Art-Athina continues its exemplary mission of promoting contemporary artistic creation, making a keenly-anticipated return with its 17th edition. Art-Athina 2011 will take place on 12-15 May at the Faliro Pavilion, widely regarded as the perfect venue for the event. This year, a similar number of galleries and cultural institutions will be participating (58 and 40 respectively), offering visitors the opportunity to enjoy a panorama of contemporary Greek and international art through the work of more than 350 artists, and also through the exhibits of museums, cultural institutions and art publications.

Art-Athina, which has become an internationally acclaimed art fair, was established in 1993 by the Hellenic Art Galleries Association with a view to showcasing selected Greek and international galleries and to organising important parallel art events. For yet another year, the Art-Athina organising team is preparing Greece’s biggest annual art event, sustained by the conviction that art is a lever for change and progress and that it can dynamically contribute to social dialogue, as well as adding colour to everyday life – a conviction borne out by the fact that last year’s fair attracted approximately 16,000 visitors and, contrary to the prevailing pessimistic financial climate, revitalized the country’s art scene. Moreover, according to the outcome of the first ever organised public survey in the history of Art-Athina, which was conducted in 2010 via questionnaires, the exhibition has been attracting rising numbers of new visitors over the past two years (an impressive increase, reaching 59.2% in 2010).

The Parallel Programme of Art-Athina 2011 includes, among others:

1. Secret Journeys, from the Collection of EMST
The screening programme titled “Secret Journeys” presents six videos from the National Museum of Contemporary Art collection, with themes emerging from travelling, searching and wandering in a physical or mental space. Contact with nature or another culture as well as the experience of travel itself become motives for observations and revelations. Curated by: Stamatis Schizakis. Video art by: Vito Acconci, Sophie Calle and Gregory Shephard, Gary Hill, Martha Rosler, Shelly Silver, Bill Viola.

2. The Visual Dialogues at Art-Athina 2011
The Onassis Cultural Centre - Athens participates in this year’s Art-Athina by showcasing a selection of video-art works which were previously shown in public places around Athens during Visual Dialogues. Visual artists use contemporary media to translate into images their views on issues arising from scholarly discussions, such as history, democracy, science, ethics, quality of life etc. It is worth noting that, starting from this year, the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism has incorporated Art-Athina in its ambitious communication programme entitled Athens Every Week and the fair will be the central event of the 1st Athens Art Week (9-15 May 2011).