Athens’ new contemporary art scene
I just read a really interesting article at The Art Newspaper discussing the new and exciting contemporary art scene in Athens, Greece. Know best for its rich history of Ancient art, the Greek capital is quickly becoming a hot spot for new art, with Gagosian adding a new space in the city.
Work by Manolis Baboussis in ReMap
From The Art Newspaper:
Collector Dakis Joannou remains a significant presence through his Deste Foundation, which shows rotations of works by Jeff Koons, Maurizio Cattelan, Robert Gober, Pawel Althamer and Urs Fischer, among others. But Deste is no longer the only game in town. The Athens Biennale—founded in 2007 by Deste director Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, critic Augustine Zenakos and artist Poka-Yio—put the city on the international contemporary art festival circuit. The second edition (until 4 October) presents more than 150 artists from 30 countries in six separately curated shows, which have drawn visitors despite a venue lacking air conditioning in the former Olympics complex outside the city centre. “Athens was an unexplored place within Europe, a kind of intermediate place in the periphery, but this is changing now,” says Poka-Yio.
Larry Gagosian announced on 25 August that the next addition to his international network of galleries will be in Athens. He will open a 90 sq. m space on upscale Merlin Street on 25 September with a show of Cy Twombly, an artist fond of alluding to classical antiquity. “I am delighted to open a space in the historic city of Athens and we look forward to becoming part of the thriving contemporary art scene of this extraordinary city,” stated the press-shy dealer in the press release. The presence of hugely wealthy Greek collectors and clients is likely to have motivated the new venture, which expands a constellation that includes New York, London, Beverly Hills and Rome and an office in Hong Kong. The director of Gagosian Athens will be Marina Livanos, a shipping heiress whose father’s legendary sisters Athina and Eugenia were married, respectively, to Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos (Athina to both). Marina Livanos, whose family collects art, recently married Andreas Martinos, nephew of Dinos Martinos, another of the country’s top collectors.
Another sign of change in the city is ReMap (until 4 October), a project that allows galleries and independent art groups to exhibit in the city centre during the biennales. A young developer, Iasson Tsakonas, invites exhibitors to install shows and site-specific works in dozens of properties he owns in the Kerameikos and Metaxourgeio neighbourhoods and has encouraged other owners to contribute their properties for exhibitions as well. The district (known as “KM”) includes an important ancient necropolis, but is largely a mix of empty lots, run-down early 20th-century neoclassical apartment buildings and flimsy post-war tenements, many occupied by brothels, drug dealers and immigrant squatters. Bars and restaurants have begun to crop up, but Tsakonas envisages cutting-edge art and architecture transforming the area into a culturally vibrant catalyst for the city’s renaissance.
