Loutropolis – Healing Springs and Baths in Greece
13. November 2024 - 06. Dezember 2024 gta Ausstellungen, ETH Zürich, Zürich
Opening: 12 November 2024, 6 pm
Introduction to the exhibition with Lydia Xynogala and Philip Ursprung
With food and drinks by Veg Stuff, Christina Kotsilelou, new merchandise by the 750 Mineral Springs of Greece designed by Jason Faulter and a book store by kyklàda.press
Preceded by a symposium: “Water, Resource?”
12 November 2024, 4 – 5.30 pm (in the exhibition)
With Anthony Acciavatti (Yale University / American Academy in Rome), Vanessa Billy (artist), iLiana
Fokianaki (Director of Kunsthalle Bern), Philip Ursprung (ETH Zurich) and Lydia Xynogala (ALOS)
“Perhaps no country in the world possesses a greater abundance of mineral waters than Greece, nor is there any country in which they are less known,” wrote Frederick Strong, the English consul to Bavaria and Hannover in Athens, in his 1842 book Greece as a Kingdom.
The exhibition explores the significance of Thermalism, the practice of ‘taking the waters,’ and the creation of these state-sponsored bath towns, or Loutropolis. It does so by re-enacting two pivotal historic moments:
Greece’s display at the 1878 Paris World Fair with Pericles House where Section V, among various ground speci-mens featured bottles of mineral spring waters. It emerges from a period when the Greek landscape was meticu-lously studied and mapped by scientists, doctors, and writers. For the financially struggling new Greek state, miner-al resources symbolized progress and potential, subject to the scrutiny of the Great Powers. Minerals were not only seen as exploitable resources but also as therapeutic agents.
A re-enactment of Room No. 7 from the 1938 Hygiene Exhibition held during the Metaxas dictatorship features a half-scale replica of a hydrotherapy room, among other artifacts. This exhibit reflects the Greek state’s organized efforts to promote its mineral-rich sites as international destinations for hydrotherapy and leisure tourism in the 1930’s. A water bar displays mineral spring waters collected over the course of four years together with various historic artifacts and fragments of the Loutropolis found during Xynogala’s fieldwork. The exhibition includes com-missioned works by artist Vanessa Billy and photographer Tobias Wootton. The installation of a half-scale bathtub constructed from marble bricks is an ongoing material investigation into waste marble, a collaboration be-tween ALOS / Lydia Xynogala and marble producer Marmyk Iliopoulos. It also includes actions and artifacts by “Friends of the 750 Mineral Springs of Greece” a non-profit association dedicated to the maintenance and preser-vation of an often-overlooked natural resource and cultural heritage.
The exhibition is curated by Lydia Xynogala in collaboration with gta exhibitions.
Greece’s display at the 1878 Paris World Fair with Pericles House where Section V, among various ground speci-mens featured bottles of mineral spring waters. It emerges from a period when the Greek landscape was meticu-lously studied and mapped by scientists, doctors, and writers. For the financially struggling new Greek state, miner-al resources symbolized progress and potential, subject to the scrutiny of the Great Powers. Minerals were not only seen as exploitable resources but also as therapeutic agents.
A re-enactment of Room No. 7 from the 1938 Hygiene Exhibition held during the Metaxas dictatorship features a half-scale replica of a hydrotherapy room, among other artifacts. This exhibit reflects the Greek state’s organized efforts to promote its mineral-rich sites as international destinations for hydrotherapy and leisure tourism in the 1930’s. A water bar displays mineral spring waters collected over the course of four years together with various historic artifacts and fragments of the Loutropolis found during Xynogala’s fieldwork. The exhibition includes com-missioned works by artist Vanessa Billy and photographer Tobias Wootton. The installation of a half-scale bathtub constructed from marble bricks is an ongoing material investigation into waste marble, a collaboration be-tween ALOS / Lydia Xynogala and marble producer Marmyk Iliopoulos. It also includes actions and artifacts by “Friends of the 750 Mineral Springs of Greece” a non-profit association dedicated to the maintenance and preser-vation of an often-overlooked natural resource and cultural heritage.
The exhibition is curated by Lydia Xynogala in collaboration with gta exhibitions.