Holding Ground

The project spaces participating in this year’s Art Athina represent a diverse range of independent exhibition spaces, artist-run initiatives, curatorial and research platforms, residency programmes and organisations supporting artists. ARCH Athens, Art Projects Group, ARTWORKS, Space 52, The Paddocks, Thermia Project, Association of Art Friends – Sessions and Upper Ankyle operate within these different organisational and programming models. Despite their differences, what matters is the role they play within the local art scene, remaining close to artistic work and to the processes through which artistic practice finds its audiences and collaborators, gains access to resources, acquires a context and becomes publicly visible.

Holding Ground refers precisely to the creation of this vital space around artistic practice. Their scale and organisational flexibility allow these initiatives to support different stages of the creative process, connect artists with technical and curatorial expertise, foster collaborations and enable research to move between different fields. Independent spaces can act as catalysts, bringing together relationships and resources around artistic work and broadening the possibilities for where a work might go. Their activities are shaped by material as well as economic factors. Institutional and private support, commercial activities, their own resources and often a considerable investment of personal labour make up mixed economies in which flexibility is essential to sustainability. For some of these initiatives, moving away from the centre adds another significant dimension. Islands, smaller towns and rural areas can become active sites of production, bringing artistic research into contact with different temporalities, local knowledge, productive practices and social relationships.

The presence of independent spaces at Art Athina brings different economies and ways of valuing art into the same context. The market, institutional recognition, hospitality, education and social exchange come together as interconnected aspects of the art scene. Ultimately, Holding Ground concerns this close network of relationships and infrastructures, and the capacity of an art scene to sustain different scales and geographies of work, enable the circulation of knowledge and resources and create the conditions for artistic practices to continue evolving.

Curated by ARTWORKS

Art Athina 2026 | Project Spaces
Visit Us: ARTWORKS Booth P7

For Art Athina 2026, ARTWORKS presents works by Eleni Bagaki, Olga Vlassi, Anastasia Pavlou and Nefeli Papadimouli (SNF Grantees in Visual Arts), alongside a historical work by Zizi Makri. Bringing together different generations and artistic approaches, the presentation explores questions of womanhood, subjectivity and representation, considering how personal experience becomes entangled with social expectations, established images and desire.

A body seen from behind, a fleeting gesture, a figure disappearing between different layers. On the surface of a ceramic vessel, anatomical references meet animal forms, while on canvas, the boundaries between recognisable figures and abstraction begin to blur. The familiar takes on an enigmatic quality as forms appear in fragments or recede from view, leaving traces of their presence. Concealment, exposure and transformation become ways of negotiating one’s own image, opening up questions about what we choose to reveal and what remains beyond reach.

Who is looking, who is being looked at, and who determines the terms of this encounter? This question runs through the presentation, linking desire to agency and self-determination. Through their distinct visual languages, the works explore the relationship between private experience and public representation, as well as the possibility of challenging established ways of seeing and representing ourselves.

ARTWORKS’ participation in Art Athina is part of its ongoing commitment to creating opportunities for SNF Fellows, Grantees and artists connected to its wider program, while exploring ways to sustain artistic practices over time.

Beyond the presentation of individual works, our participation at the fair reflects the importance of building relationships with independent initiatives, artist-run organisations and non-profit spaces that share similar commitments. In an increasingly precarious cultural landscape, these connections are essential to the sustainability of artistic production and the infrastructures that support it. Participating in Art Athina is also an opportunity to strengthen this collective effort, to share resources, cultivate new relationships and continue making space for artistic practices to develop and persist.

Public Discussion | Education Program Art Athina 2026
13 November, 2026

Building on the Art Athina × ARTWORKS Educational Program, which explored the professional realities of working in contemporary art through visits to galleries, art institutions, and artists’ studios, ARTWORKS is organizing a public discussion that will further examine the transition from art education to professional practice.

Bringing together the experiences of two students who participated in the program, Ariadne Karkempetzaki & Maria Rousseau, the discussion will address four key themes: From Art Education to Professional Practice; Navigating the Contemporary Art Scene; The Needs and Realities of Artistic Practice; and The Role of Institutions and Educational Initiatives. The conversation will reflect on how knowledge is acquired through direct experience and exchange, and how meaningful connections and support structures can help emerging practitioners navigate and sustain their careers in contemporary art.