Platforms Project 2026, a large-scale contemporary art fair, opened to the public on September 17 at the Kapnergostasio tis Voulis ton Ellinon, the former tobacco factory of the Hellenic Parliament, in Athens. The fair brings together 66 artistic platforms and more than 1,100 artists from 22 countries.
Alongside the exhibition, organisers have built an extensive parallel programme of 57 performances, thematic talks and conferences, book presentations, workshops, guided tours and educational activities, intended to give visitors a full contemporary art experience.
The parallel programme is one of the fair's central pillars, creating a setting for meeting, experimentation and exchange between artists and visitors, according to the organisers.
Platforms Project is directed by Artemis Potamianou and Michalis Argyrou, with Potamianou also serving as artistic curator of the event. The Hellenic Parliament has made the Kapnergostasio building available for the fair.
A former tobacco factory turned exhibition space
The Kapnergostasio tis Voulis ton Ellinon, on Lenorman Street in Athens, is a historic industrial building used by the Hellenic Parliament to host cultural and exhibition events. For Platforms Project 2026 it serves as the main venue, hosting the fair's platforms and much of its parallel programme.
Performances across four days
The performance programme ran from Thursday, September 17 through Sunday, September 20. On the opening evening, platforms including Studio44, the Dionysos and Apollon Theatre Company, Orizontas Gegonoton, Rhythm Section, Meta-frastes, ArtCode, AXIONART, JS Gallery by IMC, Gi-Nekyia, adARTes and You're Invited ArtGroup staged performances ranging from short pieces of a few minutes to Nikos Gkikas's 120-minute "Rest in Past".
The programme continued on September 18 and 19 with works including Hilary Rosen's "The Journeys" and Elizabeth Mikellides's "A Line's Journey" for ArtCan, "Step into my... room" by Anna Dimitrokali, Foteini Kolokotroni, Eleni Koutla, Olga Papalexandrou, Sofia Petikidi and Christina Rentouli for the Encounters platform, and Karl Heinz Jeron's "Exercises in Unnecessary Joy". Natalia Sokolova's "EGO", described as a perceptual mediation piece for JS Gallery by IMC, and Carolina Hindsjö's "The Angel was at two places at the same time" for Studio44 were each repeated across multiple days.
On the closing day, the schedule included Adjaxa's (Nikos Papaspyrou) participatory soundscape "Erimopoiisi" for the Eco Flaneur platform, "You, Me, Her, Them, Us" by Vivi Perysinaki and Chrysa Skordaki for The Red Boat Projects, and Ingmar Riswick's musical performance "Richtig zu lachen" for the Dionysos and Apollon Theatre Company.
Fourteen talks and panel discussions
The programme includes fourteen thematic talks and conferences bringing together artists, theorists and researchers from Greece and abroad. Among them is "From Silence to Action: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Gender-Based Violence, Institutional Framework and Social Awareness", organised by The Red Boat Projects platform, with speakers including Aspasia Theofilou, founder of Strong Me, and psychologists Anastasia Kanaki and Takis Koukounaris, moderated by Vivi Perysinaki and Chrysa Skordaki.
Other sessions include an international panel on the Walking Art Centre in Prespes, organised by the Eikastiki Poreia pros tis Prespes platform with speakers Giannis Ziogas, Lydia Matthews, Sotiris Chtouris and Fiona Hesse of the University of Freiburg, and "Photography within Art, as a Means of Negotiating the Contemporary World", organised by Vivian Kalomiri and Nancy Andritsopoulou and featuring speakers including Dora Lavazou, founder of iFocus.gr, and photographer Michalis Pappas.
The programme also features a presentation of Fotis Kangelaris's bilingual book "Fotosimanseis", on photography and the body, published by Ekdoseis Papazisi, and talks by foreign artists Basti Kuhz and Kate Enters on artistic collectives. Additional sessions include "The Imprint of Behaviour", coordinated by artist and poet Maria Stamati, and project presentations such as Orizontas Gegonoton's "The Next Stop" and Eco Flaneur's talks on ecological poetry. Galerie Theorema asbl is also presenting a discussion on art and philosophy featuring philosopher Giorgos Arabatzis and Giorgos Divaris, professor emeritus at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki's School of Fine Arts.
Kids' Lab and Open Studios
As in previous years, the fair includes the Kids' Lab, an educational programme for children aged 4 to 14 coordinated by Katerina Filindra, encouraging young participants to build their own three-dimensional worlds using imaginative materials and mixed techniques. A separate workshop for children aged 6 to 12, "The Smile of Platforms Project", led by dentist and artist Maria Zygomala, takes place on September 20.
The fair also hosts Open Studios for a ninth consecutive year, presenting student work from the Athens School of Fine Arts, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki's School of Fine Arts, and the Department of Graphic and Visual Communication Design at the University of West Attica.
Parallel exhibition and guided tours
A retrospective exhibition, "M#3, Moments, Meeting, Memories", curated by Liesbeth Bos and Konstantin Economou, runs at Lofos Art Project from September 14 to 20, with an official opening on September 18 at 21:00. It looks back at the history of Platforms Project in Athens through the works, experiences and accounts of participating artists.
Guided tours for the public run on September 18, 19 and 20 at 14:00, 16:00 and 19:00, departing from the entrance of the Kapnergostasio.
Opening hours and admission
Admission to Platforms Project 2026 is free with identification. The exhibition runs from Friday, September 18 to Sunday, September 20, 2026, with opening hours of 12:00 to 21:00. The fair opened to the public on Thursday, September 17 from 18:00 to 22:30. It is being held at the Kapnergostasio tis Voulis ton Ellinon at 218 Lenorman Street in Athens.
