(Hydra Island, June 2025) – Mnemosyne Projects presents Holly Biörklund and Esteban Fuentes de Maria in “Marble Riddles” exhibition at the Old Carpet Factory historical mansion.
Curated by Tatiana Gecmen-Waldek, the exhibition will present newly commissioned marble pieces, each engaging in a dialogue between minerality and mystery. Through these works, the artists explore the inherent dualities of marble, its historical weight and contemporary resonance, inviting viewers into a space where stone becomes a canvas for riddles both ancient and new.
The exhibition is organized with a generous support from Serpetinis.
- Opening Reception: Sunday, June 22. Details to follow: rsvp@mnemosyneprojects.org
- Live painting performance by Esteban Fuentes de Maria: Wednesday, June 25 at 7:00pm in the garden of the Old Carpet Factory.
CURATORIAL STATEMENT
If stone could speak, what riddles would it reveal?
Each artwork in this exhibition holds a riddle, its content intrinsically mystified. Expressed through metaphor and allegory, not necessarily meant to be decoded, but to be drawn into. The primary layer is the metamorphic material itself, shaped by pressure, heat, and time, dense with geological memory. The second layer is the artist’s unique imprint: intuitive, reflective, and fleeting. Yet, the riddle truly comes alive within the viewer’s subjective apprehension. Marble Riddles drifts between matter and myth, object and enigma, summoning sensitive ingenuity.
Marble Riddles brings together British artist Holly Biörklund and Mexican artist Esteban Fuentes de María in an intimate conversation through fifteen stone paintings. Sharing a lineage in mural painting, a tradition rooted in human migration, cultural exchange, and evolving mythologies. Once ceremonial or spiritual, murals connect them to prehistoric rock art, often monumental and carrying the weight of walls; in Marble Riddles, Biörklund and Fuentes de María turn inward, distilling mural composition into hand-held precious fragments, like the minute scale frescoes once discovered on Hydra, Greece.
The archetypal “noble stone” functions here as both canvas and conceptual armature for their respective approaches; Biöklund and Fuentes de Maria paint the stone with image and rhythm, repurposing leftovers that hover between relic and rêverie, mythology, and symbology.
Biörklund’s iconography whispers of natural spirits and forgotten folklores. Her delicate, layered imagery seems to emerge from the stone itself, suggesting alchemy between imagination and mineral memory, introducing precious talismans intentionally powerful.
Fuentes de María’s Hellenic connoted labyrinths, protective eyes, and Cycladic elements are part of his larger surrealist cosmology, shaped by his deep engagement with myth, history, nature and space. As Michelangelo famously said, for him, the marble already holds the image; the artist merely reveals it.
While each artist maintains a distinct visual anthem, their works, as minute fresco details, invite contemplative, almost up-close scrutiny. Placed within a setting that is part studiolo, part shrine, marmaron becomes eloquent, giving new life to the discarded that might otherwise remain obsolete.
If the riddle, like the fragments, once belonged to a larger mythopoetic frame, might it now influence the creation of one’s personal mythology?
written by Tatiana Gecmen-Waldek
ABOUT MNEMOSYNE PROJECTS
Mnemosyne Projects is a nonprofit curatorial platform committed to preserving sites of memory through artistic and interdisciplinary research. Founded on Hydra Island, it collaborates globally across disciplines, integrating visual art, music, and literature. Mnemosyne Publishing furthers its mission through books, art compilations, musical recordings, and films that bridge past and future narratives.
Visit www.mnemosyneprojects.org or follow on Instagram @mnemosyneprojects
ABOUT OLD CARPET FACTORY
Old Carpet Factory Recording Studio and Art Residency is located on Hydra Island in Greece. Since its founding in 2016 by producer Stephan Colloredo-Mansfeld, the studio has gained international acclaim for its unconventional setting in a remote location, an extensive list of cult vintage and rare analog gear. Art Residency at the Old Carpet Factory founded by curator, researcher and photographer Ekaterina Juskowski in 2019 is a highly selective program with the mission to record and preserve Hydra’s cultural heritage, to support new creative ideas, and to expand access to the unique cultural setting of the island and its community.
Visit www.oldcarpetfactory.com or follow on Instagram @ocfstudio
ABOUT SERPETINIS
Serpetinis has its origins on the Cycladic island of Tinos, known for hosting one of the world’s most prestigious sculpture and marble carving academies. For over a century and a half, the expertise and heritage have been lovingly handed down through successive generations. Given these deep-seated connections to traditional art, Serpetinis has maintained a longstanding partnership with artists and product designers, considering them integral to its existence. In 2023, Kosmas Serpetinis made the decision to establish the Serpetinis Artist-in-Residence program, with the primary objective of fostering a fertile ground for collaboration, the exchange of ideas, and artistic growth by uniting and supporting artists from around the world.
Visit www.serpetinis.com or follow on Instagram @serpetinis_official
MEDIA & PRESS INQUIRIES
Email: press@mnemosyneprojects.org IG:@mnemosyneprojects
EXHIBITION DETAILS
📍 Old Carpet Factory, Hydra Island 🗓 June 20 – 27, 2025 ⏰ Opening Hours: 18:00 – 21:00
Opening reception: Sunday, June 20, 2025 Details to follow: rsvp@mnemosyneprejects.org
Live painting performance on marble by Esteban Fuentes de Maria: Wednesday, June 25, 2025. Details to follow: rsvp@mnemosyneprejects.org
