Exchange Program Thessaloniki – Leipzig 2024 at HALLE 14 – The road-map to my project
My Residency ended with the “Open Studio”. The two months I spent in Leipzig were very important and fruitful for the continuation of my research and my work. I am grateful to HALLE 14 – Zentrum für zeitgenössiche Kunst, the Goethe-Institute in Thessaloniki, the City of Leipzig and the Committee that chose me for the Residency. Without them my project would not have been possible. The work started in Leipzig will, definitely, continue in the near future.
A view from the open studio and my research
Despoina Vaxevanidi, Leipzig, August ’24
In February ’24 I was preparing my contribution for the exhibition «Visualbility», which was to be presented in Thessaloniki. In that visual exhibition, the artistic and social fields were directly involved. At the same time TV news reported continuously on the labour marches in Europe. This combination directed my interest towards the fascinating idea to work on the melting of labour history into art. My initial idea was enhanced when I start to dive into the history of Thessaloniki (old name: Salonica). Salonica was actually in the beginning of 20th century a regional trade centre of Ottoman Empire inhabited by Christians, Muslims and Jews.
The Socialist Workers’ Federation of Salonica was established, after the Young Turk revolution of 1908. The Federation was indeed unique in several respects and has attracted much attention from historians. My own interest was aimed to the fact that Federation membership was open to all workers, regardless of their religion and/or ethnicity. That’s why during my stay in Leipzig my work elaborated questions related to the labour and social rights, it used tools that contributed to the spreading of social messages and claims for better living conditions, inclusively for all members of society.
My project started with a research about the common elements of labor movement history in Thessaloniki and Leipzig. It was personalized via two prominent socialists, namely Abraham Benaroya (1887-1979) in Thessaloniki and Karl Liebknecht (1871-1919) in Leipzig. Βοth cities were regional centers of large empires with strong industrial development and multinational character. Then my work was related mainly with the triptych “freedom – happiness – peace” representing both teamwork and individuality.
Leipzig and Thessaloniki in the 19th and early 20th centuries shared a common status as belonging to multinational empires with a strong craft/industrial tradition. They were powerful centers but not capitals of states, which may have facilitated the flourishing of groups inspired by progressive political theories. Reference could be made to the first German labor party founded in Leipzig on 1863 and to the Socialist Workers’ Federation of Salonica (Ottoman name of Thessaloniki) established in 1909, both fighting for the rights of the workers of their time.
It should be noted that whilst Karl Liebknecht is a recognizable figure in the world history of labour movement, Abraham Benaroya is, as a matter fact, a rather unknown figure in the corresponding Greek history.
My residency is coming to an end and I am presenting my work so far. It was a fruitful residency indeed. It produced important ideas. It is the beginning of a new research that I plan to continue for a quite time after leaving Leipzig.
Nowadays, in the age of Industry 4.0 and Artificial Intelligence social-economic conditions are different than those in the dawn of the 20th century. However, an approach remains constantly valid: “Knowledge is power, power is knowledge”. This constitutes a focal point to my artistic and social practice.
Abraham Benaroya (1887-1979)
He was born Bulgarian of Jewish descent (Vidin, 1887), studied law in Serbia (but never accomplished his studies), was an Ottoman citizen, spoke six languages, was a teacher and printer in Bulgaria, but he said he preferred to do humble work to be close to the proletariat. He became a Greek politician when Thessaloniki, the Balkan Jerusalem, became Greek territory (1912) , survived the Nazi concentration camps and died as an Israeli (1979).
He was the founder (1909) of the famous Labor Union of Thessaloniki, which went down in history as the Federation, where workers or any origin were welcomed: Jewish, Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Ottomans as nationality was considered a secondary issue. The key in his opinion was social consciousness and internationalism. He published a newspaper in four languages (Solidaridad Obradera), founded the labor center of Thessaloniki. The great strikes of 1908 were organized by him. In 1915 he was elected member of parliament.
He was one of the first socialists, later a communist, as he worked for the establishment of SEKE, later KKE (Greek Communist Party). In 1924 he was expelled from the KKE as an opportunist.
Benaroya remained politically active but as he stayed outside the principal political formations of the left, his capacity for action was increasingly restricted. In Salonika he had a difficult life. In the 1940s he lost a son in the war against Mussolini, survived the concentration camps, and led a small Socialist party after his return to Greece. He emigrated to the promising land of Israel in 1953; he was then installed in Holon where he died in 1979, aged ninety two, in utter poverty but indomitable in spirit.
Indicative bibliography
AKTSOGLOU, Iakovos J. The emergence/development of social and working class movement in the city of Thessaloniki (working associations and labor unions). Balkan studies, 1997, 38.2: 285-306.
https://ojs.lib.uom.gr/index.php/BalkanStudies/article/view/3059/3083
COHEN-RAK, Nicole. Salonique en 1911 á travers la solidaridad ovradera. Revue des Études Juives, 1989, 148.3: 477-485.
ILICAK, H. Sükrü. Jewish socialism in ottoman Salonica. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 2002, 2.3: 115-146.
GREBING, Helga; SARAN, Mary. The history of the German labour movement: A survey. 1985.
LEWKOWICZ, Bea. The Jewish community of Thessaloniki: An exploration of memory and identity in a Mediterranean City. London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom), PhD thesis, 1999.
MARKETOS, Spyros. Avraam Benaroya and the Impossible Reform. JUSTICE-Special Issue: Remember Salonika, 1999, 38-43.
http://marxists.anu.edu.au/subject/jewish/benaroya.pdf
MAZOWER, Mark. Salonica, city of ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews 1430-1950. Vintage, 2006.
Visual material
Käthe Kollwitz: In Memoriam Karl Liebknecht, third and final version, 1920
https://www.kollwitz.de/en/in-memoriam-karl-liebknecht-kn-159
Karl Jakob Hirsch: Poster urging people to join the KPD (Spartacus League) [Karl Liebknecht], 1919.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacus_League#/media/File:Hinein_in_die_KPD!_(cropped).jpg
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As an artist, I have the right to extract the emotional value from everything, to let it act on me and then to represent it. Therefore,
I have the right to depict the farewell of the workers at Liebknecht’s funeral, even to dedicate the work to the workers, without following Liebknecht’s political path.«
Käthe Kollwitz, Diaries, October 1920