ART CITIES: Athens-Between Two and Three Meters

The exhibition Between Two and Three Meters at Dio Horia Gallery brings together works by contemporary artists and explores an intermediate scale of works that exceed the human body without becoming monumental. Even before entering the gallery, the exhibition has already begun. In the display windows, three works by Christos Akordalitis (Making Peace, 2025 & Symbiosis, 2022) and The Callas (He was a she was a he, 2022) act as a prologue: they can be observed only from a distance, without direct access. This indirect encounter frames the visitor’s perception, subtly preparing them for the full experience of the gallery space and the direct engagement with the works themselves.

By VikyTrochidou
Photo VikyTrochidou’s Archive

Once inside, the body reacts before the eye. Instinctively, you take a step back to see the works. Viewing ceases to be a fixed point and becomes a shifting distance that is continuously recalibrated.

Among the works that create this constant movement, the black-and-white allegorical Bunny Hop (2015) by Diamantis Sotiropoulos renders a tightly wound allegorical landscape, where animals and plants coexist in visible tension rather than harmony. From a distance, the image reads clearly as a unified whole, while up close, the details reveal the complexity and intensity of the narrative. The work functions at multiple distances, maintaining coherence and allowing for different viewing rhythms.

In other works, the relationship is reversed: form precedes detail, and distance becomes a condition for recognition. In Zoi Gaitanidou’s Eyewitness (2020), the face appears fragmented, with its constituent elements dispersed yet forming a striking overall presence. From afar, it is recognized as a coherent whole, while up close, the details and fragmented surfaces invite careful observation.

Similarly, in Amir H. Fallah’s Reclaimed Relic (2022), the faceless and covered figure gains coherence from a distance, while up close it becomes a field of decorative motifs that delay immediate recognition. Here, scale does not allow for simultaneous readings, as the eye oscillates between form and surface, making the viewer’s movement an essential condition for understanding.

Other works require distance to function. The Callas’ White Light White Heat (2022) evokes, according to the artists, a hazy Cycladic landscape. The subtle shades of light and broad surfaces reveal their full meaning only when viewed as a whole. Similarly, in Ioanna Pantazopoulou’s W.O.F. (Wheel of Fortune) (2018), the complete image can only be grasped from a distance, while up close the surface reveals its material vocabulary (fabric scraps and so-called “magic broomsticks”), elements that point to the work’s spiritual undercurrents. In both works, scale dictates the mode of viewing, and bodily movement becomes a tool for deciphering the work.

Descending to the basement (annex), the experience changes. The smaller space hosts works of smaller scale by the same artists, which require close, careful observation. Materials and gestures that were expressed across large surfaces upstairs are condensed here, and details, textures, and colors are revealed only through proximity. The movement of the body slows, and the gaze concentrates and dedicates itself, creating an experience of careful engagement with the work.

The spatial arrangement defines the relationship between viewer and artwork: the ground floor, with its large-scale works, prompts a step back, while the basement, with its smaller pieces, invites a step forward. The curatorial rationale structures the experience as a progression through different regimes of viewing, foregrounding scale not merely as size but as a device that activates both body and vision.

In a context where the market favors the production of small-scale works, as noted in the press release, the works presented here claim the space they require. They are not monumental, yet they possess the intensity to impose their own rhythm: they compel you to pause, to take distance, to move. Scale does not function as spectacle, but as experience, turning bodily movement into a fundamental condition of understanding.

Participating Artists: Christos Akordalitis, Amir H. Fallah, Zoi Gaitanidou, Ioanna Pantazopoulou, Diamantis Sotiropoulos, The Callas (Lakis & Aris Ionas)

Photo: Chris Akordalitis, Symbiosis, 2022 , Oil on canvas ,150 x 200 x 3 cm, © Chris Akordalitis, Photo VikyTrochidou’s Archive

Info: Dio Horia Gallery, 5 – 7 Lempesi & 16 Porinou St, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, Duration: 12/2-15/3/2026, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-19:00, Sat 12:00-18:00, www.diohoria.com/