The Space Between pamphlet

The Space Between

We must move again as human beings within space, we must conceive of space by using our feet and walking through it, Constantinos A. Doxiadis.

The exhibition unfolds through multiple narratives, and with the intention of giving free reign to each artist’s gaze, voice and hand.

The starting point is here, in Athens, and then, a question. Where does this city start or end, what are the geographical, physical or cultural borders that define it: the hills, the mountains, the rivers which can no longer be seen but at times can still be heard, the sea which embraces the city in so many ways, the neighborhoods interlaced within? This question, repeated, led us to further questions and new, often idiosyncratic answers and the urge to narrate a story, which would try to link space, time, history and architecture in different ways. So, a story about space; but also an attempt to understand what that might mean: a small apartment, a historical moment, a political impasse, an indeterminable emotional situation, a moment in time or in our heads that cannot be easily explained or understood. The Space Between then, is the point where all these threads come together and this is where they meet.

The space is Constantinos Doxiadis’ landmark offices which housed his architectural and urban planning offices as well as the School of Ekistics, a School of Design, a computer school, a publishing house, a magazine on Ekistics and four large scale research programs (including archiving Athens through the Human Community program). Following Constantinos Doxiadis’ death, the schools closed, and the building changed hands and usage several times. It has recently been renovated for private use. The upper floors will soon be apartments, while the ground floor will have communal spaces for the new residents. Architectural interventions have been made to the facades as well as to the actual structure of the building, while the courtyard and the staircases have been retained exactly as they were - the only parts of the building that were actually listed. The building’s lifespan therefore reveals an interesting trajectory, as well as a commentary on the fate of modernist landmarks in Athens, which are either left to ruin or are transformed into something altogether different.

The Space Between takes place at a point of transition: from its original usage as a space open to different communities (students, researchers, professors and artists) to its later usage as office buildings, and now, a private space. It is at this point of transition, a pause in time, where we can look back to what took place in this building and the stories yet to come.