Αrt Athina 2024

Art Athina 2024, extended by a day, welcomed the art enthusiasts at the historical Zappeion Mansion from September 19 through 23, 2024, featuring 71 galleries from Greece and 10 additional countries, and an expanded parallel program. The most important annual artistic event in Greece and one of the oldest fairs in Europe, organized by the Hellenic Art Galleries Association, is once more, under the patronage of H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic, Ms Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

Art Athina 2024, with contemporary art at its primary focus, a stronger presence of the design section, and emphasis in inclusivity and sustainability, for yet another year, offered to the public the opportunity to follow the most current trends in galleries, see artworks of historical importance and experience the emerging trends showcased by international galleries.

This year’s edition, versatile and rich in content, not only was presented in the familiar, since 2019, spaces of the Zappeion Mansion, but was also expand to previously unseen areas of the building as well as the surrounding grounds and the neighboring open-air movie theatre «Aigli».

For the second consecutive year, Antonis Kourkoulos acted as the fair’s General Director. Marilena Koutsoukou being the newest member of the team, has assumed the newly appointed position of Director of Development and is responsible for the strategic partnerships of Art Athina 2024. The fair’s sectors, as is customary each year, are usually assigned to a new and diverse group of curators. Stavros Papagiannis from Stage Design Office is a permanent collaborator of the fair for the past eight years, undertaking the architectural design along with the multi-award-winning G Design Studio which has taken upon creating the new visual identity of the fair, with the two capital ‘A’s – its name’s initials – in various compositions and colors.

For the second year in a row, BlueCycle transforms the garden of the Zappeion Mansion with a project, especially conceived for this year's Art Athina edition, that combines design with sustainability and sustainable development. By reusing marine plastic waste generated from shipping and fishing activities, collected from all over the country and combining robotic 3D printing with handmade creations, they give a new and fresh perspective to the fair’s logo.

The Art Athina 2024 program, was comprised of the following sectors:

· Main, featuring booths from a wide selection of local and international galleries; below is the list of participants for this year’s edition.

· Design, presenting galleries and designers who combine the beauty of the Greek traditional craftsmanship with contemporary, imaginative and innovative design, creating artifacts covering a wide range of aesthetics curated by Manthos Kaloumenos and Tina Daskalantonaki (Mare Studio).

· Projects, presenting independent art spaces, non-profit cultural organizations, artist-run spaces, ateliers, and young emerging galleries, curated by Loukia Thomopoulou, entitled ‘Exodus’.

The parallel program of the fair was composed by the following sectors:

· Talks: the focus of the debates organised and moderated by Olympia Tzortzi is the relationship between galleries and artists, emphasizing facing the challenges without rivalries and searching for solutions based on what is also applicable on an international level.

· Video: the social and political dimensions of environmental issues, sexuality and emotion are addressed by the works that Panos Giannikopoulos has chosen to present in this year's program under the title "Expulsion from the Garden: The soil as a lens for being-in-the-world". The screenings will take place at the Zappeion Garden.

· Performance: «Ηappy me, happy we», is the title that curator Nikolas Vamvouklis, has chosen for this year’s edition in collaboration and with the support of Flux Laboratory Athens, following an open call to all the participants of Art Athina 2024. The themes of the works refer to, inter alia, freedom and expression of identities, the community dynamics the non-human relationships and to notions such as care, ecology and sustainability, crisis and emergency situations.

· Kid’s Educational Program: workshops of creative painting, architecture, collage, mixed media and dramatic play, among others, are included in Kid’s Educational Program titled «Planet Art», designed once more for Art Athina 2024 by Kroma, an International, non-profit, Contemporary Art and Culture Platform with a central focus on environmental awareness. For the first time, this year’s edition of Art Athina and Kroma are collaborating with the non-profit organization Life is For All, with the aim of including children and adolescents with learning difficulties and neurodiversity.

For the third consecutive year, Art Athina presented the Award for Upcoming Artist, aiming at the support of local artistic creation, in collaboration with MOMus-Museum Alex Mylona, one of the five museums of The Metropolitan Organization of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki.

Artists up to 45 years old, who live and work in Greece, are eligible to participate, following recommendation by their representing gallery which has showcased at least one solo show of them.

During Art Athina 2024, the solo show of last year’s winner S, Stefania Strouza (a.antonopoulou gallery), is on view at the MOMus-Museum Alex Mylona (from September 12 through October 13).

For the sixth year, the Art Athina Educational Program was carried out over the past few months with the participation of students from the Athens School of Fine Arts, designed by Chrysanthi Koumianaki and Kosmas Nikolaou from the artist-run space 3 137. The purpose of the workshop was for the students to meet with art professionals, to understand the Athenian scene and to familiarize themselves with their future professional field of activity.

The following exhibitors were at Art Athina 2024:

Main

a.antonopoulou.art, agathi kartalos, Alibi, 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 SRL (Romania, Italy), Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Center, Kalfayan Galleries, Kourd Gallery, Lola Nikolaou Gallery, Marginalia Gallery (Cyprus), Mazi projects_Razem Pamoja Foundation (Poland), META Spatiu (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.

Art Athina is organised by the Hellenic Art Galleries Association and produced by BeBest. The fair has been integrated in the Regional Program "Attica" 2021 – 2027.

For more information, please visit the site here, and follow Art Athina on Facebook and Instagram.

Southern Guild will participate in Frieze Sculpture

AFIKARIS GALLERY at 1-54 LONDON