IN RECENT YEARS Piraeus’s art scene has developed in interesting directions, with new galleries opening and offering visitors a most contemporary art experience. Apart from the more established galleries of Prisma and Kapsiotis, and the impressive Municipal Gallery of Piraeus, which holds many outstanding exhibitions, there are also some relatively new kids on the block that have really sky-rocketed the contemporary art experience in Piraeus, such as Sylvia Kouvali, The Intermission, DL and Enia. In a two-part series, Art Scene Athens will present aspects of the art scene of Piraeus. So, to start with, let’s head to Polidefkous street, where two stone-built warehouses of the 1900s have become ultra-contemporary galleries. In close proximity, and on the same street, another of these warehouses has become the very chic Paleo wine bar, which allows the district’s art visitors to also enjoy a glass of good wine.

Sylvia Kouvali

Sylvia Kouvali first created Rodeo gallery in Constantinople, in 2007. The gallery moved to London and then to Piraeus, and in 2024 was renamed Sylvia Kouvali. Housed in an impressive old warehouse, which dates back to 1900, this atmospheric gallery or “production house” has presented some cutting-edge exhibitions. The exhibition Observations on Somethings Forgotten, with works by Anna Boghiguian presents works around the life and work of Constantine P. Cavafy. Boghiguian had visited the house in which Cavafy lived in Alexandria, and painted various scenes there, which are on view at the gallery. In another room, Cavafy watches from above, in the guise of a stuffed fabric doll. In one corner of the room, you can also find him if you peek into a box wrapped in drapes. In both rooms, candles have been lit in shells, cradled in hands made of bronze. The works have been inspired by Cavafy’s poem ‘Candles’. The artist utilizes fabric to create other works, and some of her paintings are also included.

Certainly the most eye-catching of works by Banu Cennetoglu at Sylvia Kouvali, is the enormous, gold bouquet of helium-filled balloons that nearly touches the building’s timbers. It comprises all the letters that compose the 20th article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as proclaimed by the United Nations in 1948. The concept behind this work is that as the exhibition duration passes, the promise of the article will gradually deflate to touch the ground, finding its final form after the show closes. However, the work’s helium-filled balloons are still holding strong for the time being, with only a few balloons having deflated so far.

Also on view at Sylvia Kouvali, are works by Emre Huner. In an exhibition entitled Substrata Styrene, Huner has created sculptural still lifes which bring together the most diverse objects and processes. Artifacts, casted industrial waste, everyday objects, props and replicas are juxtaposed. From sneakers covered in lava glaze, to what could be future fossils, such as corroded marine fuel tanks, the artist’s quirky juxtaposition of diverse types of objects in her still lifes pose questions about the transmutation of human waste, among other things.

• The exhibitions by Emre Huner, Anna Boghiguian, and Banu Cennatoglu run till December 14 at Sylvia Kouvali in Piraeus. Sylvia Kouvali is on 41 Polidefkous Street, 18545 Piraeus, Greece. T: +30 210 41 23 977. Open Tue—Sat 12—8pm or by appointment. Email: info@sylviakouvali.com. You can visit the gallery’s website here

The Intermission

Near Sylvia Kouvali, you will also find The Intermission gallery, also housed in an old warehouse of this district. As you enter the gallery, you will first meet with a series of works that focus on the branches of fig trees, accompanied by declaratory words, such as Despair, Depose, Desire, Disdain. The artist, Dena Yago has photographed the fig trees in New York, which due to the unsually warm microclimate there, has allowed fig trees to thrive.

A large wall mural executed with pastels, presents how Yago can take on the role of an allegorist, setting some of the most charged and twisted visual icons of late capitalist life and the imminent climate crisis into a riot of symbolism. Adapting Pieter Bruegel’s 16th century allegorical etching The Triumph of Time, Yago’s mural The Pageant infuses the Renaissance scene with contemporary creatures navigating the hellscape of our present polycrisis.

The Intermission is an exhibition programme and space in the city of Piraeus initiated by Artemis Baltoyanni in September 2019. Artists are invited to occupy the space with specific projects in partnership with their representing gallery, when there is one. The Intermission exhibits critically acclaimed artists: emerging, established, and historical.

• Dena Yago’s exhibition runs till December 21 at The Intermission. 37a Polidefkous St, 1845 Pireaus. Tel 210-4131504. Email: info@theintermission.art. You can visit the gallery’s website here

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 (and artists based in Greece) an international voice on the internet. For more on Stella Sevastopoulos’s art, click here If you would like to be featured in Art Scene Athens, please send email (stelsevas@yahoo.com).