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In Conversation | Artist

Lydia Venieri
State of the art

The renowned visual artist Lydia
Venieri talks to Grec14n about
the 4th Biennale she is setting
in Mykonos and this year’s
theme, Apathia. Η διακεκριμένη
εικαστικός Λυδία Βενιέρη
μιλάει στο GREC14N για την 4η
Μπιενάλε που στήνει στη Μύκονο
και το φετινό θέμα της Απάθειας.
by Dimitris Golegos

How did you decided to turn to the
arts?
It is certain I was born an artist, as other
people are born athletes or musicians,
because this was the language I
understood and communicated, since
I remember myself. And the nature,
the scenery and my place in the world
under these terms I comprehended
it, like the Little Prince. Plato says that
nature imitates life, but my belief is that
art initiates human to life. That is why
I want, with the Mykonos Biennale,
everyone there to be initiated to nature,
to art, to Mykonos, taking part to a
celebration that links the present with
the eternal, tradition with contemporary
thought, nature with art.
What does Mykonos mean to you and
how it inspires your work?
For years Mykonos had been to me
the source of energy given by the
roots, its sea, the yellow house of my
great grandfathers in Ano Mera with
the Viscontian allure of tradition, the
elements of time and space. I loved the
hippy, the cosmopolitan, the pagan,
and this is the spirit I honour at the
Biennale, which is a great celebration
of art. Mykonos is by itself an artistic Which is your favourite spot on the also meeting my own self, in terms of
masterpiece due both to its nature and island? energy, in the island.
its human creations, the mythological The Kantanassos garden, Lino, Divounia, Which is the theme of this year’s
ones, with the live rocks of the Titans, Ftelia, Myrsini, Fokos, Aghios Sostis, Biennale?
the wine presses, the menhirs and the the monastery of Ano Mera. I also like I was raised in a Mykonos where
vaulted tombs, the mills, the labyrinthine the museums, Delos and the adventure whatever the locals were occupied with,
alleys, Paraportiani, which stands as it is going to offer me depending on the from tapestry to cooking and music,
carved by the wind and the wave. company, the friends I’ll meet while I’m was art. And it was art because they

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