Visual Art

Co-presented by BAM and the Onassis Cultural Center New York

Brooklyn-based Greek artist Ioanna Pantazopoulou presents a new installation suspended from the ceiling in the stairwell of the BAM Harvey Theater. A.M.T.P. (A Mad Tea Party), is a sprawling, suspended, sculpture that depicts a topsy-turvy, fantastical, upside-down tea party, where cups and saucers are replaced by mirrors and coconuts, architectural teapot mountains, and colorful dusters and crystals under a fake life-size palm tree. Dining accoutrements become undomesticated, while furniture is sliced like food. As these practical objects are dissected and reconfigured, they transform into the unworkable, guarding against the belief that the world is simple and can be known with certainty. In Pantazopoulou’s conception, this deconstruction is a manifestation of capitalistic power, and in embracing disorder, she criticizes our often-tacit acceptance of excess, inviting audiences to reinterpret our and our society’s relationship to materialistic consumption.