FOR THOSE OF YOU who would like to experience a deep dive into contemporary art in all its diversity and trends, then Art Athina is the place to go. The art fair turns 30 this year, and has gotten bigger and better over the years, with a more international character, plus interesting projects accompany its plethora of art. This year, with a new structure and new staff, Art Athina, the largest annual art event in Greece, will take place from Thursday, September 14, to Sunday, September 17, 2023, at the Zappeion Mansion under the patronage of H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The International Art Fair of Athens, one of the oldest in Europe, is organized by the Hellenic Art Galleries Association. A total of 67 art galleries from Greece and nine other countries will participate in this year’s anniversary edition. It includes, among other things, a rich program of parallel events, honors, discussions and educational activities.

This year’s special event focuses on the broader collaboration of a group of young, dynamic curators and, at the same time, on the dialog between art galleries from Greece and abroad. The Zappeion Mansion will act as a meeting point and osmosis for the proposals of visual artists, whether represented by local galleries or those traveling to Athens from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Poland and Romania.

The main exhibition program is consistently framed by a variety of actions that include: Projects, presenting independent art spaces, curated by Olympia Tzortzi; Talks, discussions with distinguished guests, around four different thematic axes, curated by Danae Giannoglou; the section dedicated to Video, curated by Akis Kokkinos, with the aim of bringing the audience in contact with innovative visual material; and the section focused on performative art, Performance, curated by Panos Giannikopoulos, with works and proposals presented for the first time to the audience of the Art Fair of Athens. Kids’ Educational Program, conceived by the non-profit international social organization for contemporary art and culture KROMA, for children from six years old, teenagers and their companions, introduces young people to art and helps to raise a new generation of art lovers. 

Of particular interest to design lovers this year are two separate participations to Art Athina 2023. The first is the exhibition “In Conversation with a Chair” by Mare Studio, in which the chair – an ordinary utilitarian object – is transformed into an exhibit that brings us closer to Greek tradition, design and craftsmanship, which summarizes more than 100 years of history and bears the signature of Greek artists. The “secret” garden of the Zappeion Megaron is the backdrop for the second project, titled “Zappeion Garden x BlueCycle”. BlueCycle is the only Greek social company of the blue and circular economy that approaches the goal of protecting the marine environment holistically. As part of Art Athina, BlueCycle will design a complete garden project with furniture and objects that bear its visual and environmental stamp.

A specially designed space will be dedicated to the 30th anniversary album of Art Athina, published by the Panhellenic Association of Art Galleries and curated by Yiannis Asdrachas. Important moments, historical figures, artists and personalities of visual and political life that have been present during these three decades in which the Athens foire has taken its own and particularly important path, will be discoverable at the stand designed by Stavros Papagiannis.

For the second time, in collaboration with the MOMus Museum Alex Mylona, one of the five museums of the Metropolitan Organisation of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki (MOMus), the Art Athina Prize for the promotion of artistic creation will be given to a new artist. Eligible are artists up to 45 years old, living and working in Greece, proposed by the gallery representing them, where they have had at least one solo exhibition.

The galleries participating in Art Athina 2023 are in detail:

a.antonopoulou.art, agathikartalos, ALIBI GALLERY, ALKINOIS, Allouche Benias Gallery, alma gallery, ARGO GALLERY, Art Appel Gallery, Art Zone 42 Gallery, ARTFORUM Gallery, Artshot – Sophia Gaitani, Arusha Gallery /Scotland, ASTROLAVOS Art Galleries, Athens Art Gallery, Batagianni Gallery, CAN Christina Androulidaki Gallery, CITRONNE Gallery, Claas Reiss / London, UK, Crux Gallery, Dio Horia, ekfrasi-yiannagrammatopoulou, Eleftheria Tseliou Gallery, ELENI KORONEOU GALLERY, Enari Gallery /Netherlands, ENIA GALLERY, EPsilon Art Gallery, Ewa Opalka Gallery / Razem Pamoja Foundation/Poland, Fabienne Levy/Switzerland, FRANCOISE HEITSCH / Germany, Galerie “7, Galerie ArtPrisma, Ersi Gallery, LTECGallery Gallery / MAMA CONTEMPORARY / Cyprus, Genesis gallery, GRAMMA EPSILON GALLERΥ, IAGA Contemporary Art / Romania, igni, Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Center, Kalfayan Galleries, Kappatos Gallery, KORAI PROJECT SPACE, Lola Nikolaou Gallery, Mare studio, Marginalia Gallery /Cyprus, Michael Janssen Berlin /Germany,  Mihalarias Art, MISC, NIL GALLERY / France, Nitra Gallery, One Minute Space, pal project / France, PAPATZIKOU GALLERY, Peritechnon Karteris, Rebecca Camhi gallery, Rodeo, ROMA GALLERY, Sealed Earth Gallery, Sianti Gallery, Skoufa Gallery, Space52, Technohoros art gallery, THE BREEDER, The Edit Gallery / Cyprus, Thermia Project, Wilhelmina’s /Hydra, Luxembourg, XIPPAS / France, Switzerland,  Uruguay, zina athanassiadou gallery  The new team of Art Athina 2023 consists of Antonis Kourkoulos – general coordinator -, Marina Fokidis – artistic direction consultant -, Olympia Tzortzi – curator of Projects-, Danae Giannoglou – curator of Talks-, Panos Giannikopoulos -curator of the Performance section−, and Akis Kokkinos -curator of the Video section. 

The visual identity of the anniversary edition of Art Athina 2023 and its catalog will be designed for the seventh time by the award-winning team of G Design Studio.

The Athens fair is organized by the Panhellenic Association of Art Galleries and produced by Be Best. The event is about to be included in the Regional Program “Attica 2021-2027”.

For more info: https://www.facebook.com/artathina.gr and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/art_athina
Visit our website http://www. aavirtual. gr 

‘Art Scene Athens’ is written/run by artist/journalist Stella Sevastopoulos. Dedicated to presenting what is happening on the Greek art scene (but not only), and also to giving Greek artists an international voice on the internet. For more on Stella Sevastopoulos’s art, click here