AIRPORTS are amazing places, where departures and arrivals signify a multitude of different things and where tapestries of nationalities and cultures are created, via the constant traffic of travelers. Now, art has been added to the mix at Athens International Airport, via the exhibition ‘all aboard’, transporting visitors into a totally different world.  The 40 artists’ works are diverse and thought-provoking, each one proposing a different concept or aspect of what it is to travel – physically, geographically, mentally, spiritually.

‘All aboard’ is curated by Kostas Prapoglou – someone who enjoys the challenges of creating art experiences in unlikely spaces – together with the non-profit cultural organisation artefact athens. The exhibition was inaugurated on October 9 at the Athens International Airport ‘Eleftherios Venizelos’ and will run till November 9, 2025.

Via ‘all aboard’, Athens becomes the focal point of a bold artistic project, featuring 40 artists from different generations and countries, marking the first project in Greece – and among the very few worldwide – where a large-scale contemporary art exhibition is realised inside an operational airport. The chosen site is the Express Facility, a terminal building located parallel to the airport’s western runway.

The airport, both a geographical and psychological crossroads, is transformed into a domain of experience. Narratives of departure, passage and return are inscribed in its waiting halls and corridors. Anticipation operates as a transitional state without beginning or end, where time gains elasticity and art expands consciousness.

 Greek and international artists present installations, sculptures, videos, paintings and performances that bring life to the building as an “archive of suspended intentions”, turning it into a field of reflection. The sound of aircrafts and the airport announcements construct a poetic substrate, entering into dialogue with the works and underscoring the traveller as a fragmented entity, quantified and under constant ‘reading’.

The exhibition is not about the destination, but the in-between. It explores the journey as an allegory, as an inner trajectory where identity is reconstituted, space becomes a field of memory and art invites the visitor to reconsider their position not as a passenger but as a co-creator of an existential realm.

This exhibition puts Athens on the international cultural map, by reimagining a public infrastructure building as a vessel for dialogue between artistic practice, society and public space.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: Anna Ampariotou, Anna Antarti, Klitsa Antoniou, Alexandra Athanassiades, John Baldessari, Robert Cahen, Lizzie Calligas, Susan Daboll, Maya Derren, Arianna Economou, Olafur Eliasson, Aikaterini Gegisian, Irini Gonou, Theofilos Hadjimichael, Michal Heiman, Elia Iliadi, Annita Kalimeri, Vassilis Karakatsanis, Jenny Marketou, Barbara Mavrakaki, Michail Parlamas, Ada Petranaki, Lea Petrou, Lina Pigadioti, Yulia Pinkusevich, Ismini Samanidou, Evi Savvaidi, Ridley Scott, Dimitra Skandali, Nadia Skordopoulou, Jesse Leroy Smith, Marianne Strapatsakis, Tonoptik, Nikos Tranos, Claire Tsalouchidis – Hadjiminas, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Francesca Woodman, Sofia Zarari, Rosa Zeidan, Eleni Zouni.

The exhibition ‘all aboard’, sponsored by Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos, is also under the auspices  and financial support of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

*HOW TO GET TO THE EXHIBITION

➢ BY CAR

• Drive towards the Long-Term Parking P3 and follow the signs to the all aboard exhibition.

• At the entrance of the parking, before the barriers, turn left and head to the designated parking spaces.

Upon departure:

• Head towards the entrance barriers of the Long-Term Parking P3.

• Collect a ticket from the machine and follow the signage to the exit.

• At the exit, insert your ticket into the machine and leave free of charge within 20 minutes.

BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT

• Metro or Suburban Railway: Upon exiting at the Central Station, cross the road and you will find the stop (opposite Entrance 2) for the special shuttle bus that takes visitors to the all aboard exhibition.

• KTEL/OASA Buses: At Departures level, head to the outer road (ENTRANCE 2), where you will find the stop for the same shuttle bus.

DEDICATED AIRPORT SHUTTLE BUS SERVICE TO THE EXHIBITION

• To the Exhibition: Dedicated buses depart every 30 minutes (i.e. 12:00, 12:30, 13:00, etc.). • Return: Return trips depart from the dedicated bus stop outside the exhibition area, also every 30 minutes, at quarter past and quarter to the hour (i.e. 12:45, 13:15, etc.).

CONTACT DETAILS

curator: Kostas Prapoglou

tel. +30 6934 279 264

email: info@artefact-athens.org

http://www.artefact-athens.org

facebook: artefact_athens

instagram: @artefact_athens

TikTok: @artefact_athens

all aboard

Contemporary art exhibition at the

International Airport of Athens, Greece

curator | concept design | texts: Kostas Prapoglou | organiser artefact athens

Venue: EXPRESS FACILITY, Athens International Airport *

OPENING: WEDNESDAY 8 OCTOBER 2025 | 19.00 – 23.00

Exhibition duration: 09.10 – 09.11.2025

Opening times/days: Wednesday – Thursday – Friday – Saturday – Sunday: 12.00 – 19.00

Free admission | Upon presentation of ID or driving license or passport