Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The National Art Gallery has the most extensive collection of Greek 20th-century art,
with significant collections at the New Art Gallery in Rhodes and the Museum of Con-
temporary Art in Andros.
Modern and contemporary sculpture is shown at the National Sculpture Gallery.
Greece's marble sculpture tradition endures on Tinos, birthplace of foremost modern
sculptors Dimitrios Filippotis and Yannoulis Halepas, as well as Costas Tsoclis, whose
work fills the island's new museum.
Contemporary Greek Art Scene
Contemporary Greek art has been gaining exposure in Greece and abroad, with a grow-
ing number of Greek artists participating in international art events. The Greek arts scene
has become more vibrant, less isolated and more experimental, and Athens street art is
gaining recognition.
Greeks have had unprecedented exposure to global art through major international ex-
hibitions held in impressive new art venues, small private galleries and artist-run initiat-
ives such as the annual Hydra School Project. Since 2007, Biennials in Athens and Thes-
saloniki have put the cities on the international contemporary-arts circuit, while the Na-
tional Museum of Contemporary Art was to move into its permanent home in 2014.
Many Greek artists have studied and made their homes and reputations abroad, but a
new wave is returning or staying put, contributing to a fresh artistic energy. See the
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GREECE ON SCREEN
Greece's new generation filmmakers have been gaining attention for what some
critics have dubbed the 'weird wave' of Greek cinema. The award-winning films of
Yorgos Lanthimos(Alps, Dogtooth)and Athina Rachel Tsangari(Attenburg),at the
weirder end of the scale, represent a new style of independent films emerging from
Greece.
While Ektoras Kygizos' extraordinaryBoy Eating Bird Foodis an allegory for
Greece's current plight, other notable recent films are a product of it - small, creat-
ive collaborations largely produced in the absence of state or industry funding.
The focus on Greek film comes in the wake of the loss of Greece's most critically
acclaimed filmmaker, Theo Angelopoulos, who was hit by a motorcycle during a
film shoot in 2012. Angelopoulos was renowned for his epic, dreamlike cinematic
style and long takes and his melancholy symbolism and commentary on modern
Greek history and society.
