The Breeder presents Maria Hassabi and Georgia Sagri at Paris Internationale 2024, 5th floor.

With her sculptures ‘Sitting with my Breath,’ Georgia Sagri invites visitors to interact with two park benches sourced from Athens, each uniquely transformed by incorporating handcrafted glass. The blown glass pieces do more than adorn; they encapsulate a physical manifestation of breathing, offering a materialized snapshot of the artist’s meditative process. ‘I was observing the breathing and giving it a reality in blown glass,’ reflects Sagri. This act of creation resonates deeply with her broader artistic practice, which explores the fragility of our social fabric and the forces that shape our interactions. Her work urges us to pause, reflect, and reconnect—not just with ourselves but with the communal and contemplative space we are all part of.

Georgia Sagri (1979, Athens, Greece) is a visual artist and a tenured professor for Performance at the Athens School of Fine Arts. She studied music and cello at the Athens Conservatoire. She holds a BFA from the Athens School of Fine Arts and an MFA from Columbia University (NYC).

Her works are included in the collections of Fondazione CRC, Kunstmuseum Lichtenstein, National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens, Frac Lorraine, Metz.

Her work has been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries including: Gropius Bau, Berlin (2022); de Appel, Amsterdam (2021); Mimosa House, London (2020); TAVROS, Athens (2020); Portikus, Frankfurt/Main (2018); Kunstverein Braunschweig (2017, 2018); Cycladic Museum, Athens (2017); Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2016); Sculpture Center, New York (2016); KW Institute for Contemporary Art (2016, 2015); Forde, Geneva (2015); Kunsthalle Basel (2014); MoMA PS1, New York (2013); Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2013); Guggenheim Bilbao (2011); MoMA, New York (2011); Macedonian Museum, Thessaloniki (2011); and The Dakis Joannou Collection, DESTE Foundation, Athens (2006). She has also participated in Kiev Biennial (2023), documenta 14 (2017), Manifesta 11 (2016), Istanbul Biennial (2015), Lyon Biennale (2013), Whitney Biennial, New York (2012), Thessaloniki Biennale (2011) and Athens Biennale (2007). Sternberg Press published her first monograph on the occasion of her solo shows Georgia Sagri Georgia Sagri at the Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany (2017, 2018) and Georgia Sagri and I at the Portikus, Frankfurt, Germany (2018). Her book Stage of Recovery was published by Divided Publishing in 2021. She founded Ύλη [matter] HYLE, a semi-public/semi-private space in downtown Athens, Greece. Her solo exhibition Oikonomia was presented at The Breeder in 2023, while in 2020 she took over the facade of the gallery presenting Deep Cut. In June 2023 she participated at Art Basel Parcours. Her solo exhibition CASE O: Between Wars is on view at Kunstmuseum Lichtenstein. Her work is included in the 2024 Cologne Sculpture Park, Germany. Upcoming presentations include the group exhibition The Cynics Republic at Palais de Tokyo in Paris (13 November - 1 December 2024).

Maria Hassabi (b. 1973 Cyprus) is an artist, choreographer and performer, working with live performance, installation, sculpture, photography and video. Since the early 2000s, she has carved a unique practice that concentrates on stillness and the in-betweenness of bodies in motion, highlighting the relation of the live body to the still image and to the sculptural object. Considering conventions, hierarchies and codes existing in theatres, museums, and public spaces, her acclaimed works always reflect the given context of their presentation and are developed in dialogue with a site’s unique architecture both in terms of materiality and function.
Hassabi’s photographs rely on a desire for permanence. The dancer’s body is presented fragmented, contorted and even blurred, yet its stillness, which is at the forefront of her performances as an attempt to invite the viewer to consider the present moment, is now the given. Looking at the objects one can sense the dancer’s presence captured in time and space. These works ultimately challenge distinctions between permanence and ephemerality, presence and absence, wholeness and partialness. Her photographic and video works use material from her live performances as a departure point, while the use of technological tools and approaches are employed to override the limitations that occur within the format of liveness and realness.

Hassabi’s photographic works are in the collections of Deutsche Bank, Onassis Foundation and Dakis Joannou, while the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the TATE in the UK have also added her live installations in their collections.

Her works are presented in festivals, museums, theaters, and public spaces worldwide. Solo exhibitions and presentations include Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2023); LUMA Arles (2022); OGR, Turin (2022); Secession, Vienna (2021); Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis (2019); MUDAM, Luxenberg (2019); Point Center for Contemporary Art, Nicosia (2018); K20, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2017-18); OCC Stegi Athens (2017); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2017); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2016); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2015); The Kitchen, New York (2019, 2016, 2013, 2011, 2006); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2015); Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2014); Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva (2012); Performance Space 122, New York (2007, 2009).

Her works have also been featured in group exhibitions and festivals such as at Thailand Biennale, Chiang Rai (2023); FRONT Triennial, Cleveland (2022); ob/scene Festival, Seoul (2022); Museion, Bolzano (2021); River to River Festival, NY (2021, 2017, 2014, 2012); Gropius Bau, Berlin (2020); Performa, NY (2019, 2013, 2009); Serralves Museum, Porto (2019, 2015); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2018); documeta14, Kassel (2017); the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); Crossing the Line Festival, NY (2016, 2011, 2009); Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (2017, 2016, 2014) amongst others. Hassabi was an Onassis Resident 2019-2022. She received the 2019 Performa Malcolm McClaren Award with Nairy Baghramian; 2016 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award; 2015 Herb Alpert Award; 2012 President’s Award for Performing Arts from LMCC; 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship; 2009 Grants to Artists Award from Foundation for Contemporary Arts. She holds a BFA from California Institute of the Arts.