Shinrin-yoku | Forest bathing
A PCAI contemporary art exhibition
in collaboration with the J. & A. N. Diomedes Botanic Garden
Opening: Thursday 20 June, 5 pm – 8 pm
Duration: June 21 – September 20, 2024
Participating artists: Lynn Hershman Leeson, Éric Baudelaire*, Aiko Ohno, Asako Masunouchi, Nikomachi Karakostanoglou, Maria Antelman, Raffaela Naldi Rossano, Malvina Panagiotidi, George Drivas, Dimitris Ioannou, VASKOS (Vassilis Noulas & Kostas Tzimoulis), Eva Stefani*, Michalis Afolayan, Campus Novel, Maria F. Dolores & Sofia Dona
Curator: Kika Kyriakakou
The Japanese phrase Shinrin-yoku translates into English as forest bathing: a tentative yet not very widespread term coined in 1982 by Tomohide Akiyama, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Japan. A concept alluding to the ancient habit of spending time close to nature, among trees and wild plants, absorbed by the surrounding wilderness, without the distress of electronic devices and the fast pace of everyday life. Ranging from sculpture, installations and photography to AI, illustration and film the artworks interact with the botanical garden, its surrounding forestry area, its water-lily ponds, clearings and greenhouses, underlining their function as conservation sanctuaries of thousands species of flora, while being a home for various specimens of local, wild fauna.
The Shinrin-Yoku exhibition intends to navigate around the grounding and therapeutic effect of nature and the primeval forest, as well as the notion of water in connection to the Jungian unconscious and to Édouard Glissant’s passages and routes. Moreover, the exhibition attempts to delve into the mythologies and traditions of ama, the more than 2000-year-old matriarchal communities of free divers in Asia. Throughout their practice as sea food and pearl fishers, the ama (sea women) strive towards the protection of the invaluable “forests of the ocean”, as they refer to seaweed and marine flora, while making sure not to damage or overharvest algae and other deep-sea organisms. A custom that seems to reflect the words of Gaston Bachelard (1942) that water is a source of imagination necessary for the deployment of poetics. It has the unfathomable power to carry and comfort us. Water brings back our mothers.
The Shinrin-yoku exhibition aims to elaborate further on the discourse on environmental protection and gender that started during the Sheltered Gardens hybrid exhibition in 2022-2023. On June 20, on the occasion of the opening, visual arts performances by VASKOS and by Michalis Afolayan will take place in clearings of the garden.
The exhibition is held with the support of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the French Institute of Athens, under the auspices of the Embassy of Japan in Greece and in the context of the institution 2024 Greek-Japan Year of Culture and Tourism.
The opening of the exhibition was attended by HE Mr. Koichi Ito, Ambassador of Japan, and his wife Misako Ito, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Polygreen eco CEO and PCAI founder, who were guided through the exhibition by Kika Kyriakakou, PCAI artistic director.
*Eva Stefani’s and Eric Baudelaire’s films will be screened on September 19 and September 20. The artists will be present during the garden screenings.
VENUE: J. & A. N. Diomedes Botanic Garden
The Julia and Alexander N. Diomedes Botanic Garden is one of the largest Botanic Gardens in Greece and the East Mediterranean. It was founded in 1951, at the bequest of Alexandros Diomedes and it operates as a Legal Entity of Private Law. With the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and under the supervision of Konstantinos Mitrakos, Professor of Botany of the University of Athens, the configuration works, based on the blueprints of Professor Herta Hammerbacher of the University of Berlin, were completed. In 1975, a major part of the works was finished, and the garden opened officially to the public. The space is open every day with free entrance.
Details on how and when to visit here: www.diomedes-bg.uoa.gr/access-en
Duration: June 21- September 20, 2024.
Opening hours: Daily during the Botanic Garden opening hours (from 9am to sunset)**
Address: Iera Odos 403, Chaidari, 12461, Attica
Free entrance, by timed ticket booked in advance via diomedes-bg.gr/booking
**The Diomides Botanical Garden will remain closed when the weather conditions are considered dangerous for a possible fire. Visitors should be informed before visiting the exhibition.
More information: civilprotection.gov.gr/arxeio-imerision-xartwn
Spread the word using the hashtags: #ShinrinYoku #pcai #diomedesbotanicgarden
Iera Odos 403, Chaidari, Athens 124 61 Athens, Greece Greece DD/MM/YYYY trueShinrin-yoku | Forest bathing
A PCAI contemporary art exhibition
in collaboration with the J. & A. N. Diomedes Botanic Garden
Opening: Thursday 20 June, 5 pm – 8 pm
Duration: June 21 – September 20, 2024
Participating artists: Lynn Hershman Leeson, Éric Baudelaire*, Aiko Ohno, Asako Masunouchi, Nikomachi Karakostanoglou, Maria Antelman, Raffaela Naldi Rossano, Malvina Panagiotidi, George Drivas, Dimitris Ioannou, VASKOS (Vassilis Noulas & Kostas Tzimoulis), Eva Stefani*, Michalis Afolayan, Campus Novel, Maria F. Dolores & Sofia Dona
Curator: Kika Kyriakakou
The Japanese phrase Shinrin-yoku translates into English as forest bathing: a tentative yet not very widespread term coined in 1982 by Tomohide Akiyama, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Japan. A concept alluding to the ancient habit of spending time close to nature, among trees and wild plants, absorbed by the surrounding wilderness, without the distress of electronic devices and the fast pace of everyday life. Ranging from sculpture, installations and photography to AI, illustration and film the artworks interact with the botanical garden, its surrounding forestry area, its water-lily ponds, clearings and greenhouses, underlining their function as conservation sanctuaries of thousands species of flora, while being a home for various specimens of local, wild fauna.
The Shinrin-Yoku exhibition intends to navigate around the grounding and therapeutic effect of nature and the primeval forest, as well as the notion of water in connection to the Jungian unconscious and to Édouard Glissant’s passages and routes. Moreover, the exhibition attempts to delve into the mythologies and traditions of ama, the more than 2000-year-old matriarchal communities of free divers in Asia. Throughout their practice as sea food and pearl fishers, the ama (sea women) strive towards the protection of the invaluable “forests of the ocean”, as they refer to seaweed and marine flora, while making sure not to damage or overharvest algae and other deep-sea organisms. A custom that seems to reflect the words of Gaston Bachelard (1942) that water is a source of imagination necessary for the deployment of poetics. It has the unfathomable power to carry and comfort us. Water brings back our mothers.
The Shinrin-yoku exhibition aims to elaborate further on the discourse on environmental protection and gender that started during the Sheltered Gardens hybrid exhibition in 2022-2023. On June 20, on the occasion of the opening, visual arts performances by VASKOS and by Michalis Afolayan will take place in clearings of the garden.
The exhibition is held with the support of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the French Institute of Athens, under the auspices of the Embassy of Japan in Greece and in the context of the institution 2024 Greek-Japan Year of Culture and Tourism.
The opening of the exhibition was attended by HE Mr. Koichi Ito, Ambassador of Japan, and his wife Misako Ito, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Polygreen eco CEO and PCAI founder, who were guided through the exhibition by Kika Kyriakakou, PCAI artistic director.
*Eva Stefani’s and Eric Baudelaire’s films will be screened on September 19 and September 20. The artists will be present during the garden screenings.
VENUE: J. & A. N. Diomedes Botanic Garden
The Julia and Alexander N. Diomedes Botanic Garden is one of the largest Botanic Gardens in Greece and the East Mediterranean. It was founded in 1951, at the bequest of Alexandros Diomedes and it operates as a Legal Entity of Private Law. With the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and under the supervision of Konstantinos Mitrakos, Professor of Botany of the University of Athens, the configuration works, based on the blueprints of Professor Herta Hammerbacher of the University of Berlin, were completed. In 1975, a major part of the works was finished, and the garden opened officially to the public. The space is open every day with free entrance.
Details on how and when to visit here: www.diomedes-bg.uoa.gr/access-en
Duration: June 21- September 20, 2024.
Opening hours: Daily during the Botanic Garden opening hours (from 9am to sunset)**
Address: Iera Odos 403, Chaidari, 12461, Attica
Free entrance, by timed ticket booked in advance via diomedes-bg.gr/booking
**The Diomides Botanical Garden will remain closed when the weather conditions are considered dangerous for a possible fire. Visitors should be informed before visiting the exhibition.
More information: civilprotection.gov.gr/arxeio-imerision-xartwn
Spread the word using the hashtags: #ShinrinYoku #pcai #diomedesbotanicgarden
124 61 Athens, Greece, Greece