“Vacant Lots”: A new photography exhibition by Olga Deikou

The photographic works of Olga Deikou capture urban landscapes in the present time.

From September 21, in the context of the SNFCC Green Weekend | Ideas for a Green City, the Mediterranean Garden of Stavros Niarchos Park will host the exhibition “Uncovered” by photographer Olga Deikou, in an architectural design by Giorgos Rymenidis (Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, School of Engineering, University of Ioannina). The exhibition presents 21 photographs, which were taken during the years 2018–2022.

During SNFCC Green Weekend all talks and panel discussions will be offered with simultaneous interpretation into the English language.

Curatorial Note

The photographic works of Olga Deikou capture urban landscapes in the present time. Imposing building volumes rise before our eyes, underneath which the watching subject might, possibly, feel crushed. Fantasy or reality? The photographic gaze captures a sense of dystopia, as a result of the geometric and color composition. But is this, actually, far removed from the everyday urban experience? A densely built environment, courtyards that have been replaced by vacant lots —vacant lots: emblematic landscapes of a habitation beyond the human scale. Compelling volumes of buildings towering in a verticality that does not allow vision a way out to the horizon.

And what about people? People are generally absent from Olga Deikou’s works, and when we do spot them, small silhouettes in windows, balconies or terraces, their presence intensifies the feeling of a wilderness — void. Vacant lots: empty spaces that have persistently been uniting city dwellers in a common experience, that of the lonely urban coexistence. The experience of a city, vis-à-vis which we are left vacant. The beauty of the Mediterranean Garden in direct contrast, a way out and a prospect.

The exhibition presents 21 photographs, which were taken during the years 2018–2022.

A few words about Olga Deikou

Olga Deikou was born and raised in Florina. At the age of 18, she settled in Thessaloniki to study at the School of Chemical Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Polytechnic. A few years later, she studied photography and has been working as a professional photographer ever since.

Alongside her professional occupation as a photographer, Olga has always had the need to express herself photographically in her everyday life, capturing mostly urban landscapes with a “dreamy realism.” Her guiding principle is to follow “paths that are unlit and less exposed.” The beacon on her photographic road map is to discover beauty, to capture dignity and pride, to seek out dreams and “purity”, in places where most people think they do not exist.

She has been collaborating, among others, with publications such as Kathimerini, LIFO, To Vima, Parallaxi magazine, as well as with other digital media and organizations. In 2021, she headed the design of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival #TDF23 poster, while she was recently commissioned to photograph the restoration of the Modiano Market in Thessaloniki. Works of hers, on the theme of the people behind the grape harvesting process, are permanently exhibited at Ktima Kyr-Yianni. Hotels in Thessaloniki have her photographic works in their collections, while she has collaborated with some of them to design their corporate identity through her images. She also works as an editor of book and record covers. Photographic works of hers also belong to the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Organization of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki, MOMus.

Οlga Deikou | Vacant Lots

Architectural design
Yorgos Rimenidis (Grid Office)

Associate architect
Konstantinos Mitsionis
 
Photographic printing
Sdralis Artworks
 
Metal structures
Cleosal
 
Counterweight construction
Christos Vagiatas

Structural study and supervision
Christos Santorinaios
 
A production of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) as part of the SNFCC Green Weekend 2024 | Ideas for a Green City
 
Exhibition curation
Sylvia Liouliou
Yorgos Rimenidis 
 
Exhibition coordination
Roula Kokkota
Christina Magiria