Art Athina 2024 is now open to the art-loving public hosting 71 art galleries

Art Athina 2024, the great celebration of art

Art, inclusiveness, sustainability, extroversion, innovation: these are the five themes that characterise Art Athina 2024, the great celebration of art that will take place at the Zappeion Hall from tonight, 19 September to Monday, 23 September 2024. In the historic building that dominates the heart of Athens and will be the permanent headquarters of the Foire from 2019, 71 art galleries from 11 countries and an extensive parallel programme will give the pulse of contemporary art to the event that has been signed by the Panhellenic Association of Art Galleries for 31 years and will be under the patronage of H.E. President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou for another year.

With its multifaceted and complex profile, Art Athina 2024 proves that it is not an institution that rests on the title of the largest annual art event, but is constantly evolving, while maintaining its core – the promotion of contemporary Greek art and dialogue with the international scene – investing in synergies and initiatives that link the art world with the urgent needs and concerns of contemporary society.

In summary, Art Athina 2024 offers the art-loving public of all ages the opportunity to see the latest gallery proposals, historical works and to get in touch with the trends of art galleries from abroad, as well as to:

• Visit the special area dedicated to design.
• Attend midnight screenings at the neighbouring Aegli, one of the oldest summer cinemas in operation.
• Take part in walking performances around the Zappeion.
• Participate in educational programmes accessible to children and young people with learning difficulties and neurodevelopmental peculiarities, in collaboration with the civil non-profit company Life is for all.
• Stay after the end of the exhibition – until 23:00 – to watch the video projection programme, as an open-air cinema is created on the scale in front of the Zappeion Hall, with the fountain as a backdrop.
• Spend time in the small indoor garden, equipped with furniture made of recycled materials, based on the visual identity of Art Athina 2024, by Blue Cycle.
• Use for the first time the special application for smartphones that allows visitors to create their own “gallery”, which will be active after the Foyer, in collaboration with Art Volt.
• Stop by the Hermès pop-up pavilion to participate in the various activities and to receive a copy of Le Monde d’Hermès magazine (in the alley of Vassilissis Amalias Avenue).

“This year’s exhibition continues the success of recent years, always looking for new ways to continuously improve the institution. We are incorporating the successful practices of each event and at the same time we are listening to the times and the needs of the public and the participants, always aiming for further development and evolution”, said the President of the Panhellenic Association of Art Galleries, Gianna Grammatopoulou, during the press conference for the presentation of the fair, referring to the structure of the main programme of Art Athina 2024, which is as follows:

• Main: Art galleries from Greece and abroad will present their proposals.
• Design: galleries and designers who seamlessly combine the beauty of traditional Greek techniques with the most contemporary, imaginative and innovative design, creating objects that span a wide range of aesthetics, will make up the section curated by Mantos Kaloumnos and Tina Daskalantonaki (Mare Studio).
• Projects: Independent art spaces, non-profit cultural organisations, artist-run galleries, studios and small emerging galleries make up the section curated by Loukia Thomopoulou under the title “Exodus”.

Below is a detailed list of participants in all three areas of the core programme.

“Art Athina 2024 will be an event full of surprises, actions, a great celebration of art for five days in the heart of Athens. We have been working hard for another year. And we always strive to surpass previous events without, fortunately, becoming an end in itself,” said the General Director of the Foyer, Antonis Kourkoulos.

The new member of Art Athina’s core team, Marilena Koutsoukou, who has taken up the newly created position of Development Director and is responsible for Art Athina 2024’s strategic partnerships, added: “Our main objectives are to further establish Art Athina on the international visual arts map, to promote Greek artistic creation, to strengthen partnerships with leading galleries and artists from around the world, and to expand synergies with sustainability, inclusivity and innovation as key pillars”.

The parallel programme of the Foyer consists of the following sections:

Talks: The main theme of the discussions, curated by Olympia Tzortzi, is the relationship between galleries and artists, highlighting the need to face challenges without rivalry and to seek solutions based on what can be applied internationally.

Video: Soil as a lens for being in the world”. The screenings will take place in front of the entrance to the Zappeion, and two midnight screenings will take place in the Aegli cinema.

Performance: The themes of the works include freedom and the expression of identities, community dynamics, (non) human relations and concepts such as care, ecology and sustainability, crises and emergencies.

Kids’ Educational Program: Creative workshops in painting, architecture, collage, mixed media and drama include the children’s educational programme “Planet Art”, designed this year for Art Athina by the international non-profit social organisation for contemporary art and culture, KROMA, with a central focus on environmental awareness. This year, for the first time, Art Athina and KROMA are collaborating with the team of the non-profit organisation Life is For All to include children and young people with learning difficulties and neurodevelopmental disabilities in the educational workshops. At the same time, the Vodafone Foundation’s Vodafone Posidonia programme invites young and old to explore the world of Posidonia’s precious underwater ecosystems and learn how to protect them, through an impressive glass structure that simulates the seabed. Kids Radio 88.6 & Kids Radio+ is also present and, among the many activities it organises, invites children to experience the magic of radio by recording their voices in a specially designed space.

The award-winning creative agency G Design Studio, which created the fair’s new visual identity, consisting of two capital A’s in different compositions and colours, and designed this year’s catalogue.

For the first time, Art Athina has its own official navigation app, offered free of charge to visitors in collaboration with Art Volt. Through ArtVolt X Art Athina 2024, users will be able to scan and save their favourite artworks without using their mobile phone memory, while learning about their favourite artists and the art galleries that represent them. In this way, he will create his personal “gallery”, which will be available after Art Athina is over.

The sustainability axis also includes the synergy with This is Athens, which resulted in a multi-purpose water container as a gift for Art Athina 2024 guests.

In an original and different way, AB Vassilopoulos, in collaboration with TEHAN, conveys the message of recycling with the modern “Mobile Environmental Education and Recycling Centre”: a modern double-decker bus that conveys the message of recycling and environmental protection in an interactive and experiential way.

The extroversion axis includes both the VIP programme for foreign art lovers invited by Art Athina 2024 to get to know the local art scene, directed by Theodora Koumoundourou, and the invitation of foreign journalists to promote Art Athina 2024 internationally, a goal achieved thanks to the synergy with the Ministry of Tourism, the Greek National Tourism Organisation, the contribution of the Municipality of Athens and This is Athens, and the support of Aegean Airlines.

For the third year running, Art Athina’s Young Artist Award, which aims to support artistic creation, continues in collaboration with MOMus, the Metropolitan Organisation of the Visual Arts Museums of Thessaloniki, and specifically with the organisation’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

The Art Athina Educational Programme, designed by Chrysanthi Koumianakis and Kosmas Nikolaou of the artistic organisation 3 137, took place for the sixth year in a row during the Fouar, with the participation of students from the Athens School of Fine Arts. The aim of the workshop was to introduce the students to art professionals, to understand the Athens scene and to familiarise them with their future professional field.

This year’s event is dedicated to the memory of Julia Dimakopoulou.

The art galleries participating in Art Athina 2024:

Main

 a.antonopoulou.art, agathi kartalos, Alibi Gallery, Allouche Benias Gallery, Alma Gallery, Argo Gallery, Art Zone 42, Artower Agora, Artshot – Sophia Gaitani, Artworx, Arusha Gallery (UK), ASTROLAVOS art galleries, Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Callirrhoë, CITRONNE Gallery, Crux Gallerie, Depo Darm, Dio Horia, ekfrasi – yianna grammatopoulou, Eleftheria Tseliou Gallery, Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Enari Gallery (Netherlands), EPsilon Art Gallery, Françoise Heitsch (Germany), Gallery ArtPrisma, Gallery Ersi, GALERIE LJ (France), Gallery 7, Gallery LTECGallery/MAMA CONTEMPORARY (Cyprus), genesis gallery, IAGA Contemporary Art (Romania, Italy), Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Center, Kalfayan Galleries, Kourd Gallery, Lola Nikolaou Gallery, Marginalia Gallery (Cyprus), Mazi projects_Razem Pamoja Foundation (Poland), META Spațiu (Romania), MIHALARIAS ART, Nil Gallery (France), Nitra Gallery, Papatzikou Gallery, Peritechnon Karteris Art Gallery, Rebecca Camhi Gallery, ROMA Gallery, Shazar Gallery (Italy), Sianti Gallery, Skoufa Gallery, Spazio b5 (Italy), Sylvia Kouvali, Technohoros Art Gallery, The Blender Gallery, THE BREEDER, THE EDIT GALLERY (Cyprus), Wilhelmina’s, XIPPAS (France—Switzerland-Uruguay), zina athanassiadou gallery.

Project spaces

Alkinois, Apodec, igni, keramikos 23 artspace, MISC, Sealed Earth Ceramic Studio and Gallery, The Office of Hydrocommons x ATOPOS cvc, Thermia Project.

Design

ANTIQUA Gallery, Bombyx, Mare Studio, Stefanidou Tsoukala Gallery, Taxidi Tinos, Temporary Showroom.