The New Museum is partnering with the contemporary art non-profit NEON to present IdeasCity Athens, a five-day residency program culminating in a public conference at the Athens Conservatory in Greece. Forty fellows will live and work at the conservatory to observe the state of the city and work towards addressing the problems it faces. The fellows’ work culminates in a free conference on September 24.
The Architect’s Newspaper was on the ground this spring for IdeasCity Detroit (see our comprehensive coverage here.) Programs have also been held in New York, Istanbul, and Sao Paulo. The platform was started by Lisa Phillips and Karen Wong, director and deputy director of The New Museum.
John Akomfrah, Tania Bruguera, dream hampton, George Prevelakis, Nick Srnicek, and Hito Steyerl are among the speakers at the conference. Check out the IdeasCity website for more information about the Athens fellows and upcoming programs. The full list of fellow and speakers, taken from a recent press release, follows below.
IdeasCity Athens Speakers
Yaşar Adanalı is an urbanist, researcher, and lecturer based in Istanbul. He is a cofounder of Center for Spatial Justice Beyond Istanbul, a cross-disciplinary urban institute that works on issues of spatial justice in Turkey. Additionally, Adanalı teaches courses in participatory planning at Technical University of Darmstadt and in urban political ecology at Koç University in Istanbul.
John Akomfrah is an artist and filmmaker based in London. His work has been exhibited at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Tate Britain, the Museum of Modern Art, the Hayward Gallery, the 2015 Venice Biennale, and the 2012 Taipei Biennial, among other venues. Additionally, Akomfrah’s films have been featured in the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.
Tania Bruguera is a performance artist based in New York and Havana. Bruguera has exhibited her work at the 2015 Venice Biennale, Tate Modern, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, among other places. Since 2015, she has been the artist in residence in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. Additionally, Bruguera is the initiator of Instituto de Artivismo Hannah Arendt in Havana.
Thomas Doxiadis is an architect and landscape designer based in Athens. He is the founder of doxiadis+, an architecture office that works on urban interventions, landscape restoration, and policy. Currently Doxiadis is Chair of the Natural Environment Council of the Greek Society for Natural and Cultural Preservation.
Rosanne Haggerty is a community development leader based in New York. Haggerty is the founder of Common Ground, a not-for-profit organization
dream hampton is a filmmaker, writer, and organizer from Detroit.
Point Supreme Architects is a design studio based in Athens. It was founded in Rotterdam by Konstantinos Pantazis and Marianna Rentzou in 2007. Their work integrates research, architecture, urbanism, landscape, and urban design. The studio’s work has been exhibited at the 2015 Chicago Biennial, the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale, and Storefront for Art and Architecture.
George Prevelakis is a political scientist and geographer based in Paris. Prevelakis is Professor of Geopolitics and Cultural Geography at the Sorbonne University, Paris. Previously, he has served as the Greek Permanent Representative at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He is Codirector of the French journal Anatoli and a regular contributor to the Athens daily newspaper Kathimerini.
Nick Srnicek is a writer and educator based in London. Srnicek is Lecturer in International Political Economy at City University London and the author of Platform Capitalism and, with Alex Williams,Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work, a new manifesto for a high-tech future free from work. Currently, he is writing After Work: What’s Left and Who Cares?
Hito Steyerl is a writer and filmmaker based in Berlin. She is Professor of New Media Art at the Berlin University of the Arts. Steyerl’s work has been exhibited at Artists Space, Institute of Contemporary Arts, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among other places. Additionally, Steyerl contributes regularly to the online arts journal e-flux.
Pelin Tan is a historian and sociologist based in Turkey. Tan is Associate Professor in Architecture at Mardin Artuklu University in Istanbul. In 2015, she curated “Adhocracy – Athens” for the Onassis Cultural Center and was a board member of the Greek Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Additionally, Tan co-runs the project Autonomous Infrastructure for the 2017 Oslo Architecture Triennial.
IdeasCity Athens Fellows
Kafilat Adeola Aderemi is an activist and researcher based in Athens. She is a research assistant at Yale University and works as a yoga therapist for Melissa Network, an organization for migrant women that drives integration and capacity building in Athens.
Antonia Alampi is an art historian, curator, and writer based in Berlin. Her work has been published inart-agenda, Arte e Critica, and Flash Art International, among other magazines. Alampi previously worked at Beirut, an art initiative and exhibition space in Cairo.
Elina Axioti is an artist and researcher based in Berlin. She is a current PhD candidate at Humboldt University and previously worked as Assistant Curator for the exhibition “Heaven Live” at the 2009 Athens Biennial.
Haris Biskos is an architect based in Athens. He is the founder of Traces of Commerce, an initiative that repurposes the vacant storefronts of Athens, and Program Coordinator at synAthina, a social innovation platform.
Sasha Bonét is a writer and activist based in New York. Her writing has appeared in Guernica magazine,AFAR magazine, and the Feminist Wire, among other publications. Bonét is currently working on a collection of essays on radical black feminism.
James Bridle is an artist and writer based in Athens. Bridle’s work focuses on the impact of technology on culture and society. He contributes to the Guardian, Frieze magazine, the Atlantic, Vice, and Domus, and has lectured internationally.
Maria-Thalia Carras is a curator and cultural producer based in Athens. She is a cofounder of the nonprofit contemporary arts organization Locus Athens. Previously, Carras was Assistant Curator of “Outlook: International Art Exhibition” in Athens.
Dario Calmese is a photographer and artist based in New York. He is a regular writer on style and culture for the Huffington Post and the Daily Beast. Calmese currently sits on the advisory board of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Amy Chester is a civic organizer based in New York. She is Managing Director of Rebuild by Design, where she focuses on design and community engagement. Previously, she worked for the New York City Housing Authority and the Office of the Mayor in New York.
Manolis Daskalakis-Lemos is an artist based in Athens. Currently, he is in residence at the Palais de Tokyo’s Pavillon Neuflize OBC. His work has been exhibited at the Benaki Museum, LUMA Westbau, the Serpentine Galleries, and the Athens Biennial, among other venues.
Stamatia Dimitrakopoulos is a curator and writer based in Athens. She is Curator of the Breeder residency program. Previously, Dimitrakopoulos worked for the Greek Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale and the 2017 Athens Biennial.
Sofia Dona is an architect and artist based in Athens and Munich. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Thessaly in Greece and has participated in the Athens Biennial, the São Paulo Biennial of Architecture, and the Istanbul Design Biennial.
iLiana Fokianaki is an art critic and curator based in Athens. She is the founder of State of Concept, a nonprofit gallery in Athens. Fokianaki has written for LEAP, ART PAPERS, and Monocle, among other publications.
Ayasha Guerin is an artist and scholar based in New York. She is a PhD candidate at New York University, where she is focusing on urban environmental studies. Currently, she is also a Fellow at the Museum of the City of New York.
Olga Hatzidaki is a curator and cultural producer based in Athens. She is a cofounder of the nonprofit contemporary arts organization Locus Athens. In 2007, Hatzidaki was a curatorial assistant at the Athens Biennial.
Zoe Hatziyannaki is an artist based in Athens. She is a member of the collective Depression Era and the artist-led studio and project space A-Dash. Hatziyannaki’s work has been published and exhibited globally.
Victoria Ivanova is a curator and writer based in London. She is a cofounder of Real Flow, a platform for art and finance in New York, and IZOLYATSIA, a cultural center in Donetsk, Ukraine. Previously, she was Assistant Curator for Public Programmes at Tate Modern.
Stefan Jovanovic is a designer and artist based in London. He is currently in residence at Sadler’s Wells Theatre and is working at ImPulsTanz in Vienna with Tino Sehgal. Jovanovic has performed at Musée de la danse at Tate Modern, among other places.
Mathias Klenner is an architect and university lecturer based in Santiago, Chile. He is a cofounder of the architecture collective TOMA. Klenner’s work has been exhibited in various venues, including the 2015 Chicago Biennial.
Marily Konstantinopoulou is an arts professional based in New York. She currently works in the Museum of Modern Art’s R&D Department. Previously, she was a consultant at the Hellenic Parliament for the Standing Committee on Cultural and Educational Affairs.
Ben Landau is an artist and designer based in Melbourne, Australia. Landau lectures at RMIT University in Melbourne and has exhibited his work in the Biennial of Design Ljubljana, the Istanbul Design Biennial, Bureau Europa, and the Lisbon Architecture Triennial.
Jimenez Lai is an architect based in Los Angeles. He is the founder of Bureau Spectacular, an architecture group that focuses on cartoons, storytelling, and communication. Lai designed the Taiwan Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014.
Constantine Lemos is an architect based in London. He has worked on design projects in Dubai and Istanbul for Anouska Hempel, construction projects in Abu Dhabi, and shipbuilding in Greece.
Fei Liu is a designer and artist based in New York. She is a 2016–17 member of the New Museum’s art, design, and technology incubator, NEW INC. Liu curates a podcast and music show at Bel-Air, an artist-run online radio station in Brooklyn.
Juan López-Aranguren is an architect and civic designer based in Madrid. He is a cofounder of the artist and architecture collective Basurama. López-Aranguren has exhibited and built projects internationally.
Marcelo López-Dinardi is an architect and educator based in New York. He is a partner of A(n) Office, a design and curatorial practice that was selected to represent the United States at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Kosmas Nikolaou is an artist based in Athens. He is a cofounder of 3 137, an artist-run space in Athens. His work has been exhibited at the Benaki Museum, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Enterprise Projects, and Rebecca Camhi Gallery in Athens, among other venues.
Michael MacGarry is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Johannesburg. He is a PhD candidate at the University of the Witwatersrand and has exhibited his work at Tate Modern, Guggenheim Bilbao, Kiasma Museum, and Iziko South African National Gallery.
Tiff Massey is an artist and activist based in Detroit. Her work explores class, race, and contemporary culture through the lens of African adornment. Massey is a 2015 Kresge Visual Arts Fellowship awardee and John S. and James L. Knight Foundation grant recipient.
Shawn McLearen is a community real estate developer based in New York. He is the founder and President of Placeful, a nonprofit organization that focuses on socially responsible partnerships.
Sean Monahan is an artist and writer based in New York and Los Angeles. He is a cofounder of the trend-forecasting group K-HOLE. Monahan has worked with Virgin Group, MTV, the New Museum, MoMA P.S.1, Casper, and the 2016 Berlin Biennial, among other organizations.
Ilias Papageorgiou is an architect based in New York. He is a partner at SO – IL, an architecture studio that envisions spaces for culture, learning, and innovation. Papageorgiou has taught at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University.
Fortuné Penniman is an architect based in Dubai. He is a cofounder of the design and research practice A Hypothetical Office. In 2016 he graduated with honors from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.
Eduardo Pérez is an architect and manufacturer based in Santiago, Chile. He is a cofounder of the architecture collective TOMA. Pérez has exhibited his work at the 2015 Chicago Biennial, among other venues.
Danielle Rosales is a graphic designer and sociologist based in Paris. She is Design Researcher at Civic City and a cofounder of Spatial Codes. Rosales’s work was featured in the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Maria Stanisheva is a documentary filmmaker based in New York. She is the founder of FINDING HOME, an online storytelling platform for displaced communities. Stanisheva’s work has been featured on Euronews and in the New York Times and the Independent.
Hakan Topal is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. He is Assistant Professor of New Media and Art+Design at SUNY Purchase College, and his work has been exhibited at the Gwangju Biennial, the Istanbul Biennial, the Venice Biennale, and MoMA P.S.1.
Francis Tseng is a designer and software engineer based in New York. He is a 2016–17 member of the New Museum’s art, design, and technology incubator, NEW INC. Previously, Tseng worked for the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Jonida Turani is an architect and curator based in Venice and Tirana, Albania. She is Codirector of Beyond Entropy Balkans, a nonprofit platform for art, architecture, and geopolitics. In 2014 she co-curated the Albanian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Rebecca Bucky Willis is an architectural designer based in Detroit. She is the founder of Bleeding Heart Design, a nonprofit organization that sets out to inspire altruism. Previously, she worked at the Detroit Collaborative Design Center at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture.