The Museum of Modern Art for A Day
@ 17th Venice Biennale of Architecture
MOMAFAD (The Museum of Modern Art for A Day) is a project/artwork created by the contemporary Greek artist Dionisis Christofilogiannis which reclaims spaces and transforms them into museums for the duration of one day.
Each edition brings together the works of a group of contemporary artists which are handed over to the project’s organizers for a day. Subsequently photographed, these temporary installations are turned into a permanent piece of the site’s history.
MOMAFAD invited and presented as part of the exhibition “SunShip: The Arc That Makes The Flood Possible”, Arts Letters & Numbers at the CITYX Venice Italian Virtual Pavilion of the 17th Venice Biennale of Architecture.
The inauguration of MOMAFAD with the presentation of the documentary film and the open discussion took place at EMST – Museum of Contemporary Art (link) in Athens on November 18, 2021.
MOMAFAD Inauguration at EMST public discussion. Moderator of discussion: Hesperia Iliadou de Subplajo, speakers: Ariana Kalliga, Eleni Riga, Theophilos Tramboulis, Loukas Triantis and Adrianos Efthymiadis. Photo by Olympianna Miliaki
The first MOMAFAD took place in the abandoned terminal of the Ellinikon International Airport of Athens designed by Finnish modern architect Eero Saarinen in 1968. Both the architectural value of the building and its emotional salience as a site of public memory contributed to its selection. Lying vacant since 2001, the former East Terminal was designated as a national heritage site in 2006 yet remained abandoned until only recently when it was incorporated into the large-scale Ellinikon redevelopment project. As the texts that follow will explore, the space is a site of contradiction, history, memory, and fragility, private, civic, and public ownership.
The photographs of the ephemeral installations, newly commissioned texts, and archival material comprise MOMAFAD’s final form, a publication, which aims to become an archive in its own right.
Creator and main curator: Dionisis Christofilogiannis
Co-curator: Ariana Kalliga
Photography: Stathis Mamalakis
Video Design: Harris Gorovellis
Sound Design: Eleni Kavouki
Music: Eftychia Kamenaki & Eleni Kavouki
Project Coordinator: Charalampos Papadopoulos
Catalog Design: Adrianos Efthymiadis
Editing Assistance: Millie Anderson, Suzana Fais, Thomas Macheras, Panagiotis Ioannidis
Silk Screen printing: Eva Mitala
Volunteers: Nikos Larios, Thomas Macheras, Effie Papadopoulou, Adonis Stoantzikis
Archives:
Yale University Library, Manuscripts and Archives
Urban Environment Laboratory of NTUA
Civil Aviation Museum Athens
Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE-TCG) Digital Library
Kathimerini- Historical Archives
ARTISTS & GUEST SCHOLARS
Artists: Andreas Angelidakis, Yannis Adoniou, Nikos Charalambidis, Dionisis Christofilogiannis, Martha Dimitropoulou, Christoforos Doulgeris, Annie Fassea, Nikomachi Karakostanoglou, Andreas Kasapis, Panagiotis Kefalas, Nikos Komiotis, Georgia Kotretsos, Antonis Larios, Pantelis Vitaliotis – Magneto, Andreas Mallouris, Eva Mitala, Maria Papadimitriou, Ilias Papailiakis, Poka-Yio, Evi Roumani, Virginia Russolo, Adonis Stoantzikis, Giorgos Tserionis, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Kostis Velonis, Art.Drone.Projects
Guest Scholars: Sotirios Bachtsetzis, Ariana Kalliga, Eleni Riga, Theophilos Tramboulis, Loukas Triantis, Yorgos Tzirtzilakis
Dionisis Christofilogiannis 