That edition of documenta, in 2017, revealed to many that Athens isn’t just ruins and echoes: the contemporary art scene is thriving—especially in visual and performance art, dance, and theater. Perhaps you’ve heard that “all the artists are fleeing Berlin for Athens,” or that “Athens is the last European city with a real underground scene.” Within this narrative, the city’s public contemporary art museum, EMΣT (which we’ll Latinize here as EMST), plays a pivotal role.
Since Katerina Gregos took over as artistic director in 2021, EMST has become a key node in Europe’s artistic geography. An internationally renowned curator, Gregos is known for linking art, politics, and society. She introduced a curatorial structure based on long-term thematic cycles, like Modern Love (or Love in the Age of Cold Intimacies), focused on relationships in the social media age, and What If Women Ruled the World, a women-centered show created to counter the historical marginalization of female voices in art.
