JURY

• JANNIS VARELAS, ARTIST

  Giannis Varellas (Greece, 1977) lives and works between Vienna and Los Angeles. He graduated from the Athens School of Fine Arts (BFA) and the Royal College of Art in London (MFA). Solo exhibitions (selection): “Our House”, Galerie Forsblom, Stockholm (2018); “The Pomegranate Circus / Under The Chair”, Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki (2017); “Monster”, Onassis Cultural Center, Athens (2017); “A Duck and a Crutch”, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna (2016); “Common People”, James Fuentes LLC, New York (2016); “New Flags for a New Country / Destroying Elvis”, Onassis Cultural Center, Athens (2016); “New Flags for a New Country”, The Breeder Gallery, Athens (2015); “Sleep My Little Sheep Sleep”, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, US (2012); “Brown Box and the Broken Theater”, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna (2012). Group exhibitions (selection): “Ametria”, DESTE Foundation / Benaki Museum, Athens (2015); “Paper - Works from the Saatchi Collection”, Saatchi Gallery, London (2013); “Hell As Pavillion”, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013); “TEST 2011 Award”, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens (2011); “Skin Fruit: Selections from The Dakis Joannou Collection”, New Museum, New York (2010); “Lebt und Arbeitet in Wien III: Stars in a Plastic Bag”, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2010); New Orleans Biennial Prospect 1, New Orleans (2008); “Destroy Athens”, 1st Athens Biennale, Athens (2007).

• NIKOMACHI KARAKOSTANOGLOU, SCULPTRESS

  Nikomachi was born and raised in Athens. She studied Business Administration at the Athens University of Economics and Business. She pursued her studies in London where she attended the B.A. in Public Art at the Chelsea School of Art and the B.A. (Hons) inFine Art: Sculpture at the Wimbledon School of Art. During her studies she evolves the notion of “Sculpting Space”, a design concept that will unfold throughout her artistic career. Her methodology consists on using the artistic means of sculpture in space design , while imprinting the client’s personality in it. In 1998 she founds her studio “SculptingSpace” where she starts to apply this philosophy on several design projects. For Nikomachi notions like light, movement, frustrating rhythm of everyday life and silence consist the main inspiration of her art and design works. She has collaborated with numerous architectural and construction offices , implementing a big variety of works such as residential and commercial projects, office spaces, hotels and exhibition spaces, while evolving her art works. In 2011 she departs for Shanghai. During her stay in Shanghai she works intensively on restaurant design and branding. Meanwhile she studies Chinese calligraphy through which she explores new forms of capturing water and transparency. Since her return from Shanghai she works exclusively on her drawings, challenging herself with the scale of her artworks and with the materials she has been collecting during her journeys in Asia. ​ In March 2018 she held her first solo show at Martinos art gallery, as a curator and an artist. Recently she completed the art curation of Grand Hyatt Athens, a project where she played again a double role, this of the curator and the artist.

• PANOS KOKKINIAS, PHOTOGRAPHER

  Panos Kokkinias was born in 1965 in Athens where he lives and works. He studied photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York, at Yale University (MFA) and Derby University (PhD) with grants from Yale University, Alexander Onassis Foundation and the Greek State Scholarships Foundation. His monograph Here We Are was published in the US with a grant from Stavros Niarchos Foundation. His work has been published internationally, among other in Vitamin Ph: New Perspectives in Photography, Phaidon Press. Kokkinias has exhibited worldwide in solo and group exhibitions, including Athens, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Madrid, Munich, New York, Singapore, Beiijing and Kassel. His photographs are included in public and corporate collections in Europe and the US. He recently became Associate Professor of Photography at the Athens School of Fine Arts.

• POLINA KOSMADAKI, CURATOR

  Polina Kosmadaki is an art historian and Head Curator of the Department of Painting, Prints and Drawings of the Benaki Museum, Athens as well as a Lecturer of Art in the European Studies program of the Hellenic Open University. She studied Art History and Archaeology in Strasbourg and Paris and holds a Ph.D in Art History from the University of Paris-IV-Sorbonne. Since 2008 she is a researcher and member of the scientific committee in the program undertaken by the Benaki Museum, the French School of Athens and the Institute of Mediterranean Studies regarding the cultural exchanges between France and Greece during the interwar period.

• XARA MARANTIDOU. ARCHITECT - VISUAL ARTIST - DESIGNER

  Xara Marantidou lives and works in Athens. A visual artist, architect and designer, she is involved in the composition, design and implementation of creative projects covering different aspects of the visual arts. She is a graduate of the NTUA School of Architecture and the Athens School of Fine Arts. In the past, she has lived and worked as an architect in Paris, while from 2001 she has been a founding member of the architectural firm klab architects. She illustrates, writes and creates books, games and educational material for the Museum of Cycladic Art, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, as well as for schools and publishing houses. At the same time, by creating group visual projects, she explores a different point of view in the educational process. In her work, she always combines the rational thinking of the architect with the creative freedom of the artist.