The artist Maria Papadimitriou (Athens, 1957) focuses her work on social and human relationships through interactive installations which combine different media: video, painting, installation, photography and performance. Standing out among her work is her participation in the 2001 and 2002 Manifesta 4 in Frankfurt and the XXV Biennial in São Paulo as the representative of Greece, with her photographs of the T.A.M.A (Temporary Autonomous Museum for All) project, located in a run-down area of Athens, a transit for nomadic Gypsies coming from Romania. It is a collective, interactive work involving these populations, where the artist offers a series of constructions that the nomads complete however they wish with their own aesthetic sense, by way of integration and improvement in their quality of life.
Papadimitriou has created, specifically for Espacio Uno, a participatory installation called We'll Meet Again, the title of a popular song during World War II. Like most of her work, this new work promotes social and communicative interaction in regards to issues such as nomadism, forced displacement, conflict and loss, in this case from the perspective of a soldier.
In the installation the artist combines fictional references to historical events, and introduces concepts of pleasure and entertainment as key components. Her creation contains audio-visual elements that she combines with references to entertainment in popular American culture, especially war movies where spectacles of animation of the troops are highlighted.
The artist deliberately creates a sweetened and nostalgic installation; the result evokes an atmosphere of a cabaret that invites the spectator to participate, both visually and emotionally. We'll meet again works as a metaphor for the current state of the world, without resorting to an open narrative or adopting an ideological position. It is not so much about an open politicisation; it seeks to unite people, build relationships and emotional points of contact.
Papadimitriou’s installation causes an individual rather than collective resonance, with a critical and nostalgic ambivalence, evoking feelings that range from euphoria to pleasure and even cynicism and melancholy.
