TiACF25: Exhibitions

This is Athens City Festival returns this May — bigger, bolder, and bursting into more neighbourhoods than ever before. From 1 May to 1 June, over 200 free events will take over parks, squares, rooftops and hidden corners across the capital, inviting locals and visitors alike to explore a different side of the city. Scroll down for a curated selection of this year’s events — or head to the official festival site to see the full programme.

The festival brings together a dynamic mix of exhibitions by emerging and established artists, inviting you to explore diverse creative expressions across the city. Discover thought-provoking works and connect with the spaces and artists that keep Athens' creative energy alive.

02-12/05, Group Exhibition: Abandoned Cartographies and Other Odd Hours, CAN Christina Androulidaki Gallery: Curated by Dinos Chatzirafailidis, this group show journeys into the subconscious, with works that challenge logic and narrative. Expect an immersive experience that unlocks hidden emotions and memories.

02-12/05, Eva Papagianni: A Finding Place, Mosaico Fine Art Studio: Papagianni blends the natural world with myth and imagination, offering a fresh look at humanity’s relationship with nature. Her works invite reflection on coexistence and the world around us.

08-31/05, Vassilis Papageorgiou – Painting: Lignea Creatura Stans, Gallery Ersi: Papageorgiou’s handcrafted wooden creatures and mythic figures blur the lines between two- and three-dimensional space. His work reflects on the human impact on nature and new ways of coexistence.

08-31/05, CONQUISTADORS, Macart’s Cultural Space: Nikos Kyriakopoulos reimagines the Age of Discovery through fantastical battles and mythical beasts. His monotype works explore desire, fear, and illusion, offering a fresh lens on legendary adventures.

15-31/05, How to Fit Inside the City, Athens Gallery7: Haris Baskozos fuses the structure of architecture with the freedom of fine art, exploring collective identity and individual expression through striking visual compositions.

19-31/05, TAKIMI II – Reconnections Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition, Museum of Traditional Greek Pottery: Curated by Thalassini Bratsou, this exhibition presents new works by emerging ceramicists Olga Vlassi and Auréline Caltagirone, created during their participation in the 2024 artist residency of the French Institute of Greece in Rhodes. Inspired by the island’s ceramic heritage and myths, their pieces engage in dialogue with the museum’s collection, offering a contemporary reconnection with history and place.

24-31/05, Message in RGB and WHITE, Mosaico Fine Art Studio: This rare exhibition creates a cross-cultural dialogue between Greek and Hungarian artists through the personal medium of mail art — a celebration of creativity exchanged through the post.

28-31/05, Lea Petrou: Cosmic Dust / New Territories, National Observatory: Curated by Kostas Prapoglou, this site-specific exhibition transforms the historic National Observatory of Athens into a terrain of celestial imagination and earthly materiality. Drawing on the legacy of 19th-century astronomer Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt, Petrou creates a series of sculptural and textile works that open up new ways of perceiving time, memory, and our place in the universe.

29-31/05, Solo Exhibition: Valinia Svoronou – Clocks of the Tides, CAN Christina Androulidaki Gallery:
Svoronou’s sculptural forms and moving images capture the memory of the Princes' Islands. Inspired by Eastern Mediterranean histories, her works offer a dreamlike journey through time and place.

* Most events are free entrance and require no tickets, to the exception of some that have a priced ticket, or require pre-registration, or are invitation-only. All related information to each of the festival's events can be found on the festival's website, under the page for each event.