Any other business

  This photo: The Breeder At the beginning of November I found myself back in Athens for the opening of Mamali Shafahi's latest solo show, Phantasmagoria: daddy kills more people , at The Breeder. I hadn't expected to be present, but at the last minute Mamali himself sent me a plane ticket, so off I went for three days. I don't need to write much about the exhibition, which is set in Mamali's 'signature' lighting scheme, alternating between normal gallery lights and UV LEDs, which bring to life fluorescent grids on the walls and floors, and fluorescent highlights on the works. There's a full text on The Breeder's website , along with better photos than mine, which follow. The next morning, I had time to take in a small Bob Wilson exhibition, Owls and Chairs , at the Bernier/Eliades Gallery, perhaps timed to coincide with his production of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women at the Municipal Theatre in Piraeus. After which, I took the train down to the p...

On my way back from Basel to Naxos to continue my holidays, I had a day to while away in Athens before the ferry. As it happened, it was the opening day of this year's Athens Biennale, so I went along to take a look. This year is the Biennale's seventh 'edition', called Eclipse and co-curated by Omsk Social Club and Larry Ossei-Mensah, under the artistic direction of Poka-Yio. It's centred on three disused locations, all in the heart of Athens, between Omonia and Syntagma. The main space is a former department store, Fokas, that shut down as a result of the economic crisis in 2013. The installations continue across the street in a totally different building, Athens' first post-independence courthouse, dating from the 1830s. From the looks of it inside, the building must have been practically a ruin. But it's been renovated, with the rough stone walls left bare and new, cement staircases with contemporary steel handrails. The Biennale is the first event to t...