Bilateral project between Greece and Iceland 2021 – 2024
The Head2Head project is the first cultural exchange between Greece and Iceland in this scale. The title derives from the Greek and Icelandic term for meeting in person and having interpersonal relations (GR: πρόσωπο με πρόσωπο, ICE: Haus á haus). That is so the event would be organised by the artist-run initiatives themselves and that artists would have an immediate and active role as well, rather than any form of hard hierarchy that comes from above. The Head2Head team functions as an assisting force of the event, rather than managing and dictating it. The spaces work together “face to face” and create their own products of art.
The purpose of Head2Head is to underline the explosion of artist-run initiatives in these two peripheral countries and by connecting them, we attempt to strengthen cultural phenomenas like this, laying the path for further events like this one in the years to come.
The project consists of two phases. The first phase took place in Athens, Greece, in November 2021.
The participant artist-run spaces in Athens are the following: ΎΛΗ[matter]HYLE, Stoa 42, KEIV, Backspace, PS:, One Minute Space, Sunday Narratives (FAC), Eight/To ΟΧΤΩ , 3 137, Space52 and Zoetrope.
Every artist-run space would propose an artist who would then be paired with an Icelandic artist and together hold an exhibition in their hosting space.
The second phase will open during the weekend 11 – 13th of October 2024 in Reykjavik, Iceland.
The same methodology applies there as well. Greek artists -this time- will travel to Reykjavik and collaborate with their hosting artist-run space and the artist they propose.
The participant artist-run spaces in Reykjavik are the following: Kling&Bang, Gallery Port, Á milli, The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik Association of Sculptors, Phenomenon Gallery, Gallery Kannski, Gallery Underpass, OPEN in the Nordic House and Associate Gallery.
