MODERN LOVE at ΕΜΣΤ

MODERN LOVE (or Love in the Age of Cold Intimacies) is a major international group exhibition presented from December 2022 - November 2023 at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens. Curated by artistic director Katerina Gregos, it launched the museum’s winter-spring exhibition cycle, which focuses on digital technology and its influence on intimate human relationships.

The subtitle of the exhibition is a reference to Eva Illouz’s book, Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism, which argues that these relationships have become increasingly defined by economic and political models of bargaining, exchange, and equity. It explores the state of love, and human bonds in the age of the Internet, social media, and high capitalism, probing how the digital sphere, the impact of technology giants, and neo-liberal practices have transformed love, social relations, and the way we interact with one another.

Ranked #3 in Hyperallergic’s top exhibtions of 2023, MODERN LOVE includes works by 24 artists from 14 countries, including Gabriel Abrantes (USA/Portugal), Andreas Angelidakis (Greece), Melanie Bonajo (Nicaragua), Candice Breitz (South Africa), Laura Cemin (Italy), Benjamin Crotty (USA), Kyriaki Goni (Greece), David Haines (UK), Juliet Jacques (UK), Sanam Khatibi (Ireland/Belgium), Mahmoud Khaled (Egypt), Duran Lantink (Nicaragua), Ariane Loze (Belgium), Maria Mavropoulou (Greece), Lauren Lee Mccarthy (USA), Kyle Mcdonald (USA), Marge Monko (Estonia), Eva Papamargariti (Greece), Peter Puklus (Romania/Hungary), Yorgos Prinos (Greece), Marijke De Roover (Belgium), Margaret Salmon (USA/UK), Hannah Toticki (Denmark), and István Zsíros (Hungary).