PROJECT SLAUGHTERHOUSE

A former abattoir transformed into a distinctive contemporary art venue

A summer project space perched above the sea

Greek Cypriot industrialist and art collector Dakis Joannou founded the DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art in 1983 to support emerging artists in Greece, Cyprus, and Switzerland.

As the collection grew, so did DESTE’s mission. In 2009, Joannou expanded to Hydra, transforming a former abattoir into the Slaughterhouse Project, a summer space perched above the sea. It has since hosted annual solo exhibitions from his collection.

Apollo Wind Spinner by Jeff Koons

Curator & Art Collector, Dakis Joannou

‘UNTIL THAT DAY’ BY NARI WARD

Exhibition open throughout August on Hydra

This year, the Slaughterhouse Project on Hydra features Until That Day, an exhibition by Nari Ward (b. 1963, St. Andrew, Jamaica; lives and works in New York), who is renowned for his sculptural installations composed of discarded material found and collected in his neighborhood. By re-contextualizing these found objects, Ward creates thought-provoking juxtapositions that address social and political issues surrounding race, poverty, and consumer culture.

  • Until That Day addresses the social and political realities of the African population in Greece, a community that has lived in the region throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For the exhibition at the Slaughterhouse on Hydra, I invited Aggelos Aggelou—a singer whose music reflects the storied traditions of the Greek folk genre rebetika—as well as other Afro-Greek musicians to perform a response to the 1963 address by His Majesty Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, to the United Nations, a speech in which he pleads for global cooperation between nations. The title of the exhibition takes its name from Selassie’s refrain: “until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained.” Selassie’s warning—which Bob Marley adapted in the lyrics to his 1976 song “War”—was that humanity will never reach its full potential unless we recognize and uplift each other across national and racial boundaries. This has resonances across world history, including the present-day alienation and disenfranchisement of African immigrants and refugees within Greek society. It is my hope—especially as the world plunges deeper into nationalism and xenophobia—that this project will shine a light not only on the struggles of the Afro-Greeks but also on their vibrant and varied cultural contributions. Their presence in this country makes it stronger; we will sing of it “until that day” it is embraced.

    -Nari Ward