Exhausted
“Exhausted” represents an institutional self-diagnosis, a sort of medical certificate or, better, of exhaustion. On the other hand, Papageorgiou himself embodies a state of tiredness caused by a demanding art system. The title also refers to exhaust pipes, the final part of a car’s engine system through which burned gases or steam are discharged, signifying a moment of decompression. To escape from a new occupation, the artist, at the venerable age of 26, turns his gaze backwards imagining his own retrospective: a format that can only exist here paradoxically thanks to the feverish pretensions of the aforementioned system, the same that made possible the accumulation of a large amount of works over a few years. “Exhausted” ironically pauses, at a small turnaround, the chronometer that adjusts the gruelling race towards the success of the contemporary artist.
Text by: Nicolas Vamvouklis
Download the booklet of the exhibition here
