“you are invited” at Onassis Ready – the new “Factory of Dreams and Ideas” by the Onassis Foundation, with Juergen Teller inviting us in the most genuine way.

By Katerina Parri

“…an invitation to look, to experience, to think, to dream. I invite everyone to feel it. It reflects the way I experience life myself – how I deal with its tragedies, its beauty, and everything in between.”

“I remember when I was 15 and traveling, when I just wanted to get away… I was getting ready to go to Sicily. And my father never spoke to me, but before I left he told me to take the camera with me and shoot some photos. And I said, fuck you. I don’t want to know anything about you. And it’s funny, because now I’m a photographer,” shared Juergen Teller on the night he simply told us “you are invited,” as he inaugurated the new and impressive Onassis Foundation space, Onassis Ready.

And just like that, Agios Ioannis Rentis entered the cultural map – a place to visit for Onassis Ready, a new venue that once was a plastics factory and now stands as a “Factory of Adventure,” a “Factory of Dreams and Ideas,” as Aphrodite Panayiotakou, Artistic Director of the Onassis Foundation, affectionately described it during the press preview alongside Juergen Teller:

“If you’re an artist and someone offers you time–the most precious thing–along with space and funding to do whatever you wish, that feels like a dream. Here, artists will have everything they need: green screens and editing rooms, studios, computers for image processing and AI applications, as well as rehearsal, research, and experimentation spaces, and workbenches. Above all, they’ll have people ready to assist their needs and desires. Everything that fits will happen here–exhibitions, concerts, and parties.”

“We love the location of Onassis Ready on the city map. Surrounded by warehouses, workshops, factories, and ironworks, next to a football training center, with a rooftop from which you can see both the Acropolis and the amusement park. We are in a place that is at once a suburb of Piraeus and of Athens–somewhere in between. That’s how we feel we live anyway: somewhere in between. And we thought we should give our very best for this new beginning, after fifteen years as the Onassis Stegi.

We chose this kind of industrial space because we love the raw texture of concrete; we love being in a place where something was always being made. This kind of beauty suits us–a beauty that allows the pores and wrinkles of the skin to show, just like in Juergen’s photographs. So here we are, among the best, with a great artist, Juergen Teller. We are very happy and deeply moved that this conversation, which began a few years ago, led us to this moment. And we thank him for showing up dressed in that vivid pink that has become his signature, in a neighborhood full of grey and black. Once again, he makes all the difference.”

The Onassis Ready, this brand-new industrial space infused with energy thanks to its location, its industrial past, and its impressive scale, was filled with Juergen Teller’s creations – the iconic personalities, the arresting portraits, the images that possess a raw, disarming honesty, where human nature stands naked before us. Equally raw and genuine were his words that evening, as, amid questions, discussions, and analyses, personal stories from his life unfolded – the same elements that run through many of his photographs, which we can now experience up close in Greece. The exhibition “you are invited” is, in fact, his most extensive solo show ever presented in the country.

His photographs hang on the walls without captions, because, as he believes, everything should remain open to people’s imagination – for them to discover on their own. The presentation is entirely handmade: most works are unframed, and it’s evident that he pays close attention to every element of the space itself – fire extinguishers, switches, sockets. As Juergen Teller notes:

“Whenever I do an exhibition, I always take into account the place and the culture of the location. It’s important to me that this show is site-specific, adapted to the building, the city, the country. I don’t want a series of identical framed photographs traveling from city to city. That’s not how I work or dream – it would be boring. I want to be excited myself. It’s vital to breathe, to live, and to assess things as they happen. I want to feel alive, young, and fresh.”

Starting from the exhibition’s title, “you are invited” was inspired by a church flyer that literally slipped through his front door one Easter – a phrase Teller found so clever that he decided to use it. “I chose the title you are invited as something positive,” Teller shared, “an invitation to look, to experience, to think, to dream. I’m inviting everyone to feel it. It reflects the way I experience life myself – how I deal with its tragedies, its beauty, and everything in between.”

Teller explained that one must “feel” the room and carefully think through the entire journey: how the exhibition should begin, how visitors will be surprised when they see this sequence of photographs – leading from images of his life, to those connected to his father, including the first photograph he ever took of him and later the ones after his father’s suicide – and finally arriving at more private, everyday moments, such as the photographs featuring his wife, Dovile. As he noted, it’s important to consider the scale and manner of presentation – whether, for example, the works should be framed or not.

The women in his work, in a way, represent his mother – the only person who supported him when he realized he wanted to become a photographer, and later when he moved to London with no money. As Teller recalled of his father’s reaction when he first mentioned becoming a photographer: “My father slapped me and thought that a photographer just takes pictures – passport photos, wedding photos – and that’s it. That’s not a profession, you know, you have to do something proper.”

Another woman who has been a steady companion and important collaborator in recent years is Dovile Drizyte, Teller’s wife, who also appears in many of his works.

Our eyes keep moving from one image to another – from photographs of Teller himself, of Dovile, and their baby daughter, to still lifes and countryside scenes – all somehow coexisting harmoniously with portraits of world-famous personalities revealed in their most extraordinary form: real, unguarded, utterly human. Among the names: Iggy Pop, Björk, Kate Moss, Charlotte Rampling, Vivienne Westwood, and Dame Maggie Smith.

The revelation comes on the lower floor, where the exhibition continues – a descent into a kind of unique spirituality. Here, fashion photography is elevated to a near-sacred realm: models appear before or within Italy’s churches, adorned with rich décor and artworks. One image follows another, infused with art and sanctity in all their grandeur.

Equally fascinating is Teller’s stance on fashion photography, which he shared in his conversation with Aphrodite Panayiotakou:

“When I think of fashion and the fashion industry, I think of how serious and boring, how dry it is – and how much money is spent while everything stays exactly the same. I look back at the past and all the greats like Richard Avedon, Guy Bourdin, Helmut Newton – who’s been copied endlessly. And now they copy me.
I believe fashion should first and foremost keep you warm, protect you from the rain, and then be something that allows you to enjoy yourself in what you wear. Fashion photography, for the most part, is dead. Fashion creations, to me, can be like theater, like dreams, like fantasy – you can create wonderful things. It has humor, and I believe that’s how it should be. I’m very serious about humor. I take it very seriously – especially my own humor.”

Juergen Teller photographs anything – as long as it stirs his heart and mind. He believes that life is tragic and life is everything, and he has never been afraid to dive deep, to do something without standing on safe ground, without the comfort of knowing that everything is fine, that he’s making good money, and so on. “You have to take risks,” he told us. And when, almost three years ago, he met Aphrodite Panayiotakou and she showed him this particular space – then just another building like so many others in the area – he immediately thought he wanted to create something big.

Onassis Ready was inaugurated in a way as powerful and disarmingly honest as Teller’s photographs – with a large-scale exhibition that feels less like a one-time visit and more like an open invitation to return. It’s one of those shows you want to revisit, either to discover something new or because you feel there’s still something you missed that first night you went. And that’s the beauty of Onassis Ready: it welcomes you not just as a visitor to an exhibition, but as a whole person – someone who wants to explore the city they live in and experience its full potential.

In its outdoor area, you can unwind in the laid-back atmosphere curated by scenographer Olga Brouma, listen to music from Stegi.Radio, and enjoy wine and cocktails by Epta Martyres. There’s even a street-food menu designed exclusively for the exhibition by NOKELA PROJECT, inspired by the photographer’s aesthetic and body of work.

Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Onassis Ready tells us “you are invited” from 18:00 to 23:00 – a schedule as unconventional as its location, nestled between Piraeus and Athens rather than in the city center. Big things are expected from Onassis Ready – just as grand as its opening night.