PRESENTATION: Tatlin’s Dream. Utopias. The Eternal Return

Vladimir Tatlin was central to the birth of Russian Constructivism. Often described as a “laboratory Constructivist,” he took lessons learned from Pablo Picasso’s Cubist reliefs and Russian Futurism, and began creating objects that sometimes seem poised between sculpture and architecture. He wanted above all to bend art to modern purposes and, ultimately, to tasks suited to the goals of Russia’s Communist revolution.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Dimitris Trikas Archive

Beyond the ill-starred attempts of the Athenian philosopher to inscribe his “Republic” upon the earth, Plato’s vision endures as a fountainhead—nourishing Thomas More’s Renaissance “Utopia” and inspiring the lineage of writers whose works, ever since, have borne the name that More bestowed. From the dawn of early modernity in the 16th century to the communist horizon of Marx, utopian designs have rarely been mere exercises of the mind or mystical contemplations. They have often aspired to be blueprints of real transformation, conceived as solutions to the deadlocks of social and political existence. What begins as vision gradually hardens into doctrine, a program accompanied by strategies for realization—the dream, at least in intention, seeks incarnation. From Plato and the earliest Christian utopias to Marx’s communist promise, and to today’s fevered fantasies of migrating to Mars in search of refuge, history has recorded imaginative escapes—sometimes luminous, sometimes violent—from the burdens of the troubled Here and Now. The record of human striving reveals a persistent search for a better world, a testament to imagination’s power to shape both thought and action. The exhibition “Tatlin’s Dream. Utopias. The Eternal Return” turns its gaze toward the images—or rather the multiplicity of images—of utopia. It seeks to trace these states and trajectories of the human mind, while also probing the existential, social, and political urgencies that sustain them as unceasing demands directed toward the future. To historicize the utopian impulse is worthwhile; but more urgent is to interrogate its resonance today, and its necessity for what lies ahead. Utopias as Eutopias, but also as Dystopias: a powerful past forming a terrestrial tradition, and a future that unsettles us with questions of the post-human, shaped by new technologies, striving to master its own evolution, to challenge the divine, and to survive in the face of ecological catastrophe. The artists featured in the project explore the utopias that shape and illuminate human existence. Their works trace a continuum from the past, revealing the richness of human imagination and desire, to visions of the near and distant future. From the intricate fantasies of steampunk to the neon-lit worlds of cyberpunk, they confront profound existential, ethical, and political dilemmas emerging as humanity approaches the era of the post-human. In these explorations, utopia becomes both mirror and lens—reflecting our deepest hopes and anxieties while questioning the very foundations of what it means to live, to aspire, and to imagine beyond ourselves. In weaving together past, present, and speculative futures, the exhibition and its accompanying public program invite audiences to reflect on the eternal return of human aspiration: the persistent striving to transcend the limits of the Here and Now, and to envision worlds that challenge, inspire, and illuminate the paths yet to come.

Participating Artists: Dimitris Alitheinos, Dimitris Ameladiotis, Filippos Vasileiou, Kostis Velonis, Babis Venetopoulos, Vasilis Vlastaras, Stratis Vogiatzis, Antonis Volanakis, Vasilis Gerodimos, Nikos Giavropoulos, Giannis Grigoriadis – Giannis Isidorou, Sofia Damouli, Anastasia Douka, Giorgos Drosos, Katerina Zafeiropoulou, Thodoros Zafeiropoulos, Pinelopi Thomaidi, Nantia Kalara, Fotini Kalle, Babis Karalis, Zisis Kotionis – Marianthi Efthimiou, Alex Louloudis, Architects of the Whale (Iris and Lida Lykourioti), Eirini Mantinau, Anastasīs Meletis, Nikos Moschos, Eleni Mouzakitou, Mania Benisi, Katerina Botsari, Nourako, Maria Papanikolaou, Dana Papachristou, Pinelopi Petsini, Nikos Podias, Panos Profitis, Dimitris Rentoumis, Kyrillos Sarris (1950–2024), Fani Sofologi, Marios Spiliopoulos, Athanasia Tsatsou, Giorgos Tserionis, Maro Fasouli, Marios Fournaris, Gioula Chatzigeorgiou, Marios Chatziprokopiou – Antonis Antoniou (video editing), Ce_Lab (Christos Charisis and Eleni Molyva), Kostas Christopoulos, Poka Yio

Photo: Dimitris Rentoumis, Untitled (Wall composition no.2), 2025, Dimensions variable, © Dimitris Rentoumis, Courtesy the artist

Info: Curator: Dimitris Trikas, Athens Conservatoire, Rigillis & Vasilissis Georgiou B 17–19, Athens, Greece, Duration: 2/10-1/11/2025