History

In November 2000, Els Hanappe Underground opened as a gallery for contemporary art in Athens, Greece. The gallery's mission is to introduce international artists to the Greek cultural scene and to promote young Greek artists abroad.

Els Hanappe Underground is located
in Psyrri, a popular neighbourhood with an Eastern feel and buzz.
Outdoor sellers compete with overflowing shop windows, beggars and stray dogs switch places in the shade. It is an artists' paradise; everything is for sale, from a needle to an anchor. One can visit the extensive meat, fish and vegetable markets or bargain with the East-European cigarette and perfume smugglers. Trendy bars, restaurants, shops and galleries co-exist with local workshops and artisans; lively outdoor cafes alternate with lovely old churchyards. Behind one of the Byzantine churches, on a quiet side street, is the entrance to Els Hanappe Underground. A big metal door opens up to a marble stairway that leads you down into the gallery. Here, one can take a break from the hubbub of the city, contemplate a work of art, leaf through a magazine from the library, discuss or chat with visiting artists, while sitting on the cushioned ledges around the walls.

Els Hanappe Underground has shown a tendency towards exhibitions by artists born in the 60s and 70s whose concern is pretty much related to the heritage of that era, and the influence of high and late modernism. References are made to other fields including advertising, architecture, and music, expressed in a multitude of media, most notably drawing, a focus on new sculpture, and video. The gallery is increasingly intent on creating a dialogue on the nature of contemporaneity, bringing together seemingly opposite sides such as the socio-political interpretations of the world - often through the use of the documentary style, with reflections as expressed through the more traditional and formal media such as painting and sculpture.

Els Hanappe is an art historian who has worked in Greece for more than 10 years. Previous activities include the organisation of exhibitions at The Soap Factory, and the setup of C3A, Contemporary Art Archive, a website, database and documentation center introducing emerging Greek artists.