<\/p>\n
Athens International Airport is more than just a transportation hub. <\/span><\/h3>\nIt serves as a meeting point for diverse cultures and peoples and represents the first and last impression of Greece <\/span><\/h3>\nfor millions of passengers annually.<\/span><\/h3>\n <\/p>\n
The site-specific sculptural installation ANADYSSIS II by Venia Dimitrakopoulou h<\/strong>as found a home at the suburban railway station of Athens International Airport, adding another significant piece to the continuously evolving artistic landscape of the airport, which is constantly developing its cultural identity through numerous cultural and artistic collaborations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Anadisis5-min-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
*Photo credits \/ Giorgos Sfakianakis<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\nThe work, suspended from the dome of the suburban station, invites passersby to momentarily lift their gaze upwards and experience, even if briefly, a sense of emergence and spiritual upliftment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A metal mesh holds and supports, while an octagonal glass dome, as a \u201cpublic receiver,\u201d welcomes words and phrases. “\u039e\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2. A stranger. \u039e\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c0\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03cd. N\u2019 \u03b1\u03bd\u03ae\u03ba\u03c9 \u03ba\u03ac\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5. To belong. \u039c\u03b5 \u03b1\u03ba\u03bf\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03ac\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2; My voice is not heard.” Amid the words visualized to express and reflect the insecurity of the 21st-century human, large, metallic, curved forms hover.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Anadisis4-min-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Artist Venia Dimitrakopoulou, creator of “ANADYSIS II”, states:<\/p>\n
“I am deeply interested in creating site-specific, place-based works, which are born from and for each space in a way that is entirely organic.<\/strong><\/h4>\nAn airport is a quintessential transitional space, a place of passage, where people come and go in haste because they have a clear destination. What happens when most of us seem to have lost our own destination today? Can art and the artist reverse the disorientation in which we all find ourselves, to some extent? Can the artist’s voice be heard? Is the connection with others a prerequisite for even this momentary emergence? Is art one of the ways to connect and communicate with others? Can art and culture become a canopy, a refuge, a shelter? Can they become a network that connects us, while simultaneously protecting us from the insecurity of the times we are living in?”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dr. Evangelia Diamantopoulou, Associate Professor at the Department of Communication and Media Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), writes:<\/p>\n
“With her work Anadyssis II, at the dome of the suburban railway station at Athens International Airport, V\u00e9nia Dimitrakopoulou brings back the issue of the ‘other,’ xenos, which has preoccupied her in previous artistic creations, but with a different meaning. This time, she does not define the ‘other’ in relation to another person, in a specific place and time. She refers to the modern human being who has lived and continues to live in the uncertainty of the pandemic, war, ecological disaster, constant mutation, and alienation from their own self. The person who feels trapped in an unprecedented, foreign, and grim reality. A person who realizes that the other person is equally alienated and trapped in a situation from which they cannot escape [\u2026]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nThe light, curving forms invite one\u00a0to find the strength to escape from this earthly dystopia and emerge.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nThese forms\u00a0are the dedal wings for the flight towards freedom.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Dr. Charis Kannelopoulou, art historian, comments: “The work \u2018Anadyssis II\u2019 by Venia Dimitrakopoulou at the dome of the railway station at the Athens International Airport appears in a transitional space, a place of movement and fleeting pause, a space of \u2018in transit\u2019 condition. Installed in an in-between place, which for some signifies arrival and for others departure to the next destination, the work seeks to emphasize the constant variability of this socio-spatial dialectic.\u2028[\u2026] The artist isolated emphatic words and phrases [\u2026] to form an unexpected \u2018narrative mark\u2019 within the public space.\u2028Within the public space of many voices, Dimitrakopoulou points to the articulation of each individual\u2019s unique voice, which, however, universally and deeply human, expresses its own truth.\u2028[\u2026] These words invite observers to temporarily find themselves in the position of the other, but perhaps also to recognize their own position within this discourse.\u2028The work Anadyssis is hosted in a public space with non-place characteristics, in the sense of using an in-between space for transition and a shift towards a different condition.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Anadisis6-min-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
ANADYSIS II, 2022<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nSite-specific sculpture installation at the suburban railway station of Athens International Airport<\/span><\/p>\nMaterial: Aluminum panels \u00a0Etalbond<\/span><\/p>\nConcept & Design: Venia Dimitrakopoulou<\/span><\/p>\nLighting: Eleftheria Deko<\/span><\/p>\nArchitectural Design: Maria Maneta<\/span><\/p>\nStructural Design: Anastasios Dervenagas<\/span><\/p>\nConstruction: ELVAL COLOUR SA<\/span><\/p>\nThe artwork was made possible through the generous support of Athens International Airport and ELVAL COLOUR SA.<\/span><\/p>\nVenia Dimitrakopoulou 61 Deinokratous Str.\u00a0 106 76<\/strong> Athens\u00a0 Greece<\/h5>\n <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u0394\u0399\u039c\u0399\u03a4\u03a1\u0391\u039a\u039f\u03a0\u03a0\u039f\u03a5\u039b\u039f\u03a5.png\")
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Venia Dimitrakopoulou is a sculptor who divides her time between Athens and Aegina, where she has a studio. She has exhibited her work in both solo and group exhibitions across Greece and internationally, including in France, New York, and Italy, as part of her “Primordial Future” trilogy, which was presented in three major cities. Her large-scale sculpture Promahones was showcased at the Benaki Museum on Pireos Street for several months before being permanently installed in the garden of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens in 2016. In 2019, the Antonino Salinas Archaeological Museum in Palermo added her work Golden Spear to its permanent collection.<\/p>\n
Dimitrakopoulou\u2019s public art can be found in prominent locations, such as her site-specific works Anadysis II at Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” and Gentility in the gardens of the Noval Property building, Butterfly, in Athens. She also created a bust of Iakovos Diamantopoulos, which is displayed in front of the Archaeological Museum of Lavrio. More recently, she completed the site-specific works Lalaria on Skiathos and Anthem, placed at the entrance of the eponymous “Anthem” building in central Athens, which was named in honour of the artwork. Many of her pieces are held in private collections worldwide, including those of Maison Bernard in the South of France, the American College of Greece, and prestigious hotels such as Athens Hilton, Athens Was Hotel, Mykonos Riviera, Anemi Folegandros, and Diles & Rinies Luxury Hotel in Tinos.<\/p>\n
In addition to her sculptural practice, Dimitrakopoulou has lectured and led workshops on various topics, including \u201cWriting and Speech\/Logos as an Image\u201d at the Department of Architecture and Engineering at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2019), \u201cThe Sculpture of Giannoulis Halepas\u201d (2018), and \u201cEros \u2013 Death \u2013 Self\u201d (2016) at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She has also contributed to lectures at the Benaki Museum (2010), the Wolfson University in Oxford (2015), and the Bodossaki Foundation (2021), as well as to the educational programmes at the Venice Biennale (2015).<\/p>\n
In recognition of her contribution to the arts, she was awarded the Order of the Star of Italy in 2017 by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella. Her work has been published in books by prestigious publishers such as Hatje Kantz (Germany), Allemandi (Italy), Futura, and Foinikas (Greece).<\/p>\n
For many years, Dimitrakopoulou has been involved in community-oriented activities on Aegina, including organising sculpture workshops for children, contributing to the Aegina International Music Festival, and hosting theatre shows.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nAbout her work<\/strong><\/p>\nDimitrakopoulou\u2019s artistic practice is rooted in an intuitive material and spatial understanding of her surroundings, evident in her monolithic sculptures as well as in her more delicate installations. Her works are deeply informed by both the physical world and her inner reflections on time, history, and personal mythology.<\/p>\n
As art critic and curator Eleni Varopoulou notes, “Venia Dimitrakopoulou weaves ancient, primal elements of human existence and artistic creation with modern, personal mythologies. Her explorations span, on one hand, historical and cultural time, and on the other, personal, internal time.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The daedal wings for the flight toward freedom Athens International Airport is more than just a transportation hub. It serves as a meeting point for diverse cultures and peoples and represents the first and last impression of Greece for millions of passengers annually. The site-specific sculptural installation ANADYSSIS II by Venia Dimitrakopoulou…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,119,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-365-imeres-diakopes-en","category-thematikos-tourismos-2-en","category-proorismi-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17421"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17430,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17421\/revisions\/17430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
for millions of passengers annually.<\/span><\/h3>\n <\/p>\n
The site-specific sculptural installation ANADYSSIS II by Venia Dimitrakopoulou h<\/strong>as found a home at the suburban railway station of Athens International Airport, adding another significant piece to the continuously evolving artistic landscape of the airport, which is constantly developing its cultural identity through numerous cultural and artistic collaborations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
*Photo credits \/ Giorgos Sfakianakis<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\nThe work, suspended from the dome of the suburban station, invites passersby to momentarily lift their gaze upwards and experience, even if briefly, a sense of emergence and spiritual upliftment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A metal mesh holds and supports, while an octagonal glass dome, as a \u201cpublic receiver,\u201d welcomes words and phrases. “\u039e\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2. A stranger. \u039e\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c0\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03cd. N\u2019 \u03b1\u03bd\u03ae\u03ba\u03c9 \u03ba\u03ac\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5. To belong. \u039c\u03b5 \u03b1\u03ba\u03bf\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03ac\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2; My voice is not heard.” Amid the words visualized to express and reflect the insecurity of the 21st-century human, large, metallic, curved forms hover.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Artist Venia Dimitrakopoulou, creator of “ANADYSIS II”, states:<\/p>\n
“I am deeply interested in creating site-specific, place-based works, which are born from and for each space in a way that is entirely organic.<\/strong><\/h4>\nAn airport is a quintessential transitional space, a place of passage, where people come and go in haste because they have a clear destination. What happens when most of us seem to have lost our own destination today? Can art and the artist reverse the disorientation in which we all find ourselves, to some extent? Can the artist’s voice be heard? Is the connection with others a prerequisite for even this momentary emergence? Is art one of the ways to connect and communicate with others? Can art and culture become a canopy, a refuge, a shelter? Can they become a network that connects us, while simultaneously protecting us from the insecurity of the times we are living in?”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dr. Evangelia Diamantopoulou, Associate Professor at the Department of Communication and Media Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), writes:<\/p>\n
“With her work Anadyssis II, at the dome of the suburban railway station at Athens International Airport, V\u00e9nia Dimitrakopoulou brings back the issue of the ‘other,’ xenos, which has preoccupied her in previous artistic creations, but with a different meaning. This time, she does not define the ‘other’ in relation to another person, in a specific place and time. She refers to the modern human being who has lived and continues to live in the uncertainty of the pandemic, war, ecological disaster, constant mutation, and alienation from their own self. The person who feels trapped in an unprecedented, foreign, and grim reality. A person who realizes that the other person is equally alienated and trapped in a situation from which they cannot escape [\u2026]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nThe light, curving forms invite one\u00a0to find the strength to escape from this earthly dystopia and emerge.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nThese forms\u00a0are the dedal wings for the flight towards freedom.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Dr. Charis Kannelopoulou, art historian, comments: “The work \u2018Anadyssis II\u2019 by Venia Dimitrakopoulou at the dome of the railway station at the Athens International Airport appears in a transitional space, a place of movement and fleeting pause, a space of \u2018in transit\u2019 condition. Installed in an in-between place, which for some signifies arrival and for others departure to the next destination, the work seeks to emphasize the constant variability of this socio-spatial dialectic.\u2028[\u2026] The artist isolated emphatic words and phrases [\u2026] to form an unexpected \u2018narrative mark\u2019 within the public space.\u2028Within the public space of many voices, Dimitrakopoulou points to the articulation of each individual\u2019s unique voice, which, however, universally and deeply human, expresses its own truth.\u2028[\u2026] These words invite observers to temporarily find themselves in the position of the other, but perhaps also to recognize their own position within this discourse.\u2028The work Anadyssis is hosted in a public space with non-place characteristics, in the sense of using an in-between space for transition and a shift towards a different condition.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
ANADYSIS II, 2022<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nSite-specific sculpture installation at the suburban railway station of Athens International Airport<\/span><\/p>\nMaterial: Aluminum panels \u00a0Etalbond<\/span><\/p>\nConcept & Design: Venia Dimitrakopoulou<\/span><\/p>\nLighting: Eleftheria Deko<\/span><\/p>\nArchitectural Design: Maria Maneta<\/span><\/p>\nStructural Design: Anastasios Dervenagas<\/span><\/p>\nConstruction: ELVAL COLOUR SA<\/span><\/p>\nThe artwork was made possible through the generous support of Athens International Airport and ELVAL COLOUR SA.<\/span><\/p>\nVenia Dimitrakopoulou 61 Deinokratous Str.\u00a0 106 76<\/strong> Athens\u00a0 Greece<\/h5>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Venia Dimitrakopoulou is a sculptor who divides her time between Athens and Aegina, where she has a studio. She has exhibited her work in both solo and group exhibitions across Greece and internationally, including in France, New York, and Italy, as part of her “Primordial Future” trilogy, which was presented in three major cities. Her large-scale sculpture Promahones was showcased at the Benaki Museum on Pireos Street for several months before being permanently installed in the garden of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens in 2016. In 2019, the Antonino Salinas Archaeological Museum in Palermo added her work Golden Spear to its permanent collection.<\/p>\n
Dimitrakopoulou\u2019s public art can be found in prominent locations, such as her site-specific works Anadysis II at Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” and Gentility in the gardens of the Noval Property building, Butterfly, in Athens. She also created a bust of Iakovos Diamantopoulos, which is displayed in front of the Archaeological Museum of Lavrio. More recently, she completed the site-specific works Lalaria on Skiathos and Anthem, placed at the entrance of the eponymous “Anthem” building in central Athens, which was named in honour of the artwork. Many of her pieces are held in private collections worldwide, including those of Maison Bernard in the South of France, the American College of Greece, and prestigious hotels such as Athens Hilton, Athens Was Hotel, Mykonos Riviera, Anemi Folegandros, and Diles & Rinies Luxury Hotel in Tinos.<\/p>\n
In addition to her sculptural practice, Dimitrakopoulou has lectured and led workshops on various topics, including \u201cWriting and Speech\/Logos as an Image\u201d at the Department of Architecture and Engineering at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2019), \u201cThe Sculpture of Giannoulis Halepas\u201d (2018), and \u201cEros \u2013 Death \u2013 Self\u201d (2016) at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She has also contributed to lectures at the Benaki Museum (2010), the Wolfson University in Oxford (2015), and the Bodossaki Foundation (2021), as well as to the educational programmes at the Venice Biennale (2015).<\/p>\n
In recognition of her contribution to the arts, she was awarded the Order of the Star of Italy in 2017 by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella. Her work has been published in books by prestigious publishers such as Hatje Kantz (Germany), Allemandi (Italy), Futura, and Foinikas (Greece).<\/p>\n
For many years, Dimitrakopoulou has been involved in community-oriented activities on Aegina, including organising sculpture workshops for children, contributing to the Aegina International Music Festival, and hosting theatre shows.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nAbout her work<\/strong><\/p>\nDimitrakopoulou\u2019s artistic practice is rooted in an intuitive material and spatial understanding of her surroundings, evident in her monolithic sculptures as well as in her more delicate installations. Her works are deeply informed by both the physical world and her inner reflections on time, history, and personal mythology.<\/p>\n
As art critic and curator Eleni Varopoulou notes, “Venia Dimitrakopoulou weaves ancient, primal elements of human existence and artistic creation with modern, personal mythologies. Her explorations span, on one hand, historical and cultural time, and on the other, personal, internal time.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The daedal wings for the flight toward freedom Athens International Airport is more than just a transportation hub. It serves as a meeting point for diverse cultures and peoples and represents the first and last impression of Greece for millions of passengers annually. The site-specific sculptural installation ANADYSSIS II by Venia Dimitrakopoulou…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,119,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-365-imeres-diakopes-en","category-thematikos-tourismos-2-en","category-proorismi-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17421"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17430,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17421\/revisions\/17430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
*Photo credits \/ Giorgos Sfakianakis<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\nThe work, suspended from the dome of the suburban station, invites passersby to momentarily lift their gaze upwards and experience, even if briefly, a sense of emergence and spiritual upliftment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A metal mesh holds and supports, while an octagonal glass dome, as a \u201cpublic receiver,\u201d welcomes words and phrases. “\u039e\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2. A stranger. \u039e\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c0\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03cd. N\u2019 \u03b1\u03bd\u03ae\u03ba\u03c9 \u03ba\u03ac\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5. To belong. \u039c\u03b5 \u03b1\u03ba\u03bf\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03ac\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2; My voice is not heard.” Amid the words visualized to express and reflect the insecurity of the 21st-century human, large, metallic, curved forms hover.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Artist Venia Dimitrakopoulou, creator of “ANADYSIS II”, states:<\/p>\n
“I am deeply interested in creating site-specific, place-based works, which are born from and for each space in a way that is entirely organic.<\/strong><\/h4>\nAn airport is a quintessential transitional space, a place of passage, where people come and go in haste because they have a clear destination. What happens when most of us seem to have lost our own destination today? Can art and the artist reverse the disorientation in which we all find ourselves, to some extent? Can the artist’s voice be heard? Is the connection with others a prerequisite for even this momentary emergence? Is art one of the ways to connect and communicate with others? Can art and culture become a canopy, a refuge, a shelter? Can they become a network that connects us, while simultaneously protecting us from the insecurity of the times we are living in?”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dr. Evangelia Diamantopoulou, Associate Professor at the Department of Communication and Media Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), writes:<\/p>\n
“With her work Anadyssis II, at the dome of the suburban railway station at Athens International Airport, V\u00e9nia Dimitrakopoulou brings back the issue of the ‘other,’ xenos, which has preoccupied her in previous artistic creations, but with a different meaning. This time, she does not define the ‘other’ in relation to another person, in a specific place and time. She refers to the modern human being who has lived and continues to live in the uncertainty of the pandemic, war, ecological disaster, constant mutation, and alienation from their own self. The person who feels trapped in an unprecedented, foreign, and grim reality. A person who realizes that the other person is equally alienated and trapped in a situation from which they cannot escape [\u2026]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nThe light, curving forms invite one\u00a0to find the strength to escape from this earthly dystopia and emerge.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nThese forms\u00a0are the dedal wings for the flight towards freedom.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Dr. Charis Kannelopoulou, art historian, comments: “The work \u2018Anadyssis II\u2019 by Venia Dimitrakopoulou at the dome of the railway station at the Athens International Airport appears in a transitional space, a place of movement and fleeting pause, a space of \u2018in transit\u2019 condition. Installed in an in-between place, which for some signifies arrival and for others departure to the next destination, the work seeks to emphasize the constant variability of this socio-spatial dialectic.\u2028[\u2026] The artist isolated emphatic words and phrases [\u2026] to form an unexpected \u2018narrative mark\u2019 within the public space.\u2028Within the public space of many voices, Dimitrakopoulou points to the articulation of each individual\u2019s unique voice, which, however, universally and deeply human, expresses its own truth.\u2028[\u2026] These words invite observers to temporarily find themselves in the position of the other, but perhaps also to recognize their own position within this discourse.\u2028The work Anadyssis is hosted in a public space with non-place characteristics, in the sense of using an in-between space for transition and a shift towards a different condition.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
ANADYSIS II, 2022<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nSite-specific sculpture installation at the suburban railway station of Athens International Airport<\/span><\/p>\nMaterial: Aluminum panels \u00a0Etalbond<\/span><\/p>\nConcept & Design: Venia Dimitrakopoulou<\/span><\/p>\nLighting: Eleftheria Deko<\/span><\/p>\nArchitectural Design: Maria Maneta<\/span><\/p>\nStructural Design: Anastasios Dervenagas<\/span><\/p>\nConstruction: ELVAL COLOUR SA<\/span><\/p>\nThe artwork was made possible through the generous support of Athens International Airport and ELVAL COLOUR SA.<\/span><\/p>\nVenia Dimitrakopoulou 61 Deinokratous Str.\u00a0 106 76<\/strong> Athens\u00a0 Greece<\/h5>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Venia Dimitrakopoulou is a sculptor who divides her time between Athens and Aegina, where she has a studio. She has exhibited her work in both solo and group exhibitions across Greece and internationally, including in France, New York, and Italy, as part of her “Primordial Future” trilogy, which was presented in three major cities. Her large-scale sculpture Promahones was showcased at the Benaki Museum on Pireos Street for several months before being permanently installed in the garden of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens in 2016. In 2019, the Antonino Salinas Archaeological Museum in Palermo added her work Golden Spear to its permanent collection.<\/p>\n
Dimitrakopoulou\u2019s public art can be found in prominent locations, such as her site-specific works Anadysis II at Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” and Gentility in the gardens of the Noval Property building, Butterfly, in Athens. She also created a bust of Iakovos Diamantopoulos, which is displayed in front of the Archaeological Museum of Lavrio. More recently, she completed the site-specific works Lalaria on Skiathos and Anthem, placed at the entrance of the eponymous “Anthem” building in central Athens, which was named in honour of the artwork. Many of her pieces are held in private collections worldwide, including those of Maison Bernard in the South of France, the American College of Greece, and prestigious hotels such as Athens Hilton, Athens Was Hotel, Mykonos Riviera, Anemi Folegandros, and Diles & Rinies Luxury Hotel in Tinos.<\/p>\n
In addition to her sculptural practice, Dimitrakopoulou has lectured and led workshops on various topics, including \u201cWriting and Speech\/Logos as an Image\u201d at the Department of Architecture and Engineering at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2019), \u201cThe Sculpture of Giannoulis Halepas\u201d (2018), and \u201cEros \u2013 Death \u2013 Self\u201d (2016) at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She has also contributed to lectures at the Benaki Museum (2010), the Wolfson University in Oxford (2015), and the Bodossaki Foundation (2021), as well as to the educational programmes at the Venice Biennale (2015).<\/p>\n
In recognition of her contribution to the arts, she was awarded the Order of the Star of Italy in 2017 by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella. Her work has been published in books by prestigious publishers such as Hatje Kantz (Germany), Allemandi (Italy), Futura, and Foinikas (Greece).<\/p>\n
For many years, Dimitrakopoulou has been involved in community-oriented activities on Aegina, including organising sculpture workshops for children, contributing to the Aegina International Music Festival, and hosting theatre shows.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nAbout her work<\/strong><\/p>\nDimitrakopoulou\u2019s artistic practice is rooted in an intuitive material and spatial understanding of her surroundings, evident in her monolithic sculptures as well as in her more delicate installations. Her works are deeply informed by both the physical world and her inner reflections on time, history, and personal mythology.<\/p>\n
As art critic and curator Eleni Varopoulou notes, “Venia Dimitrakopoulou weaves ancient, primal elements of human existence and artistic creation with modern, personal mythologies. Her explorations span, on one hand, historical and cultural time, and on the other, personal, internal time.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The daedal wings for the flight toward freedom Athens International Airport is more than just a transportation hub. It serves as a meeting point for diverse cultures and peoples and represents the first and last impression of Greece for millions of passengers annually. The site-specific sculptural installation ANADYSSIS II by Venia Dimitrakopoulou…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,119,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-365-imeres-diakopes-en","category-thematikos-tourismos-2-en","category-proorismi-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17421"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17430,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17421\/revisions\/17430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\nAn airport is a quintessential transitional space, a place of passage, where people come and go in haste because they have a clear destination. What happens when most of us seem to have lost our own destination today? Can art and the artist reverse the disorientation in which we all find ourselves, to some extent? Can the artist’s voice be heard? Is the connection with others a prerequisite for even this momentary emergence? Is art one of the ways to connect and communicate with others? Can art and culture become a canopy, a refuge, a shelter? Can they become a network that connects us, while simultaneously protecting us from the insecurity of the times we are living in?”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dr. Evangelia Diamantopoulou, Associate Professor at the Department of Communication and Media Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), writes:<\/p>\n
“With her work Anadyssis II, at the dome of the suburban railway station at Athens International Airport, V\u00e9nia Dimitrakopoulou brings back the issue of the ‘other,’ xenos, which has preoccupied her in previous artistic creations, but with a different meaning. This time, she does not define the ‘other’ in relation to another person, in a specific place and time. She refers to the modern human being who has lived and continues to live in the uncertainty of the pandemic, war, ecological disaster, constant mutation, and alienation from their own self. The person who feels trapped in an unprecedented, foreign, and grim reality. A person who realizes that the other person is equally alienated and trapped in a situation from which they cannot escape [\u2026]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The light, curving forms invite one\u00a0to find the strength to escape from this earthly dystopia and emerge.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n These forms\u00a0are the dedal wings for the flight towards freedom.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Charis Kannelopoulou, art historian, comments: “The work \u2018Anadyssis II\u2019 by Venia Dimitrakopoulou at the dome of the railway station at the Athens International Airport appears in a transitional space, a place of movement and fleeting pause, a space of \u2018in transit\u2019 condition. Installed in an in-between place, which for some signifies arrival and for others departure to the next destination, the work seeks to emphasize the constant variability of this socio-spatial dialectic.\u2028[\u2026] The artist isolated emphatic words and phrases [\u2026] to form an unexpected \u2018narrative mark\u2019 within the public space.\u2028Within the public space of many voices, Dimitrakopoulou points to the articulation of each individual\u2019s unique voice, which, however, universally and deeply human, expresses its own truth.\u2028[\u2026] These words invite observers to temporarily find themselves in the position of the other, but perhaps also to recognize their own position within this discourse.\u2028The work Anadyssis is hosted in a public space with non-place characteristics, in the sense of using an in-between space for transition and a shift towards a different condition.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ANADYSIS II, 2022<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Site-specific sculpture installation at the suburban railway station of Athens International Airport<\/span><\/p>\n Material: Aluminum panels \u00a0Etalbond<\/span><\/p>\n Concept & Design: Venia Dimitrakopoulou<\/span><\/p>\n Lighting: Eleftheria Deko<\/span><\/p>\n Architectural Design: Maria Maneta<\/span><\/p>\n Structural Design: Anastasios Dervenagas<\/span><\/p>\n Construction: ELVAL COLOUR SA<\/span><\/p>\n The artwork was made possible through the generous support of Athens International Airport and ELVAL COLOUR SA.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Venia Dimitrakopoulou is a sculptor who divides her time between Athens and Aegina, where she has a studio. She has exhibited her work in both solo and group exhibitions across Greece and internationally, including in France, New York, and Italy, as part of her “Primordial Future” trilogy, which was presented in three major cities. Her large-scale sculpture Promahones was showcased at the Benaki Museum on Pireos Street for several months before being permanently installed in the garden of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens in 2016. In 2019, the Antonino Salinas Archaeological Museum in Palermo added her work Golden Spear to its permanent collection.<\/p>\n Dimitrakopoulou\u2019s public art can be found in prominent locations, such as her site-specific works Anadysis II at Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” and Gentility in the gardens of the Noval Property building, Butterfly, in Athens. She also created a bust of Iakovos Diamantopoulos, which is displayed in front of the Archaeological Museum of Lavrio. More recently, she completed the site-specific works Lalaria on Skiathos and Anthem, placed at the entrance of the eponymous “Anthem” building in central Athens, which was named in honour of the artwork. Many of her pieces are held in private collections worldwide, including those of Maison Bernard in the South of France, the American College of Greece, and prestigious hotels such as Athens Hilton, Athens Was Hotel, Mykonos Riviera, Anemi Folegandros, and Diles & Rinies Luxury Hotel in Tinos.<\/p>\n In addition to her sculptural practice, Dimitrakopoulou has lectured and led workshops on various topics, including \u201cWriting and Speech\/Logos as an Image\u201d at the Department of Architecture and Engineering at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2019), \u201cThe Sculpture of Giannoulis Halepas\u201d (2018), and \u201cEros \u2013 Death \u2013 Self\u201d (2016) at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She has also contributed to lectures at the Benaki Museum (2010), the Wolfson University in Oxford (2015), and the Bodossaki Foundation (2021), as well as to the educational programmes at the Venice Biennale (2015).<\/p>\n In recognition of her contribution to the arts, she was awarded the Order of the Star of Italy in 2017 by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella. Her work has been published in books by prestigious publishers such as Hatje Kantz (Germany), Allemandi (Italy), Futura, and Foinikas (Greece).<\/p>\n For many years, Dimitrakopoulou has been involved in community-oriented activities on Aegina, including organising sculpture workshops for children, contributing to the Aegina International Music Festival, and hosting theatre shows.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n About her work<\/strong><\/p>\n Dimitrakopoulou\u2019s artistic practice is rooted in an intuitive material and spatial understanding of her surroundings, evident in her monolithic sculptures as well as in her more delicate installations. Her works are deeply informed by both the physical world and her inner reflections on time, history, and personal mythology.<\/p>\n As art critic and curator Eleni Varopoulou notes, “Venia Dimitrakopoulou weaves ancient, primal elements of human existence and artistic creation with modern, personal mythologies. Her explorations span, on one hand, historical and cultural time, and on the other, personal, internal time.”<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The daedal wings for the flight toward freedom Athens International Airport is more than just a transportation hub. It serves as a meeting point for diverse cultures and peoples and represents the first and last impression of Greece for millions of passengers annually. The site-specific sculptural installation ANADYSSIS II by Venia Dimitrakopoulou…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,119,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-365-imeres-diakopes-en","category-thematikos-tourismos-2-en","category-proorismi-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17421"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17430,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17421\/revisions\/17430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grtraveller.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\nVenia Dimitrakopoulou 61 Deinokratous Str.\u00a0 106 76<\/strong> Athens\u00a0 Greece<\/h5>\n
<\/p>\n