Pepi Nikolopoulou
2026 is shaping up to be a significant year for exhibitions in Greece, with major museums and cultural institutions presenting projects that span contemporary art, photography, design, archaeology and historical research. From large-scale public installations and long-awaited retrospectives to the reopening of important exhibition spaces, the year’s programme reflects both international perspectives and local narratives.
Below is a selection of exhibitions scheduled to take place in Athens and Thessaloniki in 2026, highlighting key artists, institutions and themes that are expected to shape the country’s cultural calendar.
Onassis Stegi
Can art give meaning to our lives? Starting 26 January, Onassis Stegi invites audiences into The Heart of the Bull, a film by Eva Stefani that turns its lens toward Dimitris Papaioannou, following—step by step—the birth and international journey of Transverse Orientation. Part portrait, part meditation, the work traces artistic creation as a fragile, demanding and deeply human process.
Equally anticipated is the first photography exhibition by Yorgos Lanthimos, titled Yorgos Lanthimos: Photographs, presented in Stegi’s exhibition space at level -1. Known for his precise, unsettling cinematic language, Lanthimos reveals a parallel visual universe one shaped by distance, framing and controlled tension. The exhibition will be on view from 07 of March until 17 of May.
Completing this triad, Tilda Swinton takes centre stage in a personal exhibition that brings together new and earlier works by eight close collaborators and friends: Pedro Almodóvar, Luca Guadagnino, Joanna Hogg, Derek Jarman, Jim Jarmusch, Olivier Saillard, Tim Walker and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, a constellation that reflects Swinton’s singular presence across disciplines. The exhibition Ongoing | Tilda Swinton will be viewed from 16 May to 28 June 2026.
Benaki Museum
At Benaki Museum (Pireos 138), Alexis Akrithakis. A Line Like a Wave opens on 12 February and runs through 24 May 2026. Curated by Chloe Akrithakis and Alexios Papazacharias, in collaboration with the Akrithakis Archive, the exhibition marks the first large-scale retrospective in Greece in over 30 years dedicated to one of modern Greek art’s most idiosyncratic figures. Works from private and public collections, many shown for the first time, trace a restless, unmistakable visual language.
On 17 February, Messolonghi 1826. 200 Years Since the Exodus opens, presenting an extensive body of iconography related to the Siege of Messolonghi and the Greek War of Independence, reflecting on sacrifice, collective memory and national imagination.
Earlier, on 22 January, Denise Eleftheriou. Garments of Thread reframes craft and industrial heritage. Fashion designer Denise Eleftheriou explores the legacy of Mentis–Antonopoulos (NIMA), elevating cords, trimmings and passementerie into protagonists of a contemporary design narrative.
Museum of Cycladic Art
In March 2026, the Museum of Cycladic Art presents Balloon Venus Lespugue (Orange) by Jeff Koons, shown for the first time to the public. Inspired by the Paleolithic Venus of Lespugue-a mammoth-ivory figurine dating back approximately 28,000 years-the work reflects a motif that has permeated Koons’s practice since the late 1970s.
The sculpture is contextualised through ten replicas of Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines, all on loan from institutions housing the immovable originals, creating a dialogue between deep prehistory and contemporary visual culture.
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center
In April 2026, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center hosts the first solo exhibition in Greece by Barbara Kruger, titled Untitled (Pride and Contempt). Thirteen new works, created specifically for the site, unfold across the SNFCC’s outdoor spaces, including a monumental mural on the building of the National Library of Greece.
Extending on both sides of the Canal, Kruger’s immersive installation deploys her unmistakable graphic language-bold typography, sharp contrasts, direct address-to question truth, power, authority and individual agency. Echoing her landmark intervention at the Museum of Contemporary Art, where Untitled (Questions) once covered the exterior of The Geffen Contemporary, the work transforms architecture into a site of critical thought.
MOMus
The 9th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art redefines its structure in 2026. Expected to unfold between May and July, and no longer confined to a single venue, it carries the title Everything Must Change / Radical Intelligence. Thessaloniki 9, a declaration of urgency and transformation.
In parallel, 65+ | The Adolescence of Curating will be presented at MOMus – Museum of Contemporary Art from 8 January to 15 March 2026. Curated by individuals aged 65 and over, the exhibition reframes curating as a space of experimentation and renewed intensity, challenging assumptions about age, authorship and creative vitality.
Old Acropolis Museum | The City as Archive
In early May 2026, the Old Acropolis Museum reopens after 18 years, returning as a multi-functional centre for exhibitions, conservation and archaeological storage. Its inaugural exhibition, Athens, the Immortal City, organised by the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens, presents 1,185 artefacts spanning from the Neolithic period to Late Antiquity, most of them shown publicly for the first time.
From May to December, the museum will also host the final chapter of Allspice / Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures, featuring new works by Michael Rakowitz. Completing a cycle that began at the Acropolis Museum, the exhibition weaves a dialogue between Mesopotamia, Iraq, Greece and the wider Near East-bringing the narrative of Athens 2026 full circle, as ancient matter and contemporary voices meet within the city itself.
