Malvina Panagiotidi: All Dreams Are Vexing

The National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens is celebrating women's art this season with a series of group and solo exhibitions honouring pioneering female artists.

The All Dreams Are Vexing exhibition is a fascinating blend of art and history. Panagiotidi poured her heart and soul into this project, conducting in-depth research during the summer of 2023 on Spetses, where she retreated to the house that was once owned by Eleni Boukoura-Altamoura (1821-1900), Greece's first modern female painter. It was there, after the tragic loss of her children to tuberculosis, that Altamoura turned to spiritualism. Panagiotidi's exploration of occult modernism, the power of the imagination and the complexities of human behaviour in different social contexts shines through in her artistic practice. EMST Project Room 2 has been transformed into this evocative, almost otherworldly environment. Visitors will be surrounded by glass, wax and bronze sculptures that are accompanied by a video and sound piece, giving the feeling of being in a strange new realm. The exhibition is structured around two main themes: firstly, a deep dive into the symbolism of Altamoura's house as both refuge and cage, and secondly, a nod to the symbols from her grimoire manuscript (a Greek spellbook) reappropriated as vessels of memory.