What If Women Ruled the World?

From December 2023 to November 2024, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (EMST) presents a cycle of exhibitions exclusively dedicated to the work of women artists or artists who identify as female.

Under the broader umbrella title, What if Women Ruled the World?, it will see, in four parts over the course of the year, the entire museum taken over by women artists.

On March 8, 2024, International Women’s Day, Part II will inaugurate six projects by five artists:

Yael Bartana (Israel): What if Women Ruled the World and Two Minutes to Midnight
Curator: Stamatis Schizakis

Claudia Comte (Switzerland): The Origin of the Shockwave Ripple Effect (yellow and turquoise)
Curator: Daphne Vitali

Hadassah Emmerich (Netherlands): Epicurean Eden
Artistic production / Coordination: Yannis Arvanitis 
Supported by the Mondriaan Fund

Lola Flash (USA): SALT
Curator: Ioli Tzanetaki

Malvina Panagiotidi (Greece): All Dreams are Vexing 
Curator: Anna Mykoniati

At the opening on March 8, as part of her installation, Claudia Comte's performance, How to Grow and Stay the Same Shape (Performer: Andrea Tortosa Vidal), will take place at 7:30pm and 8:30pm in the foyer of the Museum. At 9:30pm, Jeanna Criscitiello's musical performance And then there was EVE…. will take place in the exhibition space on the ground floor.

Initiated by EMST artistic director Katerina Gregos and inspired by Yael Bartana's 2017 neon work of the same name—which is now on display on the North and South façades of the EMST building—this cycle of exhibitions is based on an often-repeated hypothetical question: What would happen if governance was characterised by female traits?  

Would there be less violence? Would we observe more justice in leadership? Would this mean the end of wars, armed conflicts and stalemates? Would there be more human rights? Would economic policy be more equitable and with greater concern for the environment and minorities? Or would there be the same obsession with profit, regardless of the human and environmental costs, and the same selfish anthropocentrism that has led us to our current impasses? Would we see more considered discussion and compromise? And, ultimately, would there be more care and empathy? 

These questions are asked not because we argue in favour of the establishment of a matriarchy, but because the programme aims to invite reflection on whether there is an alternative to the dominant patriarchal paradigm that is seemingly leading the world to climate meltdown, environmental degradation and war-induced destruction.

At the same time, it is also a reconsideration of art history, especially in country like Greece, which for years has marginalised or rendered invisible so many women artists

The exhibitions opening for Part II of What If Women Ruled the World? accompany those inaugurated in December 2023 as part of Part I, which include the re-hang of the museum’s permanent collection, entitled WOMEN, together, it features all women artists and the first comprehensive presentation of a number of works from the D.Daskalopoulos Collection Gift to EΜSΤ, as well as three solo exhibitions by Danai Anesiadou (D POSSESSIONS); Leda Papaconstantinou (Time in my hands. A Retrospective); Chryssa Romanos (The Search for Happiness for as Many as Possible); and a series of performances by Alexis Blake. 

Further women artists will be featured in exhibitions opening for Part III on May 11 and Part IV on June 13. 

The exhibitions of Claudia Comte and Hadassah Emmerich form part of the Residency Program of the Project SUB 6.4, “Actions to promote Greek cultural exports and strengthen the Greek cultural name by the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens”, which is implemented within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”, funded by the European Union—NextGenerationEU.

For further information, please contact:
International press: Amanda Kelly, Pickles PR
National Press: Kassiani Benou, EMST

EMST, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens is funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Sports.