A popular French TV anchorman photographed ... Venetians. And he exhibits in Venice

He is one of the most popular TV presenters in France: we are talking about Nikos Aliagas (Paris, 1969), a Frenchman of Greek descent, known because he has continuously hosted the transalpine version of the program The Voice since 2012. After a career in TV, which moreover continues at a high level, now Aliagas is also discovering himself as a photographer. And he is exhibiting his works in Venice. In fact, the Golden Tree Foundation will host his solo exhibition in the more than 400 square meters of the ground floor and courtyard of Palazzo Vendramin Grimani from February 4 to April 2, 2023. Entitled Nikos Aliagas. Regards Vénitiens, the exhibition is the result of a new artistic residency that began in July 2022 and ended last December.

Nikos Aliagas walks the Venetian calli to meet those who are not seen in the city: the inhabitants, that is, those who avoid the gazes of tourists’ lenses. This project germinated and grew in the artist’s soul when Nikos Aliagas, at the invitation of the Golden Tree Foundation, first visited the lagoon and was able to observe its mysterious and fascinating reality. At that moment, the idea was born to really look inside Venice, exploring the world that revolves around Palazzo Vendramin Grimani. Nikos Aliagas’ lens travels through the extraordinary everyday life of campo San Polo, through the sestiere of which it is the heart and among the Venetian glimpses, and lets the images tell the stories of those who live and bring these places to life. Nikos Aliagas’s images are in black and white: the artist explores contrasts, backlighting, and movement within shots in which straight and curved lines marry, for example on a face or at the corner of a calle. “Is it still possible to improvise in Venice? In a city photographed millions of times by passing eyes? Yes,” the artist replies, “if we start from the principle that it is Venice that is watching and observing us.”

Nikos Aliagas. Regards Venitiens is part of the strand of work dedicated to photography that the Golden Tree Foundation has initiated since the first exhibitions presented at the palace, with the evocative photographic testimonies of artist Patrick Tourneboeuf and Venetian artist Ugo Carmeni, and structurally complements the Foundation’s rich programming, consolidating the rebirth of this historic place of artistic transmission, exchange and enhancement. The objective of a solid cultural promotion is constantly flanked by a program of activities to support research and artistic production, thanks to the residency formula that plays a fundamental role in the support and co-production of exhibitions since their conception. Aliagas’ work, as well as Bosco Sodi’s, will be closely linked to the impact of his stay in Venice, and his photographs will constitute a body of original works created specifically for the exhibition moment at Palazzo Vendramin Grimani.

Internationally renowned journalist and television and radio host, Nikos Aliagas is also a self-taught photographer with a gentle gaze who already has some 30 exhibitions in Europe to his credit. His “pilgrimage of observation” has led him to immortalize a Venice full of humanity, secrets and distant echoes, through hands, faces in which the passage of years has carved the furrows of a life, everyday moments or landscapes he chooses by instinct. “Venice does not wait for you,” says Aliagas. “The city of the Doges has a space-time of its own, a look of its own at this noisy crowd that visits it. It almost seems to feel the city’s indifference to those who want to immortalize it with a camera: it is actually her watching us. I have never felt anywhere else this very strange feeling of being watched by thousands of gazes, by the eyes of yesterday and today.”

Behind his camera, Nikos Aliagas does not capture faces; instead, he tries to capture the essence of each person, the mystery of our ephemeral existence. Indeed, the traces of time are one of the favorite themes of artist Nikos Aliagas, who aims to capture an instant suspended in the relentless finiteness of a life. His exhibitions bear tender and nostalgic witness to this quest.

Born to Greek parents, Nikos Aliagas took French nationality at age 18. After graduating in Modern Literature from the Sorbonne, he worked for RFI and Radio Notre-Dame before joining Euronews. A polyglot, TV and radio journalist and host, he has been a reporter for the Union Libre program on France 2, news anchor in Greece, NRJ’s morning program, and numerous other radio programs on Europe 1, including the morning program. He has worked for more than 20 years for TF1, whose flagship programs he has hosted and hosts, including Star Academy and The Voice, as well as numerous other entertainment programs that have introduced audiences to some of the most prominent singers in the French art scene.

Nikos Aliagas is also a photographer. His works are exhibited in France (La Grande Arche, la Conciergerie, DIDAM in Bayonne, Christie’s ...) and abroad (Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, ...). Nikos Aliagas reveals a vision of the world full of humanity, through hands, faces in which the passage of years has carved the furrows of a life, everyday moments or landscapes, which he highlights through the contrasts of black and white. Empathetic with the subjects he photographs, close to the artistic sensibilities of Salgado, Koudelka or Artikos, Nikos Aliagas tries to capture the essence of people, the mystery of their existence. His work was published in 2018 in the artist’s book L’épreuve du temps, published by La Martinière. Photographic work has occupied an important place in Nikos Aliagas’ career for many years, as evidenced by his annual exhibitions in France and abroad. He is called upon to participate in major projects such as the City of Paris greeting card, the Amis du Louvre’s cultural patronage campaign, or the Paris firefighters’ calendar. Nikos Aliagas carries out his career as an anchorman, journalist and concert photographer building bridges between these different worlds to always highlight the people he meets and the stories he tells through the small screen and the lens of his camera.

Nikos Aliagas,

Nikos Aliagas,

Nikos Aliagas,

Nikos Aliagas,

A popular French TV anchorman photographed ... Venetians. And he exhibits in Venice

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