MONTH IN REVIEW: September 2025
A roundup of this past month’s art and design news about the makers and creators from Greece and Cyprus
By: Sophia Marilyn Nelson
Onassis AiR Announced its 2025/26 Fellows
Forty artists from diverse cultural backgrounds and creative disciplines have been selected and publicly announced for the 2025-26 Onassis AiR. The cohort includes fellows experimenting across dance, sculpture, theatre, design, writing, and more. After six successful years of this artistic residency, supporting more than 200 artists, this year’s cycle continues that legacy while expanding its horizons.
The Onassis Foundation launched Technical Residencies, a new branch of the program tailored for artists who center technology and production into their creative work. Onassis AiR remains a space for daring artistic research where practitioners are given time, resources, and freedom to delve into their hypotheses without the pressure of producing a final product.
With this targeted and essential support, artists gain access to rich creative exchange as well as space for bold innovations in their respective fields. Located in the Neos Kosmos neighborhood in Athens, the program is rooted in an awareness of the political and geographic context in which it operates. With this awareness, fellows are emboldened to engage with current events and reflect on their own identities in an ever-changing landscape.
To engage in the conversation and support this year’s artists, visit the Onassis AiR website and sign up for their newsletter.
Photos courtesy of Pinelopi Gerasimou for Onassis Stegi
We Published our Greece and Cyprus Fall Festival Guide
After summer closed its chapter, Greece and Cyprus welcomed autumn with an array of art and design festivals. This September, the iconic Art Athina returned to its historic home at Zappeion Megaron, bringing together 72 galleries in a dynamic celebration of contemporary art.
In Cyprus, the Faneromeni Art Festival honored the Cypriot identity through a lively program of visual art, theatre, folk music, and traditional dance. Meanwhile, new voices and experimentation took center stage at Sardam’s Interdisciplinary Literary Festival, highlighting innovative approaches to language, performance, and storytelling.
And the festivities aren't over yet; autumn continues to unfold with other cultural offerings. October brings the Athens Art Book Fair, the Larnaca Biennale, and the Limassol Art Walks, bringing even more opportunities to explore, engage, and be inspired.
Check out our festival guide here to learn more and plan your visit!
Photos courtesy of Art Athina and Sardam Festival Instagrams
The “Femicide” Exhibition Opened at John Jay College
Early September marked the opening of Thalia Vrachopoulos’ curated exhibition entitled Femicide at John Jay College in New York City. As an act of resistance, the exhibition brings visibility to the often private, suppressed suffering of women, made starkly present through evocative works on view at the Anya & Andrew Shiva Gallery.
One installation, Femicide Cenus, created by Alison Whitmore, commemorates real women by carefully embroidering their faces on handkerchiefs with their names and the stories of their deaths. With textile work historically deemed “women’s work,” these pieces carefully humanize each life with colorful thread. Yiannis Christakos also features textiles in his piece Threaded Wounds: Alice, Mary, Helene, Olympia, Georgia, Hana, Meltem, Sue, Do Not Live Here Anymore. Displaying four urban maps, embroidered patches represent the location of a woman’s murder, examining larger patterns of violence through the delicate nature of fiber.
Through sculpture, painting, film, and multimedia installations, each artist contributes to a space of communal mourning and remembrance. They honor lives lost through the systemic crisis of femicide and bring attention to patriarchal structures.
Other participating artists include Roya Amigh, Isabel Baraona, Natali Bravo-Barbee, Elli Chrysidou, Donna Ferrato, Maria Karametou, Fay Ku, Cyriaco Lopes, Arlene Love, Despo Magoni, Nefeli Massia, Emma McCagg, Elise Rasmussen, Mary Ting, and Lydia Venieri.
Photos by Sophia Marilyn Nelson
Cyprus Arts Organizations Started Calling for Change
On September 1, 40 different cultural organizations in Cyprus signed an open letter detailing a collection of systematic issues that they feel stifle the cultural sector of Cyprus. They sent it to President Christodoulides,
A major grievance cited was the withdrawal of a publication that was part of the country’s participation in the 19th International Architecture Biennale in Venice as an act of censorship. The publication — written in the Cypriot dialect — detailed The 1974 Turkish invasion, and Deputy Minister Vasiliki Kassianidou claimed the text referred to the deputy cultural ministry as a publisher without “documented official written approval.”
The open letter also condemned outdated and insufficient funding systems that fail to reflect current economic realities, such as inflation, as well as the lack of institutional support for emerging and independent artistic initiatives.
Additional concerns included problematic public statements made by ministry officials toward cultural workers and recent decisions to cancel state gallery events, actions seen as part of a broader pattern of censorship and degradation of the arts. The letter calls attention to an increasingly precarious environment for cultural practitioners.
In addition to being sent directly to the president, the letter was shared publicly via Change.org, where a petition in support has, at the time of writing, garnered over 550 signatures. This public appeal represents a collective demand for the government to restore meaningful support to the cultural sector and to protect the artists who shape Cyprus’s civic and creative future.
Photos courtesy of Kathimerini and philenews
Zorba the Greek Premiered at Paphos Castle
On September 26, the Slovene National Theatre Maribor ballet company performed Zorba the Greek for the first time with more than 150 artists on stage. The iconic spirit of Zorba was summoned to life through a collaboration with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Diastasis Vocal Ensemble, and choreography by Lorca Massine. This ballet was part of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Greece’s iconic composer Mikis Theodorakis.
Staged against the grandiose backdrop of the historic Paphos Castle, the performance celebrated the enduring themes of freedom, joy, and a zest for life embodied in Nikos Kazantzakis’ beloved 1946 novel of the same name. First adapted for the stage in 1988, this balletic version combines the classical dance form with Greek folk traditions to create a one-of-a-kind stage experience that transcends genres.
Photos courtesy of Slovene Maribor and Amphialostravel
Vogue Published an Unexpected Guide to Santorini
The Greek island of Santorini attracts over 3.4 million tourists each year. Its narrow streets overflow with visitors, many arriving from cruise lines in search of the familiar blue-and-white postcard scenes they’ve come to love online. Writer Laura Itzkowitz set out to go beyond the surface of this notorious destination to unveil unexpected treasures that supersede expectations.
In her travel guide, “How to See a More Authentic Side of Santorini,” published on Vogue.com, she speaks with tourism and cultural workers to uncover the island’s uncharted treasures and local perspectives. Laura highlights places such as the Symposion Cultural Center and the Archaeological Museum of Thera, where travelers can take part in instrument-making workshops or explore exhibitions on the lives of Cycladic women from history.
Her guide also includes hotel and restaurant recommendations, along with tips on where to find and support local artisans, steering readers away from the mass-produced souvenirs sold near cruise ports. Guides like these are essential in encouraging deep and mindful engagements with tourism, pushing through the hype and appreciating a place and its people in a more earnest way.
Photos courtesy of Auberge Resorts Collection, Laura Itzkowitz and Mystique, a Luxury Collection Hotel
