Exhibition Modern ARTεμις
A contemporary art project in Amarynthos – Art Residency 2023
Antiquity continues to inspire artistic creation to this day. In recent years, ESAG has gone a step further by inviting artists directly to the excavation at Amarynthos on Euboea Island, fostering an exchange beneficial to both sides. Whether through its collaboration with the Flux Laboratory in Athens—whose dancers visited the dig several times to create a choreography—or through internships for students from the Zurich University of the Arts, numerous bridges have been built, and they continue to grow stronger.
In July 2023, nine artists from Switzerland and Greece took part in an art residency at the ongoing excavation site and followed the restoration of finds in the museum storage facilities at Eretria, with the generous support of the Municipality of Eretria and the Region of Euboea. The sources of inspiration were manifold: the archaeologists’ work live on site, the discoveries themselves—from simple sherds to spectacular votive offerings—as well as the mythological figure of Artemis. Over the two and a half years that followed, the exchange with the artists continued, and the group grew with the arrival of four new participants. More than forty works inspired by Amarynthos were created: sculptures, paintings, photographs, and immersive installations.
Exhibition 2026
These works, offering a fresh look at Antiquity and archaeological research, will be exhibited from 18 April 2026 at the Athens Municipal Arts Center (Kentro Technon). The opening will take place on Tuesday, 21 April at 19:00, and the exhibition will run until 3 May 2026. It will then move in May to the Municipal Gallery (Dimotiki Pinakothiki) of Chalkis in Euboea—the island where everything began.
In the three thematic sections—Myth, Antiquity, and Archaeology—47 works by nine artists from Switzerland, Cyprus, and Greece enter into dialogue with the research at the Artemision of Amarynthos, addressing diverse aspects of the goddess Artemis, the finds, and archaeology itself.
A complementary program will accompany both exhibitions, and further details will be announced in due course on ESAG’s social networks:
www.facebook.com/esag.swiss www.instagramm.com/esag.swiss
Die Künstlerinnen und Künstler
→ Thrassos Avaritsiotis (painter, Greece): www.athrassos.com
→ Anna Achilleos Staeubli (visual artist, Cyprus): www.anna-as.com
→ Noemi Niederhauser (visual artist, Switzerland): www.noemi-niederhauser.ch
→ f/two – Nicole and Karl Reber (photographers, Switzerland): https://ftwo.art
→ Iphigeneia Sdoukou (visual artist, Greece): www.instagram.com/ifigeneiasdoukou
→ Praxitelis Tzanoulinos (sculptor, Greece): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z-4P3Gu41s
→ Katerina Velliou (visual artist, Greece): https://katerinavelliou.com
→ Judit Villiger (visual artist, Switzerland): www.juditvilliger.ch
Organisation, Support, and Sponsors
The exhibition is organized by ESAG and the University of West Attica, in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Euboea. It is held under the auspices of the Embassy of Switzerland in Greece. The project is supported by the City of Athens (Organization for Culture, Sports and Youth – OPANDA), the municipalities of Chalkis and Eretria, the District of Euboea (Organization for the Cultural Development of Central Greece), and the Embassy of Cyprus in Greece (House of Cyprus – Cultural Center).
Aegean is the official sponsor of air travel. The cultural magazine Portes, Paliria, Ktima Avantis, and Photolab Athens also support the exhibition. Special thanks are extended to the Holy Archdiocese of Athens for its generous support.
The project is led by Dr Tobias Krapf (ESAG) and Dr Olga Polychronopoulou (University of West Attica). The exhibition is carried out in collaboration with Iris Kritikou (archaeologist, art historian, and exhibition curator), while the accompanying catalog is prepared together with Dr Maria Giannoulaki (University of West Attica). The exhibition and catalog design are created by Andreas Georgiadis (artist, Mikri Arktos).
The accompanying program is organized by Dr Dionysis Mourelatos (University of Athens). Communication is handled by Sylvie Fournier (Switzerland), Maria Tsolaki (Greece) and Anthi Mitrakou, from the magazine Portes (Europe and the United States).
