Classical period Hellenistic and Roman periods 1600-1100 BC 1100-700 BC 700-480 BC 480-323 BC 323 BC – AD 395 b) Thematic each chronological period consists of i. historical introduction ii. several thematic subjects reflecting developments in various fields of social, political or intellectual life (e.g. E o o y a d ad i istratio i Bro ze Age so ieties , Ho eri aristo ra y – Me ories of a heroi past , The irth of i ages , I sear h of i spiratio – Gifts fro the East , Dae o s – I agi i g the irratio al , Hoplites a d itize s , Art a d politi s , Art a d so ial roles , A early ase of glo alizatio etc.). The exhibitions includes also: - two touchscreens focusing on two important subjects, which are not sufficiently represented in the collection, i.e. Writing in ancient Greece and Greek sculpture - a special section dedication to ancient technologies and materials (i.e. clay vases, clay figurines, bronze objects, gold ornaments, and glass vessels). 3. The setup 4. The installation process 5. Credits Curator Nikolas Papadimitriou Architectural design Anestei Parisi Andromachi Skourogianni Graphic design Christine-Joanna Lambrou Lila Lambrou Lights design Elias Konstantakopoulos Showcases Emmanuel Lignos Metal constructions Dimitris Drosos Conservators Yannis Damigos Kostas Pantazis Themistocles Kardamis Chrysoula Saroukou Drawings - Techniques Akis Goumas Video/Montage - Techniques Daphne Tolis Touch-screen software fabulous.gr English texts David Hardy Nikolas Papadimitrou Printing Nikos Paschalidis Assistants Helektra Apostola, Marina Gibbons Jenny Lugo, Laura Gonzales Alexandra Markou Sponsors George Coumantaros Ioannis Kostopoulos N.P. Goulandris Foundation