Dream State: A public art installation that invites a historic Athenian building to dream

Dream State transforms the historic Tositsa 3 building in central Athens into a living, dreaming organism through a public art installation of light and movement, blending architecture, memory, and urban life.

From 5 to 28 February 2026, Tositsa 3 Building, a landmark in the heart of Athens, enters a state of dreaming.

The artistic installation Dream State transforms Tositsa 3 into a living organism one that breathes, sleeps, and dreams openly, publicly, and continuously. Visible directly from the street corner where Tositsa and Zaimi meet, the work unfolds in the everyday flow of the city, offering passersby an unexpected encounter with the poetic realm of sleep and memory within the urban landscape.

Rather than being experienced inside a gallery space, Dream State exists for the public eye, blurring the boundaries between art, architecture, and daily life.

A collaboration of light, movement, and urban imagination

Dream State was conceived by architect and multidisciplinary designer Evgenia Vlachaki, in collaboration with acclaimed lighting designers ASLight.

Born in Athens and now based in London, Evgenia Vlachaki presents her first artistic installation in the city where she grew up. At its core lies a deep interest in collective experience – how people encounter space, how buildings communicate with their surroundings, and how public art can gently disrupt the rhythm of everyday urban life.

Through light and subtle motion, the installation becomes the language of dreaming itself: minimal, abstract, and quietly immersive.

A building with many lives

Tositsa 3 is no ordinary structure. It stands as a rare historical monument of Athens, a building that has lived many lives across more than a century. Its recent three-year restoration by She La Spaces carefully revealed the layered historical phases of the property, restoring 19th-century architectural details while weaving together traces of contemporary urban memory.

Over time, Tositsa 3 has served as: a family residence later divided into apartments, a film school, a conservatory, a squat, a construction sit and, more recently, an exhibition space for contemporary art.

It has also housed leading galleries such as Eleftheria Tseliou Gallery, Radio Athènes, and Hot Wheels Fine Arts, under the artistic direction of Stylianos Papageorgiou.

When architecture dreams

The idea behind Dream State emerged from a moment of transition the brief pause between tenants, when the building stood temporarily empty.

Drawing inspiration from the rich and varied history of Tositsa 3, Evgenia Vlachaki chose to present the structure not as a static shell, but as a living being.

A building that sleeps.
And dreams.

Using light as her primary expressive medium, the artist evokes the rhythms of breathing, rest, and subconscious movement. The architecture itself becomes the protagonist of a silent narrative unfolding in the public sphere.

For the first time in decades, Tositsa 3 is allowed to rest, holding gently onto its memories, while preparing, in stillness, for its next chapter.

Credits

Creative Director & Lead Designer: Evgenia Vlachaki (Monolith Design)
Lighting Designers: Anna Sbokou, Olena Kondrashevska, Aliki Aravantinou-Zafeiri (ASLight)
Programming & Equipment Rental: Karamalegkos Bros