T.A.M.A.

T.A.M.A.
TEMPORARY AUTONOMUS MUSEUM FOR ALL

"TAMA is located in Avliza, a run-down area in western Athens 10 km from the center of the capital and very close to the new Olympic village. Itinerant populations such as Gypsies and Vlach Romanians from north of Greece use this area as a pied-?-terre. My discovery of the place was accidental, but my involvement in its life was intentional. It came as a natural sequence of my attitude as an artist.I visited the place for the first time in 1998 with my friends Catherina and Michel, looking for old furniture at good prices. But when I found myself there, it was not the antiques that attracted me but the place itself; haphazard layout, unexpected events, unplanned art works, strange people. What I saw there is the concept of a makeshift settlement, a kind of mobile post-urban city which serves its inhabitants' temporary housing needs and economic activities. Everything forms part of this small town. Landscape-clothes-interiors -unfinished buildings- streets -cars -the sky -the people.I started to visit Avliza everyday - I became an addicted visitor. The observation of place and people became my foremost duty.I wanted to become friends with them, to participate in their fiestas, to share their problems, to listen to their thoughts and needs; after a long try I had it, and a strong relationship started. The nomadic way of living and the particularities of the community gave me the idea of setting up a system of communication and exchange among the inhabitants, myself, the art people and the public. In a very short time I realized that all my friends and associates wanted to participate in this story which I call a temporary autonomous museum for all."

Maria Papadimitriou