The Onassis Foundation has long championed contemporary art and the people shaping it. From 12 to 16 November, Art Athina 2026 takes place at Onassis Ready, transforming the Foundation’s venue in Agios Ioannis Rentis into a meeting point for Athens’ and Greece’s visual arts scene over five days. Since 1993, the country’s largest annual art fair, organised by the Hellenic Association of Art Galleries (PSAT), has brought together galleries, artists, art professionals and audiences, strengthening the connection between the Greek art scene and the international art community. This year, Art Athina returns with a renewed vision: 65 galleries from Greece and abroad come together at Onassis Ready, presenting a programme that extends beyond the traditional exhibition experience to encompass design, project spaces, talks, performances and educational activities for children.
Even before entering Onassis Ready, visitors are welcomed by the words of British artist Tim Etchells, “The Sound of Your Heartbeat” and “The Sound of Your Breathing”, now inhabiting the building’s façade in a work commissioned and produced by the Onassis Foundation’s Stegi. Positioned at opposite ends of the building and visible from afar, the two phrases engage in a dialogue with one another as well as with the city. The work invites visitors into a personal experience, drawing attention to two of the body’s most fundamental rhythms: the heartbeat and the breath.
As part of this year’s Art Athina, the Onassis Lounge also makes its debut: a space for gathering and relaxation, where art meets fashion and music. At its heart is a salon designed by Yohji Yamamoto, offering a preview of the brand’s first shop-in-shop space at Six Rings. This new presence forms part of a wider initiative at 99 Patision Street, conceived as a destination where fashion, art and music converge. The Onassis Lounge will also feature exclusive Stegi merchandise, specially designed for the occasion and inspired by Tim Etchells’ work The Sound of Your Heartbeat / The Sound of Your Breathing.
Music has its own dedicated corner at the Onassis Lounge, with a curated selection of 1970s records and music memorabilia from the collection of Giannis Petridis. An iconic music producer and journalist, whose influence has shaped Greek music and pop culture over the past five decades, Petridis now becomes part of the Onassis Foundation’s wider cultural ecosystem. The transfer of his collection is connected to the creation of a new space on Patision Street dedicated to music listening, research and discovery.
Music also sets the tone for Art Athina’s opening night. STEGI.RADIO takes charge of the evening’s musical programme at Onassis Ready, with visual artists and designers selecting sounds from the electronic, experimental and hip-hop scenes. The line-up features Katerina Komianou, Polina Miliou and NMR.CC.
Meanwhile, visitors to Art Athina will encounter works by members of the Onassis ONX community, while the studios of Onassis AiR and Onassis ONX open their doors to the public, offering an opportunity to meet the artists, explore their work and discover what happens before an artwork is presented: the research, experimentation and creative process behind it. As part of the Open Studios programme, Ileana Arnaoutou and Ismini King present their ongoing research into ecological grief, material memory and the afterlives of industrial landscapes across the Mediterranean. Through fieldwork and participatory methodologies, they transform industrial ruins and natural remnants into sculptural forms.
Through the work of Stefanos Drousotis, a theatre artist whose practice centres on directing, lighting design and music curation, we discover how contemporary lighting technologies can recreate the atmosphere, warmth and emotional resonance associated with historic stage lighting. Together with composer, sound artist and producer Constantine Skourlis, we enter the world of multichannel spatial sound and immersive sound installations, through a research practice that also explores the sonic dimensions of socio-environmental destruction.
Through Dimitris Tampakis’ work, we discover an encounter between underground performance scenes and endangered printmaking techniques, in an exploration of identity, self-image and mechanisms of social control. With Ilektrа Bambiha-Ninou, reality meets fiction. Her work Ethics in Relation to Seafood Parties takes the form of an interactive digital narrative that unfolds through the choices we make.
On Sunday, 15 November (12:00–14:00), the educational programme Touch the City | Talks will also take place, featuring three female artists from the Onassis AiR community: Chrysa Kotoula, Sofia Ntóna and Despoina Charitonidi. Designed for children aged 6–12, the programme invites young participants to explore the concept of space through materials, images, textures and memories, discovering the different ways in which we experience the city.
For five days, Onassis Ready becomes a place where art meets the city and its audiences. A space where visitors can do more than simply view artworks: they can step behind them, meet the artists, enter their studios and discover how ideas come to life. For Stegi, this open relationship between artists and audiences lies at the heart of contemporary creative practice.
Onassis Ready
In the heart of the industrial district of Renti, a former plastics factory has been transformed into something entirely new: Onassis Ready. Spanning 3,760 square metres, the venue has already been activated as a dynamic platform for contemporary creation, hosting a series of significant events, from Juergen Teller’s exhibition you are invited and two editions of the Borderline Festival, in April and October 2026, to the ONX Showcase and Tilda Swinton’s exhibition Ongoing.
In April 2027, Onassis Ready will host Dimitris Papaioannou’s first monographic exhibition, marking a return to the origins of his artistic practice: painting, drawings, connections and the ideas that shaped his visual universe.
Beyond its programme of hosted events, Onassis Ready also serves as a space for artistic expression, experimentation and exploration, welcoming Onassis AiR and Onassis ONX Fellows. The same building houses the Onassis Archive, the first archive of shipping businesses established in Greece, comprising a rich collection of more than one million archival items.
At the same time, Onassis Ready is a versatile, multi-purpose venue available for rental, offering space for creative projects, rehearsals and other artistic or professional activities.
Art Athina 2026
Onassis Ready
2 Strati Tsirka Street, Agios Ioannis Rentis, 182 33
Thursday, 12 November: Admission by invitation only
Friday, 13 – Monday, 16 November: 12:00–21:00
Getting there
By bus: Route 838, with stops at “2i Agias Annas” (300 m) and “Scholeio 3is Agias Annas” (280 m).
By trolleybus: Route 21, “Papadopoulou” stop (1.3 km).
By metro: Line 3, Elaionas station (2.4 km).
Complimentary shuttle bus
Free shuttle services will operate throughout the fair, connecting Onassis Ready with Syngrou-Fix metro station every 20 minutes.
Friday–Monday, 13–16 November 2026
Route: Syngrou-Fix Metro Station → Onassis Ready
