NeMe: 1st Athens Biennial

The Athens Biennial aims to be a constant mechanism for the designation and the critical engagement of artistic production, as well as a forum of discussion and exchange with the international scene. For Deutsche Bank, art is a catalyst for communication, and it contributes to the bank's cosmopolitan corporate culture. The collaboration with Deutsche Bank enhances the international scope of the Athens Biennial and secures support for its ambitious projects.

The activities, projects, and various events of the 1st Athens Biennial will commence in September 2006 and will span the whole year, while the 1st Athens Biennial Contemporary Art Exhibition, titled Destroy Athens, will open in 2007. The precise date will be announced in autumn 2006.

Destroy Athens aims to attack stereotyping, so it is inviting artists to a celebration of dissent, which will employ the heretical treatment of the universal and timeless symbol of Athens as a pretext or as a metaphor for an assertion of self-determination.

The Athens Biennial has already enjoyed a positive response for its first project, the online bilingual monthly magazine a. the athens contemporary art review, while the artist-run online radio station artwave radio, with which it collaborates, is scheduled to be launched in summer 2006.

Deutsche Bank's commitment to art is a part of the bank's worldwide dedication to society and culture. Over the past quarter of a century, Deutsche Bank has built up a collection of 50,000 contemporary artworks, the largest and most prominent corporate collection of its kind in the world. The bank opened the Deutsche Guggenheim Exhibition Hall, in partnership with the New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, in 1997. Deutsche Bank recognizes and promotes innovation, thus the bank is also the main sponsor of the Frieze Art Fair, which has been taking place for the past three years in London. In addition, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation is a sponsor of the Whitney Biennial 2006, one of the most important and anticipated events in the contemporary art world. Furthermore, the bank supports young and talented artists by providing the resources they need to tackle new projects through the Deutsche Bank Pyramid Awards Scheme. Finally, within the framework of its cultural activit ies the bank coordinates a number of special events, including exhibitions in various museums, like "The MoMA in Berlin" (2004), where for the first time the collection of MoMA was shown to a great extent outside the United States.

With the kind support of Deutsche Bank, the 1st Athens Biennial aims to organize a truly singular series of events, which will contribute to the ongoing dialogue and creative debates prevalent in contemporary art today.

The 1st Athens Biennial
*Destroy Athens*
Curated by Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, Poka-Yio, Augustine Zenakos