In my leisure time series I am interested in recording the open public spaces that host or suggest leisure time. Within the frame of this series I visited Ruegen, an island in the Balitic sea. Ruegen was a favorite place of German Romantic painters like C. D. Friedrich and P. O. Runge.
The reason I visited Ruegen was not the romantic characteristics of a paradise on earth that still are to be found there. Neither the fact that today it is one of the most touristic destinations in Germany, where I could possibly find subjects for my series. The main reason was the “Colossus of Prora”, the 4,5 km long modernistic building that lies along the Prora bay near the glamorous Binz resort. It was designed by the Nazis for mass vacation by the sea and planned to accommodate 20000 vacationers. The war prevented the Nazis from completing the project and the partly finished project was used for military purposes and for leisure activities of DDR military officers. Today the various parts of the building host a Documentation Center, a privately owned cheap fantasmagoric museum, a café-restaurant and recently the biggest youth hostel in Germany. The building’s future uses are unclear because of its sensitive history.
In the photographs of my leisure time series I present contrasting, historically charged spots of Ruegen. The paradise on earth of the Romantics, the idyllic Prora Resort of the Nazis, and the glamorously nostalgic Binz resort.
Eleni Mouzakiti studied German Language and Literature at the University of Athens, the FU Berlin and the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg. She holds an MA in Image and Communcation from Goldsmiths College, University of London. She has received a PHD in Photography from the University of Derby, School of Art Design and Technology. She has been a fellow of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), the Greek State Scholarship Foundation and of the Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. She has exhibited her work widely in Solo and Group Shows in Greece and abroad. Works of her owned by the Portland Art Museum, Oregon, U.S.A., the State Museum of Contemporary Art in Greece, the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography in Greece the ACG Art Collection and private collections. Her portfolios have been published in various magazines, newspapers, group exhibition catalogues and solo exhibition catalogues.
Leisure time
October 19 – November 4, 2012
“Technopolis“ of the City of Athens
Pireos 100, Gazi
Athens, Greece
Hours: Monday-Friday 17:00-22:00, Saturday-Sunday 12:00-22:00
