Christina Mitrentse, Pillar II

The book from a carrier of information to a sculptural entity

The work of art Pillar II is an iconic example of Christina Mitrentse’s practice, which transforms the book from a carrier of information into an architectural and sculptural entity.

The atlases that compose the sculpture raise its form in space like a column or pole. Each circular layer of books acts as a separate vertebra in this structure. At the same time, the form is reminiscent of:

• An ancient architectural element
• A totem object
• A contemporary monument of knowledge

The choice of the atlas as a material is decisive. These are books that map, organise and interpret the world. Through these processes, they turn geographical information into a system for understanding and controlling space.

With Pillar II knowledge stops being flat and readable and takes on volume, weight and a vertical presence. The artist compresses and stacks the pages, so they form a column that appears to support both the space and the idea of organised knowledge.

The atlas as a structural element of the sculpture

The piece is part of Mitrentse’s wider conceptual axis that connects trees, paper and books to matter, memory and transformation.

In this case, the atlas turns from a main orientation tool into an architectural molecule, a structural element of a sculpture that does not display the world, but rather physically integrates it. It does not merely depict knowledge, it builds it.

A contemporary monument of information

On a historical and artistic level, the sculpture Pillar II is connected to contemporary sculpture, which uses daily or archival materials, but also to the tradition of conceptual art, which re-evaluates the structures of information and authority.

At the same time, the modular construction of the column is a reference to classical architecture and shifts the concept of the support provided by the material to a symbolic level.

Time and accumulation of knowledge become apparent through Mitrentse’s style, which is typified by:

• Intense manual labour
• Repetitive processes
• Emphasis on material layering

In this way, Pillar II serves as a contemporary monument of information. It is a piece that unites architecture with the archive, the body with the book, and turns knowledge into matter and matter into reflection.

Her life in a nutshell

Christina Mitrentse was born in Thessaloniki in 1977. She studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She was subsequently awarded a scholarship by the Onassis Foundation and continued her studies at Chelsea College of Art & Design in London and then at the University of Greenwich.

She is an interdisciplinary artist, an educator and an independent curator. Today she lives and works in Athens and London, and has a long-standing presence in the British artistic scene.

Her style through her work

Her work focuses on books as a form, content and metaphor of human existence, with the aim of exploring the dissemination, organisation and safeguarding of knowledge.

Mitrentse develops narratives and poetic series that connect the physical and digital dimension of information through contemporary creative forms, such as:

• Sculpture
• Sketching
• Silkscreen printing
• Installations
• Video
• Collage
• Wall art

In many of her works, she turns the body and pages of select books into hand-crafted sculptural objects. In this way she explores the “reading of a reading” and the transformation of the original material into a new organisational system.

Participation in exhibitions

Mitrentse has held more than 20 solo and 200 group exhibitions in museums, galleries and public spaces worldwide, including:

• Tate Modern
• The Royal Academy of Arts
• ICA London
• Liverpool Biennial
• MOMus
• EMST
• Acropolis Museum
• Hackney Museum
• Center for Book Arts, New York
• San Francisco Center for the Book

In 2022 she presented the Minumental exhibition at the a.antonopoulou.art gallery in Athens, in collaboration with the international project Add To My Library, with pieces that represented museums, cultural institutions and monuments, using books as their main building blocks.

Her works are part of notable private and public collections, and have been featured in Greek and international publications:

• Onassis Foundation
• Citronne Galleries
• Christina Mitrentse

Christina Mitrentse in the Alpha Bank Art Collection

The following works by Christina Mitrentse are also part of our Art Collection:

• 4 sculptures
• Pinewood King Bolete

Pillar II by Christina Mitrentse is exhibited at the Alpha Bank central branch, 40 Stadiou Street, Athens.

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