Pepi Nikolopoulou
In Elefsina, a city where the sacred mysteries of Demeter and Persephone once unfolded for nearly two millennia, and where the marks of heavy industry remain deeply inscribed, a new kind of initiation is taking shape. The project Fire Forest, conceived by curator Claudia Paetzold under the umbrella of Curating Evolution, seeks to regenerate both land and imagination. Beginning with a performance by Cecilia Bengolea, the project introduces the idea of a fire-resilient forest as a community endeavor, weaving together art, ecology, and collective participation.
For Claudia Paetzold, whose curatorial practice has long been devoted to creating multidimensional experiences rooted in site and presence, Elefsina becomes the first locus of a Mediterranean network that aspires to re-enchant our relationship with the earth.
On this occasion, we spoke with Claudia Paetzold about the origins of Curating Evolution, her vision for Fire Forest, and the way Greece, and Athens in particular, informs her curatorial approach.
“Inhabiting rather than exhibiting”: Claudia Paetzold on curating as presence
At the heart of Claudia Paetzold’s practice lies a commitment to presence. Rather than curating objects, she curates experiences, moments that resonate with the land, its history, and its people. “I place the emphasis in my curatorial work on the connection with sites and the immediacy of the experience, on inhabiting rather than exhibiting,” she explains.
This philosophy first crystallized in 2018, when she was invited to develop the artistic blueprint for SFER IK in Tulum, Mexico. “We decided to name it Museion, honouring the origin of the word museum, referring to the temple of the muses and denoting a space of contemplation independent of objects, and acknowledging the respect the extraordinary surrounding nature commands.” It was in this context that the concept of Curating Evolution emerged: not as a static exhibition model, but as a creative constituency where art becomes a portal to awareness and transformation.
Her projects, often expansive and multidisciplinary, weave together contemporary art, ancestral knowledge, technological innovation, and sustainability. Yet Paetzold resists the idea of balancing these as separate threads. “These layers coexist and are but different articulations of the profound human desire and ability to evolve and create.”
This is why the artists she collaborates with – from Ernesto Neto and Sissel Tolaas to Bianca Bondi – share a common ground. “I focus on research-based, sensorial, long durational works which further empathy and transformation.” For Paetzold, the curatorial act is not about juxtaposing artworks, but about cultivating the conditions for empathy, for awareness, for change.
Greece, where she now divides her time alongside Paris and London, has added another layer of resonance. “The sometimes challenging topographic properties of Greece highlight the existential stance of humans navigating the planetary reality, opening the pathway to a reconnection with ancient forms of knowledge,” she says. Athens in particular fascinates her: “While I am still new here, I am inspired by the painstaking precision paired with a fundamental metaphysical urge characteristic of the city’s contemporary creation.”
As the curator behind Fire Forest, the inaugural project of Curating Evolution in Elefsina, she is initiating a process of regeneration that extends beyond performance into the landscape itself. Artistic experiences, she believes, can do more than raise awareness: they can re-enchant our relationship with the earth and with one another. “Artistic experiences invite present moment awareness which allows a reconnection at a fundamental level and eventually prompts us to explore our own ability to create.”
About the Contributors
Curating Evolution | Claudia Paetzold
Curating Evolution is a creative constituency conceived by Claudia Paetzold, crafting multidimensional present-moment experiences in resonance with the genesis of a site.
Claudia Paetzold is a graduate of the Sorbonne, Harvard and Christie’s Education, born in Germany and currently based between Paris, London and Athens. She has acted as a creative consultant and curator for more than fifteen years, collaborating with private collections, foundations and entities such as Art Basel. Her curatorial practice focuses on contemporary art as a portal for awareness and evolution, developing original concepts which integrate art, ancestral knowledge, technological innovation and applied sustainability. In 2020 she received the LCD Award as the artistic director of SFER IK Museion in Tulum, Mexico. Recent projects include a Sunrise Snow Seeding Meditation with Ernesto Neto in a James Turrell skyspace for the E.A.T. in Switzerland, and an experiential exhibition on Primordial Waters at Domaine des Etangs in France. Her projects have been featured in the international press, such as Artforum, AD, Travel & Leisure and the Financial Times.
Cecilia Bengolea
Cecilia Bengolea is an Argentinean artist and choreographer based in Paris who works with performance, video, and sculpture, transforming the body into animated sculpture. Creating a space for empathy and emotional exchange, Bengolea frequently engages in collaborative, innovative performance practices informed by a deep reflection on a given site and its socio-cultural and natural ecosystem. Her work has been presented in some of the most important institutions, biennials, and performance venues internationally, including Bourse de Commerce – Fondation Pinault (2025), the Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza (2024), and the Guggenheim Bilbao (2021).
