Cycladic Talk – Jeff Koons

In conversation with the Museum’s Scientific Director and curator of the exhibition, Prof. Panagiotis Iossif, Koons shared insights into his long creative journey, from the iconic works that highlighted the aesthetics of everyday culture to his more recent engagement with forms that drew from the “deep history” of human creation.

At the heart of the discussion was the work Balloon Venus Lespugue, the artist’s interpretation of the eponymous Paleolithic figurine, which was presented in the exhibition in an active dialogue with ten certified copies of “Venus” figurines from the Upper Paleolithic era.

The conversation explored the creative paradoxes of the work—lightness and permanence, primordial form and the modern industrial surface—as well as the role of reflection, which incorporated the viewer into the sculpture itself. The talk shed light on how Jeff Koons utilized modern technology to redefine ancestral forms, remaining in dialogue with fundamental concepts of human desire and creativity.