Museums, historical and neoclassical buildings, public schools, a onetime orphanage-turned-prison, a former boys’ boarding school, —spaces with their own layered histories become hosts for works by contemporary artists.
Installations, ceramics, paintings, sculpture, and music create dialogues with ancient objects, local landscapes, and memory. Over 15 events across the islands transform the Saronic and Aegean seas into an open, drifting archipelago of art.
Hydra
Ruins of windmills and remnants of sea vessels—boats, caiques, and rust—take center stage in the works of painter and professor at the School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens, Sotiris Sorogas, under the exhibition titled “Memories from Hydra”. The exhibition runs from July 5 to July 30 at the Historical Archive and Museum of Hydra, curated by Sorogas along with Giorgos Mylonas and Maria Lyratzi.
Sorogas describes Hydra as “a paradisiacal island praised by those who have known it,” recalling his first visit in 1957 as a Fine Arts student. He reflects on the island’s mysterious charm, from the atmosphere of the Tombazis mansion to the dreamlike shipyard of Mandraki and the serene, almost sacred aura of the Prophet Elias Monastery perched atop the island. This encounter with Hydra led him to a profound reevaluation of his core artistic values.
Meanwhile, Greek art curator and artist Dimitris Antonitsis continues his curatorial program Hydra School Projects, presenting “Lithos/Lithe” at the local high school facilities. This exhibition, featuring works by nine artists, is the first chapter in a three-year trilogy exploring the island as a realm of metaphysics.
Duration: until September 7.
Aegina
A new institution dedicated to improvisational art with jazz music at its core makes its debut in Aegina, spearheaded by the Jazz Solidarity Network, Greece’s only official jazz organization.
The two-day summer festival offers jazz concerts and contemporary dance performances inspired by Aegina’s emerging artistic community. Supported by the Ministry of Culture, the festival takes place at the historic former Kapodistrian Orphanage, a key modern monument which served as a political prison from 1880 to 1985.
Festival dates: July 11-12, 9:00 pm – 10:45 pm.
Ios
Cycladic Nexus – A Journey of Connections Across Time: Skarkos
This exhibition at the Archaeological Museum of Ios unites past and present through contemporary art. Artists from various fields engage in a creative dialogue with the museum’s exhibits, exploring themes of movement, communication, and connection via painting, sculpture, installations, embroidery, and digital prints.
The human trace—presence or absence, journey or trauma—is a constant thread, raising questions of collective memory and historical consciousness. Inspired by the prehistoric settlement of Skarkos, a hallmark of Early Cycladic civilization (2700–2400/2300 BC), the exhibition reflects on ancient social structures and technological advancements.
Opening: June 28, 2025 – October 31, 2025.
Kea
Kea is highlighted as a unique diving destination through a group exhibition featuring works by 37 contemporary Greek artists, inspired by the island’s famous shipwrecks. The exhibition, with an activist spirit, raises awareness of underwater archaeology and marine conservation.
Titled “The Underwater Historic Site of Kea” and curated by Louiza Karapidaki, it is hosted in the Georgia Martinou building in Vourkari and runs until August 30.
The area includes significant wrecks like HMHS Britannic, S/S Burdigala, and Patris, linked to WWI and modern Greek history, along with the recently added Junkers 52 aircraft wreck. Visitors explore underwater beauty and biodiversity alongside the submerged heritage.
Santorini
Cycladic Women: Untold Stories
This exhibition at the renovated Archaeological Museum of Thira narrates Cycladic history through the eyes of its women, from antiquity to the 19th century. Featuring 180 masterpieces from nearly all Cycladic islands, it was previously shown at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens and is the first joint initiative between the Museum of Cycladic Art and the Cyclades Ephorate of Antiquities, in collaboration with the Municipality of Thira.
Open until October 31, 2025.
Paris Tavitian © Museum of Cycladic Art
Andros
Over 150 works compose a tribute exhibition to pioneering artist Takis, organized by the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation in Athens and Andros, curated by Maria Koutsomalli Moro and Toby Camps. The exhibition runs until November 2.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Andros.
Simultaneously, another Takis exhibition is on at the Basil & Elise Goulandris Museum in Athens.
Paros
Flapping: With the Wings of Mind and Art
The Archaeological Museum of Paros hosts sculptor Venia Dimitrakopoulou’s exhibition, featuring four new sculptures in dialogue with the museum’s permanent collection and earlier works. Curated by Eleni Varopoulou, and accompanied by a musical composition from Panagiotis Kalantzopoulos, the show runs July 20 – August 19.
It celebrates Paros marble as a material that shaped masterpieces of ancient Greek sculpture.
Lesvos
Yorgos Maraziotis – Blue Moon
At K-Gold Temporary Gallery, Maraziotis presents neon, marble, metal, and mirror sculptures investigating habitation and human connection. Based on oral histories from former residents of the neoclassical house hosting the gallery in Agia Paraskevi, the installation reintroduces architectural elements removed during renovation as memory anchors.
The work explores displacement and the tension of objects removed from their original context.
July 12 – August 31, 2025.
Yorgos Maraziotis, Untitled.
Spetses
The Anargyros Art Residency’s annual program invites multidisciplinary artists to the historic Anargyrios and Korgialenios School campus. Curated by Eva Vaslamatzi, the inaugural School of Transitions edition reflects on the site’s legacy as a former boys’ boarding school and alternative learning models. The program includes workshops, discussions, film screenings, and collaborative activities.
Featured works include: Ioanna Paraskevopoulou’s sound-dance investigation of disappearing manual trades; Konstantza Kapsali’s short film on memory and loss; and Natalia Manta’s sea-inspired anatomy of an imaginary creature.
Syros
The 9th Rebetiko Festival returns in August with a rich program of free concerts, exhibitions, and workshops celebrating Greece’s iconic music genre.
The 9th Rebetiko Festival “Syros of Markos Vamvakaris” kicks off on August 28 and over four days offers concerts, exhibitions, workshops, conferences, a traditional musical instrument exhibit, and happenings and all events are free and open to all.
Syros Rebetiko Festival
Tinos
The retrospective Ideas and Incidents showcases works by painter, engraver, and graphic artist Babis Retzepopoulos (1957-1994), alongside four works by his mentor, engraver A. Tassos. The exhibition, curated by Christoforos Marinos, focuses on Retzepopoulos’ interplay of light and shadow in his abstract engravings.
Hosted at the Tinian Cultural Foundation, open until September 15.
Kythnos
The Thermia Project artist residency presents Hidden Mythologies at the Chora Primary School, curated by Odette Kouzou. The 4th edition focuses on creatures of local myths, folktales, and songs. The artworks evoke the persistent presence of these beings in Kythnos’ collective memory, blending fantasy with heritage.
July 12 – July 20.
Skiathos
Dimitris Pikionis: Form and Shape
The Benaki Museum presents an overview of architect Dimitris Pikionis’ work through archival reproductions, from the Moraitis House (1923) to designs for Aixoni settlement (1950-1957) and his landscaping of the Acropolis and Philopappos Hill (1954-1958).
Exhibition at the Holy Monastery of the Annunciation, Skiathos, until October 15.
Samos
Bridging Cultures
Highlighting Samos’ role as a crossroads in the Eastern Mediterranean since the early Iron Age, this exhibition celebrates a century of German Archaeological Institute research on the island. It showcases cultural exchanges between Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Held at Art Space Pythagorion, Schwarz Foundation, until October 15.
Egyptian ivory lion (8th-6th century BC) | | ©Gösta Hellner
Chios
At the historic Karavas estate, the DEO program curates Once We Were Gardens, exploring cycles of growth and decay through garden symbolism. The exhibition features 12 artists’ works—sculpture, ceramics, installations, and a unique garden reconstruction—set against centuries of agricultural heritage.
Opening July 5 – September 7.
Poros
Painter Giannis Adamakos presents In Between at Citronne Gallery, Poros, featuring expressive collages embodying destruction and gesture, alongside a new series of paintings. Curated by Tatiana Spinari-Polali, the show runs until September 14.
Installation view. ©Yiorgos_Brousalis
Simultaneously, artist Giannis Boutéas creates an “atemporal museum” with monumental digital prints of ancient sculptures interacting with the Archaeological Museum of Poros’s permanent exhibits. “Stratifications – Transformations” is an exhibition that focuses on the concept of timelessness. Bouteas’s objects-symbols, coming directly from everyday life, start a dialogue with the ancient objects of the archaeological museum, and may initially surprise the visitor. A man of antiquity would probably feel a similar surprise if he saw his personal objects in the museum displays today, accompanied by scientific theories and (mis)interpretations. The show Stratifications – Metamorphoses, curated by Spinari-Polali and Maria Giannopoulou, is open until September 21.
Installation view. ©Yiorgos_Brousalis
