The Greek National Garden "as a field on which the contemporary narratives of Athenian civic life play out," has inspired Socratis Socratous’ first solo exhibition Six Open Gates and a Closed One at the Breeder Gallery on April 2- May 16.

Situated in the center of Athens and formerly known as the Royal Garden, the National Garden was commissioned by Queen Amalia in 1838 and designed by German agronomist Friedrich Schmidt who imported over 500 species of plants and a variety of animals including peacocks, ducks, and turtles.

Socratous views the Garden’s contemporary vegetation as an allegorical microcosm of current Athenian society, where Greeks and migrants live side-by-side. Depending on one’s point of view, this new (bio) diversity can be as seen as an enriching element of multiculturalism, modernity and progress, or as an economic and cultural threat.