Hadassah Emmerich - Epicurean Eden

Hadassah Emmerich - Epicurean Eden at EMST (National Museum of Contemporary Art), in Athens.

For almost one year - from December 2023 until November 2024 - the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) in Athens, have been presenting a four-part cycle of exhibitions exclusively dedicated to the work of women artists under the umbrella title What if Women Ruled the World? inspired by the 2017 neon work by Yael Bartana of the same name presented on the North and South facades of the EMST building.

With the re-hang of one entire floor of the museum's permanent collection  and a series of 17 solo exhibitions of Greek and international artists over the course of several months, the entire museum has been gradually taken over by women artists.

This project aims to radically re-imagine what a museum would look like if, instead of a few token pieces, works by women artists were the majority.  Especially in a country like Greece, where there was never a prominent organised feminist movement in the visual arts and women artists were systematically marginalised. This is both an important statement and a redressing of a major imbalance, in terms of sex and art history, aiming to reverse as history of marginalisation and silencing.

In March we saw part of this major initiative and you can see it here

Hadassah Emmerich, Epicurean Eden.

Emmerich has created a new installation which covers part of the museum's frieze on the ground floor foyer and a large part of the Museum's Department of Education space. The result is both immersive and colourful.

Emmerich has become known for her exuberant paintings, collages and murals that intricately weave stylised representations of exotic fruit, body parts  into bold fluid composition ornaments. Her work reflects an immersive and visceral exploration of the body and identity, navigating the realms of the sensory and the sensual while delving into the commodification of desire and the exotic. The sensuality of her painting resides not only on the resplendent surface of the image, but also in her refined use of colour and deft technical execution.

We took the escalator to the first floor where the Education Department is

The column on the right of the escalators

walking round it





and again.

Facing us, the area where the kids play or create

the round column on the right

the square column on the left

detail on the wall.

Finally, Emmerich has devised a new painting technique whereby she creates cut-outs from vinyl flooring, covers them with ink and then impresses them onto canvas, paper or wall. Referring to the visual language of advertising and Pop Art, the artist has fashioned a highly characteristic, kaleidoscopic, fluid aesthetic.