The Historian and Critic of Art Dr Constantinos V. Proimos notes: “The right to hospitality, appearing in literature from Homer to Emmanuel Levinas, establishes a long tradition of hospitality extended to the foreigner and the local that has never really disappeared but has been a value inherent in all European societies. Of course hospitality as a right and a divine obligation was soon converted to hospitalitas, a Christian charity in the late Middle Ages, when the term appeared and, according to Emile Benveniste, akin to hostility. It seemed that the transition that was then made was from unconditional to conditional hospitality. As Jacques Derrida claims: We will always be threatened by this dilemma between, on the one hand, unconditional hospitality that dispenses with law, duty, or even politics, and, on the other, hospitality circumscribed by law and duty. One of them can always corrupt the other, and this capacity for perversion remains irreducible. It must remain so.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue that includes an introduction by Dr Proimos entitled Philoxenia - Limits, Challenges and Strengths of an Ancient Greek Concept in Today’s Europe, and extensive texts and comments by curator Rogakos, as much for the entire exhibition, as more specifically for the participating works. The catalogue fully illustrates all the exhibits.
 
The Welcome exhibition is part of the program “CHANIaRT 2016 - Visual Routes in Chania,” and is the first part of the triptych tribute of the Contemporary Art Museum of Chania - Olivepress to Hospitality & Immigration, which further includes the exhibitions Natassa Karakatsani - Destination Unknown and Katerina Kalogeraki - Bridging Cultures. The exhibition is co-organized by the Region of Crete, the Regional Unit of Chania, the Municipality of Platania, the University of Crete, the University of Ioannina, the International Society for Cultural-Historical and Activity Research, the Morfes Art Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chania - Olivepress.

The Morfes Art Gallery was founded by Ilias Iliakis in 1991 in the heart of the Old Town of Rethymno. The aim of its operation is the conscious artistic decentralization and responsible information of art lovers for art trends that emerge in modern and contemporary art. The Morfes Art Gallery organizes individual and group exhibitions from all fields of contemporary art. The criteria of the works it presents are based on the quality and authenticity of artistic creation by bringing in direct contact Cretans with art theorists, artists, their works and contemporary artistic researches.

The Non-Profit Cultural Organisation Olivepress - Art Factory was created in order to save from desolation and ruin the Old Olive Mill of Agricultural Cooperative at Zymbragou in Chania, Crete. Its new aim is to accommodate on its premises various arts and cultural events, transforming it into a community centre and a place of memory in the inland of the island.