Hale Tenger

DEO in collaboration with the community of the medieval settlement of Vessa presents My Dreams Were Dashed Against Your Walls, its first public art exhibition.

Eight international artists present new, site-specific, large-scale installations as well as existing artworks, transforming the entire village of Vessa into a contemporary art experience.

In these volatile times of global uncertainty, the village of Vessa offers space for a transformative stroll of introspection and redefinition. The winding paths of the settlement, the half-ruined walls and the scenes of everyday life in the stone-built, dead-end streets bear witness to the passage of time, loss and the cyclical patterns of regeneration.

The participating artists share their personal experiences, inviting us to reflect on our human condition. They juxtapose their diverse visual voices with the echoes of the village’s medieval architecture and atmosphere, to present a multimedia poetic narrative in a labyrinthine form.

HALE TENGER
I'd rather open my heart than become comfortable numb, 2024

I'd rather open my heart than become comfortable numb delves into themes of abadonment and isolation resonating on personal, social and political levels.

Tamatas - votive offerings akin to those found in Greek Orthodox churches - overlayed on the inner walls of a house in ruins are accompanied by the sound of joyous children playing at a school break. Alongside the traditional tamatas there are newly handmade tamatas - a bird, a fish, a tree, planet Earth - as symbolic representations of life untouched by human intervention, underscoring the interconnectedness of all life. The fifth tamata - a strawberry - serves as a poignant reminder of innocent lives lost and resilience.

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