Meeting Point 03: ΕΜΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 2004
Installation, iron, coal, wooden boards, tripods and burlap sacks, Variable dimensions, Loan from the Greek Ministry of Culture to the Collection οf the ΕΜΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens 

Creative description

Yannis Kounellis’s artwork called “Untitled”, created in 2004, is a monumental installation that takes up almost 1/3 of the museum’s largest room. The composition consists of a table in the center, on which are placed 13 burlap sacks filled with charcoal, flanked by 28 massive black metal crosses in a semicircular arrangement. The table is made up of 13 long wooden boards supported by six metal tripods. Each cross is made of iron beams 500 cm long and 330 cm high, corresponding to the height of three and two people respectively. It has a total weight of 145 kg and is mounted at an angle to the ground. 

The representation in relief contains the table in the centre, two of the six A-shaped tripods that support it, four of the 13 sacks of charcoal placed on it and 14 of the 28 oblique crosses that flank it and rest on the horizontal line of the floor. On the right, the pure form of one of the crosses that make up the composition is rendered in thick relief, while the others are rendered in finer relief as a group flanking the table with the sacks, giving the overall visual impression of the artwork.

The combination of the different materials of the installation creates strong contrasts, such as heavy and light, rough and smooth, hot and cold, modern and ancient, evoking the sense of security of a shelter, agony of a war zone, confrontation at barricades or the spirituality of a place of worship. The position of the table at the centre of the composition evokes a sacrificial altar, while the whole space becomes an immersive environment.

Throughout his work, Yannis Kounellis has explored the alienation of contemporary urban society through the juxtaposition of everyday objects and industrial materials that escape the confines of the frame and impose themselves on space. Kounellis introduced new materials into his installations, such as torches, tobacco, charcoal, meat, ground coffee, lead and wooden objects. These ‘humble’ materials, characteristic of ‘poor art’ (arte povera), of which he was one of the pioneers in Italy in the 1960s, evoke memory, carry personal memories, exude nostalgia for the past, and stem from the artist’s interest in industrial and historical spaces.

The creative description of the artwork “Untitled” by Jiannis Kounellis is the result of co-creation by the participants in Meeting Point 03: ΕΜΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens.

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