The Athens Biennale
The 8th Athens Biennale, titled Stasis/Ekstasis, runs from 2 April to 27 June 2027 at the former Public Tobacco Factory in Athens, the country's largest international contemporary-art event.
The Athens Biennale is a biennial contemporary-art exhibition staged across locations in Athens, Greece, and the largest international contemporary-art event in the country. The 8th edition, titled Stasis/Ekstasis, runs from 2 April to 27 June 2027 at the former Public Tobacco Factory of the Hellenic Parliament. It is curated by the São Paulo-based curator Thiago de Paula Souza, with the biennale’s co-founder Poka-Yio as artistic director.
The Athens Biennale was established in 2005 by Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, Poka-Yio and Augustine Zenakos, and opened its first edition, Destroy Athens, in 2007. Later editions carried single-word or paired titles: Heaven (2009), Monodrome (2011), Agora (2013), Omonoia (2015 to 2017), Anti (2018) and Eclipse (2021). The 8th edition marks an institutional restructuring, with a board of trustees chaired by the collectors George Economou and Dakis Joannou and a curatorial committee whose inaugural members are Massimiliano Gioni, Katerina Gregos, Stefanie Hessler and Gabi Ngcobo.
Stasis/Ekstasis sets immobility and political gridlock against transcendence and transformation, beginning from intimacy, closeness and nostalgia before turning to displacement, complicity and fear. The edition is co-funded by the European Union’s Attica 2021 to 2027 programme.