National Museum of Contemporary Art Exhibits New Artists

The Afresh exhibition highlights the end of EMST's first significant period that already counts 13 years and the beginning of a new promising chapter at its permanent location.

The main aim of the museum's exhibition policy since the beginning has been to bring out the most vibrant, progressive and innovative domestic artistic forces, while enabling the opportunity for artists to create new works of art. The Afresh exhibition explores our future in an international environment, presents the new questions posed, showcases these emerging artists as they gain momentum.

Born in the 80s these 34 new artists and the members of 3 artistic groups have just completed their studies and took their first steps in Greece but also in international art centers such as London, Berlin, Vienna, Cologne, Amsterdam, Manchester.

More than 60 works will be displayed (installations, drawings, video, performance, sound installations, paintings), of which 27 were made especially for this exhibition.

The participating artists are opening in new interdisciplinary fields in order to give a fresh approach to materials, concepts and artistic practices in times of crisis and economic recession. They critically comment on the current politico-economic reality, they confront recent history; they bring back issues dealing with the portrayal of symbols and monuments of our cultural heritage. They establish open and ambiguous narratives that often start from personal experiences. They utilize digital technology as a raw material and explore the culture of the Internet giving a critical insight at its role.

Representatives of a generation shaped by (and from) the intangible digital technology, they are brought up with the new consciousness of co-creation, collaboration, diffusion of knowledge and information. They create collective and participatory communities; explore contemporary issues related to the new economy and production processes, labor, sustainability, autonomy and alternative ways of living.

Representatives of a generation shaped by (and from) the intangible digital technology, they are brought up with the new consciousness of co-creation, collaboration, diffusion of knowledge and information. They create collective and participatory communities; explore contemporary issues related to the new economy and production processes, labor, sustainability, autonomy and alternative ways of living.

The Afresh exhibition brings us closer to the enchanting and living side of artistic creation, the very moment that its vocabulary is being constructed, deconstructed and re-tried, where experimentation and doubt are a pivotal point in the quest for artistic identity.

Participating artists are: Christos Vagiatas, Hrysa Valsamaki, Ino Varvariti, Maria Varela, Afroditi Psarra, Marinos Koutsomichalis, Paky Vlassopoulou, Panagiotis Vorrias, Theodoros Giannakis, Natalie Yiaxi, Manolis Daskalakis-Lemos, Athanasios Zagorisios, Efthimis Theou and Thanasis Deligiannis, Valentina Karga, Chrysanthi Koumianaki, Marinos Koutsomichalis, Alexandros Laios, Kernel (Petros Moris, Pegy Zali, Theodoros Giannakis), Bill Balaskas, Rania Bellou, Petros Moris, Kosmas Nikolaou, Sofia Dona, Myrto Xanthopoulou, Ioanna Ximeri, Maria Papanikolaou, Tula Plumi, Erica Scourti, Evangelia Spiliopoulou, Anastasis Stratakis, Stefania Strouza, Maria Tsagkari, Maro Fasouli, Myrto Ferentinou, Marianna Christofides, City Index Lab + Energize.