IT’S TIME TO LOOK AT ATHENS AGAIN, through the eyes of 31 artists who are participating in the much-loved Athens-themed exhibition at FokiaNou Art Space, which is realised roughly every year or so (this time a bit earlier than usual). This space has focused on Athens for quite a few years now through these annual exhibitions, which each year bring to light different facets of this everchanging city, with interesting themes, such as: ‘Athens Old and New’ (2025), ‘Destination Athens’ (2024), ‘Escapism in Athens’ (2023), ‘Night in Athens’ (2022), ‘Love and Disaster in Athens’ (2020). This time, the title is ‘Athens under Pressure’, and boy do we feel it! Opens Wednesday, December 3, at 6pm. Runs till December 20.

Athens is changing. The climate crisis, drought, fires and tree diseases are transforming the city and its natural environment. Palm trees, plane trees, mulberries, pines and cypresses are disappearing, while heat and drought are becoming the new normal. At the same time, overtourism and relentless urban development are putting additional pressure on the already burdened urban fabric.The city is drowning under the volume of visitors, the neighborhoods are changing character, the residents are being displaced, while new apartment buildings and hotel complexes are springing up in every corner of the basin, covering every trace of free land.

The group exhibition ‘Athens under Pressure’ emerged from an open to artists of all media, inviting them to respond creatively to this theme. The invitation served as a stimulus for a collective artistic dialogue around the city and its shifts, environmental, social, spatial, psychological. The exhibition invites the public to ask themselves: How do the climate crisis, overtourism and the building boom affect our lives, everyday life, psychology and our shared experience of Athens? Can art speak to what we live? With works that record, comment, resist or envision, ‘Athens Under Pressure’ brings together multiple perspectives on a city at a critical crossroads, a city that is changing faster than we can comprehend.

Curated by: Mary Cox and Panagiotis Voulgaris

Participating artists: John Bicknell, Lorenz Bögle, Fenia Chatzimichail, Mary Cox, Panagiotis Ferentinos, Katerina Genidogan, Mark Hadjipateras, Marietta Kallona, Vassilis Kantas, Vani Koronaki, Maria Claudia Litsas, Xenia Marlitsi, Camille Marquand, Christos Movidis, Maria Oikonomopoulou, Despoina Pantazi, Gabriela Papaefthimiou, Basilios Papaioannou, Lena Papapanagiotou, Eleni Papanikolaou, Jyri Pitkänen, Geeta Roopnarine, Efi Seitanidou, Stella Sevastopoulos, Vasiliki Stasinaki, Paraskevi Stathaki, Georgia Touliatou, Lisa Waldner, Piyi Wong, Constantina Xalkia, Kiveli Zachariou.

FokiaNou Art Space is a dynamic contemporary art venue that fosters collaboration between Greek and international artists, actively contributing to the local art scene. In 2024 it celebrated ten years of creative activity, marking a decade of exhibitions, projects, and collaborations. Since 2016, under the curatorship of artists Mary Cox and Panagiotis Voulgaris the space has hosted more than 70 group, interdisciplinary, and solo exhibitions, as well as workshops and talks, maintaining its role as a vibrant and open platform for artistic expression. The international presence of FokiaNou Art Space has been strengthened through its participation in significant cultural events, including its recent involvement in the TRYST Art Fair at the Torrance Art Museum in Los Angeles, the Athena exhibition in Karlsruhe, Germany, held in May 2025, as well as its participation in the SuperMarket Independent Art Fair in Stockholm in 2023 and 2019. Through these initiatives, FokiaNou promotes meaningful connections among independent art spaces and supports the development of a broader international network of artistic collaboration.

‘Athens under Pressure’, FokiaNou Art Space

Duration: 3 – 20 December 2025

Opening: 3 December 2025, 18:00

Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 17:00 – 20:00

FokiaNou Art Space, Fokianou 24, Pagrati, 7th floor

Art Scene Athens’ is written/run by artist/journalist Stella Sevastopoulos. Dedicated to presenting what is happening in 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).