September 4th, October 10th, 2022

Opening Reception, September 4th, 6-8 pm.

CENTRAL FINE is happy to present Recovery a presentation by Georgia Sagri. What follows are excerpts and notes by Georgia Sagri :

Pain must be acknowledged to be followed: not as a neglected code, that for centuries has been demonised, but as a bell and a compass of the unique conditions of our actual internal states, behaviours, and affairs. When we listen through pain, there is the promise of change.

– Georgia Sagri

The exploration of performance lies at the center of Georgia Sagri’s work. The artist has developed a practice of care she terms IASI, in reference to the Greek word ίαση for recovery. This was born out of her need to prepare and recuperate from demanding performance pieces. IASI has since shifted into ongoing research on conditions like insomnia or fatigue, which Sagri calls “performance pathologies”. With IASI, the artist invites participants onto her Stage of Recovery, a bed-like frame upholstered with soft cushions, for individual sessions. Οn this stage, she guides participants through time-pacing, breathing, voice tuning, and self-developed motion techniques in which air is the main element.

Sagri methodically records these sessions as charcoal and coloured chalk drawings on paper, which she describes as “affective anatomies”. Dots, shapes, and converging lines indicate zones of tension, release, and the general feeling of a session towards recovery.

At CENTRAL FINE, these affective anatomies will float, letting air pass between them, anchored by weights, as ghosts that register something that marked us, and the presence of what changes.

« …No one talks about the present. There is one, and I feel it now with you. It is my only weapon. The present is that a group of friends are in a circle, here, and we are capable of doing anything we want, now. There is no convenience of belonging, only the presence of our bodies here and now, and the decision to do is the only thing we have… »

« …There is no minute left for discussion planning or explanation. It is clear that the urgency of us doing is more important than the articulation of definitions or meaning… »

Georgia Sagri has exhibited internationally in various solo and group exhibitions including: “Case L” at Friat Khunstalle, Fribourg; Mimosa House, London (2020), De Appel, Amsterdam; Portikus, Frankfurt/ Main, Germany (2018); Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany (2017, 2018); Cycladic Museum, Athens Greece (2017); Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland (2016); Sculpture Center, New York, USA (2016); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany (2016, 2015); Forde, Geneva, Switzerland (2015); Kunsthalle Basel Switzerland (2014); MoMA PS1, New York, USA (2013); Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland (2013); Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain (2011); MoMA, New York, USA (2011); Macedonian Museum, Thessaloniki, Greece (2011); The Dakis Joannou Collection, DESTE Foundation, Athens, Greece (2006). Sagri has also participated in Documenta 14 (2017), Manifesta 11 (2016), Istanbul; Biennial (2015), Lyon Biennial (2013), Whitney Biennial (2012), Thessaloniki Biennial (2011), and Athens Biennial (2007). In 2014 Sagri initiated Ύλη[matter]HYLE (hyle.gr) a semipublic/semiprivate space in the center of Athens, Greece.

Her first monograph catalogue was published by Sternberg Press, following her solo exhibitions Georgia Sagri Georgia Sagri at Kunstverein Braunschweig, and Georgia Sagri and I at Portikus.

In the summer of 2019, she was offered the Tenure Position in the School of Fine Arts in Athens to organize and run the first Performance Art studio. She has published a book on her writings titled Stage of Recovery, in 2021, published by Divided Publishing Ltd; London. and Case_L, Friart Kunsthalle Fribourg

Sagri, Georgia : Stage of Recovery; Divided Publishing Ltd, London, 2021, Pp 30.

Sagri, Georgia : Stage of Recovery; Divided Publishing Ltd, London, 2021, Pp 30.