with
Paolo Colombo
Anouk Rigeade
Viktoria Fassianou
Eva Vaslamatzi
Gaëlle Choisne
Constantinos Hadjinikolaou
The project MUSEUM OF FRIENDSHIP X TEMPLE OF LOVE presents the chapter
Sentimental Vocabulary, a unique event taking place on Friday, April 17, from 6
p.m. to midnight. Conceived as a series of talks and artistic interventions, the event is dedicated to the French documentary filmmaker and collector Jean-Marie Drot (1929–2015), a distinctive figure who devoted his life, among other things, to highlighting artistic practices beyond dominant Western narratives.
A pioneer in the use of audiovisual media in the cultural field, Drot became widely
known in 1962 with the French television series “Les Heures Chaudes de Montparnasse”, through which he engaged in in-depth conversations with leading figures of Dada and Surrealism, such as Man Ray, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Cocteau, and Marcel Duchamp.
Although these encounters shaped his reputation, his deeper passion gradually turned toward naïve painting and self-taught artists. In 1968, after discovering an exhibition catalogue from the Mona Lisa Gallery in Paris featuring Yugoslav naïve painters, Drot embarked on a lifelong journey that took him far from major art movements and Western cultural centers. He traveled extensively in Bulgaria, Peru, Brazil, Haiti, Greece, Egypt, and Japan, forming close relationships with artists and assembling an idiosyncratic collection of more than 500 works.
Today, the collection is housed on the island of Ios, in the unusual “house-sculpture” designed by Yannis Gaitis, as well as in a separate building constructed in the 1990s to host most of the collection, the Museum of Friendship. The space itself extends Drot’s philosophy, merging life, architecture, and art into a continuous environment of encounter.
This chapter is part of the program MUSEUM OF FRIENDSHIP X TEMPLE OF
LOVE, curated by Gaëlle Choisne and Eva Vaslamatzi. The first chapter took place at Scuola Piccola Zattere in Venice in May 2025 under the title Temple of Love. Coeur. The Temple of Love is an evolving project by Gaëlle Choisne, shaped by its invitations and locations. Its collaboration with the Museum of Friendship will unfold into additional chapters across Italy, Greece, France, and Haiti.
In the subchapter Sentimental Vocabulary, multiple voices approach the figure of the collector and diplomat Jean-Marie Drot and the stories embedded in his collection through lectures, performances, and interventions unfolding over six hours, as an informal and alternative homage.
The talks and performances will be in English. Admission is free.
With the financial support of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.
.png)
.png)
PROGRAM
6:30 – 7:00 P.M.
Talk: Paolo Colombo, artist
How I Met Drot
7:00 – 7:30 P.M.
Talk: Anouk Rigeade, cultural attachée, French Institute of Athens
Between art and diplomacy
7:30 – 8:00 P.M.
Talk: Viktoria Fassianou, Founding Director, Alekos Fassianos Museum
Mythological pleasure
8:00 – 9:00 P.M.
Open mic – Open invitation for anyone wishing to share memories, thoughts, or stories about Jean-Marie Drot
● poster signing by Gaëlle Choisne
9:00 – 9:30 P.M.
Lecture Performance: Eva Vaslamatzi, curator
Vagabond or sentimental?
9:30 – 10:00 P.M.
Performance: Gaëlle Choisne, artist
Coffee reading
10:00 – 10:30 P.M.
Performance: Constantinos Hadjinikolaou, artist
HOT DROT: La tête farcie
10:30 P.M. – Midnight
Surprise screening of a film by Jean-Marie Drot