The Onassis Stegi, in collaboration with the Eye Filmmuseum, presents Tilda Swinton’s exhibition Ongoing. An iconic and daring performer as well as a boundary-pushing visual artist, Tilda Swinton stands at the center of this personal exhibition, which brings together new and earlier works by eight of her close artistic collaborators and friends: Pedro Almodóvar, Luca Guadagnino, Joanna Hogg, Derek Jarman, Jim Jarmusch, Olivier Saillard, Tim Walker, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
Personal objects, installations, films, a photography exhibition, sculpture, performance, an open-air cinema, and a masterclass come together to form a magical world around a singular artistic figure. For the first time in Athens, an exhibition dedicated to the remarkable performer and artist Tilda Swinton celebrates art, life, and her ongoing friendships, bringing this year’s thematic focus of the Onassis Stegi—family, both the one we are born into and the one we choose—to a luminous close.
A performer, visual artist, and fashion icon, Tilda Swinton engages in dialogue with her artistic collaborators and friends in the unique, deeply personal exhibition Ongoing, presented at the Onassis Foundation’s new venue, Onassis Ready, from May 17 to June 28. Nature, memory, the very essence of recollection, ancestors and spirits, friendships, artistic collaborations, and the liminal space of creation lie at the core of Swinton’s work—themes she frequently explores together with her creative partners. In Ongoing, these ideas are approached through a variety of expressive media. Her remarkable artistic journey unfolds across eight sections, each centered on one of her closest collaborators.
Director Luca Guadagnino creates a new and highly personal portrait of her in the form of a short film and a sculpture. Through new editing, soundtrack, and image processing, Jim Jarmusch transforms existing footage from his surreal zombie film The Dead Don’t Die into a new installation. Photographer Tim Walker visited Swinton at her family home to create a series of images focusing on her relationship with her ancestors and the continuity of place. Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul presents a compelling and contemplative installation—a personal two-channel work exploring themes they have long investigated together, such as liminal states between wakefulness, creation, and sleep, filmed in Scotland, Swinton’s place of origin.
Pedro Almodóvar presents his short film The Human Voice for the first time as an installation. Together with her childhood friend and filmmaker Joanna Hogg, Swinton presents Flat 19, a multimedia reconstruction of her London apartment in the 1980s—an exploration of memory, space, and personal history.
From May 16 to 19, together with renowned fashion historian Olivier Saillard, Tilda Swinton presents the live performance A Biographical Wardrobe. The piece brings to life a unique wardrobe: garments from her personal collection, film costumes, outfits worn at festival red carpets, and family heirlooms—all woven into a confessional performance in which she shares the story of her life through her clothes.
Finally, Tilda Swinton pays tribute to one of her greatest artistic influences, filmmaker Derek Jarman (1942–1994), with whom she collaborated on seven feature films. This section, enriched with material from Swinton’s archive, includes a large-scale screen installation featuring scenes from The Last of England, as well as a special installation with previously unseen Super8 footage from Jarman’s personal collection.
Tilda Swinton reflects:
“With the honor of this extraordinary invitation, I had the opportunity to reflect on the mechanisms of my working practice over the past forty years—and to consider the ever-present foundation and energetic potential of the close collaborations I encountered from the very beginning and continue to rely on today. By focusing on deeply fertile creative relationships in my life, we share together the narratives and atmospheres that inspire us: presenting new works, specially commissioned for this exhibition, as the most recent gestures born from ongoing, companionable conversations that keep me curious, active, and inspired. A continuous, unbroken trail of breadcrumbs through the forest—new leaves on deeply rooted trees. A perpetual nursery. How fortunate I am for the gift of such an invitation, for such friends, and for such a life.”
Swinton emphasizes that every creative endeavor is the result of collective effort. She invites us to reflect on what it means to create art and cinema within an ongoing dialogue—an exchange cultivated through trust, where roles blur and ideas evolve collectively. This philosophy was already evident in her earliest cinematic work, particularly in her collaboration with Derek Jarman. Over time, she has formed new friendships that have given rise to new creative projects.
The exhibition Ongoing presents works born out of friendship, creative impulse, and political necessity. It is through the deep, personal understanding of shared origins, visions, and sources of inspiration that remarkable works in cinema, art, and fashion emerge. The results of these exchanges are presented here in their most recent forms. Each collaboration is unique, characterized by vibrant creative dialogue, openness, curiosity, and companionship. Together, they reinterpret cinema not only as a medium for storytelling, but as a space for exploration, experimentation, and mourning—as a field for artistic exchange, reflection, and protest.
Over time, these relationships have intensified and multiplied. In this sense, the exhibition is not a retrospective, but a moment of encounter and celebration, as well as a gesture of faith in the future—an opportunity for reflection and reassessment. It is not a finale, but a milestone in an ongoing journey of curiosity and companionship: Tilda Swinton – Ongoing.
Every Friday during the exhibition, an open-air cinema program will take place within the exhibition space, featuring one feature film and one short film each time, in tribute to one of the artists collaborating with Swinton. The short films have been selected by Swinton herself from the collection of the Eye Filmmuseum, as well as from her own work.
The feature films include: Caravaggio (1986) by Derek Jarman, Io sono l’amore (2009) by Luca Guadagnino, Memoria (2021) by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, The Room Next Door (2024) by Pedro Almodóvar, The Eternal Daughter (2022) by Joanna Hogg, Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) by Jim Jarmusch
On May 19, the iconic artist invites the audience to an intimate, open exploration of creative life. Under the title “Fellowship, Art & Nature,” she will deliver a masterclass focusing on the networks of artistic, emotional, and chosen kinship that shape an artist’s journey over time.
On the occasion of Tilda Swinton – Ongoing, visitors can also explore a curated selection of publications dedicated to Swinton’s work, along with objects inspired by her personality. At the specially designed exhibition shop, items range from the official exhibition catalogue—created in close collaboration with graphic designer Irma Boom (published by the Eye Filmmuseum and Rizzoli in collaboration with Hannibal Books)—to tote bags, postcards, notebooks, stickers, and publications by the Onassis Foundation.
The exhibition is a co-production of the Eye Filmmuseum and the Onassis Stegi, in collaboration with Tilda Swinton.
A Biographical Wardrobe — Performance
Tilda Swinton & Olivier Saillard
May 16–19, 2026
Saturday & Sunday: 12:00 & 18:00 | Monday & Tuesday: 20:00
Language: English
Tilda Swinton, together with renowned fashion curator Olivier Saillard, presents A Biographical Wardrobe in six unique encounters with the audience, narrating her life through an eclectic collection of garments. In this generous autobiographical journey, she unfolds family heirlooms, dresses worn on festival red carpets, film costumes, and personal objects.
Swinton meets the Athenian audience in a solo autobiographical confession—an intimate and deeply personal moment—sparked by a remarkable collection of clothing, costumes, and objects. She unravels her life story alongside fragments of her family past, her homeland of Scotland, and the history of the 20th century: from “imposed femininity” to queerness, and from World War I to pop culture.
Within the framework of her exhibition at Onassis Ready, Swinton and Saillard bring her collection to life as a tender gesture of memory and presence—a tribute to the families and friendships she carries within her, as well as to the personal and professional moments that shaped her.
Saillard, a distinguished fashion historian, curator, and museum director, is known for his pioneering fashion presentations. Rather than lifeless mannequins, his exhibitions feature minimalist installations that evoke the living body, bringing historical garments to life. Together, Saillard and Swinton have collaborated on several such projects, with Swinton often serving as a living “pedestal” or foundation.
Her timeless appearance and fluid gender identity allow her to embody a wide range of historical periods, figures, and characters—as seen in works like The Impossible Wardrobe and Embodying Pasolini, the latter presented at the Onassis Foundation in December 2023.
In A Biographical Wardrobe, Saillard and Swinton jointly narrate the story of her personal wardrobe, which includes garments worn by her ancestors, as well as countless costumes and outfits she has worn in films, public appearances, and her private life.
Film Screenings — Tilda Swinton: Ongoing
Open-air cinema at the rooftop of Onassis Ready
May 22 – June 26, 2026 | Every Friday at 21:00
An open-air cinema is set up on the rooftop of Onassis Ready, featuring weekly screenings of short and feature-length films alongside the exhibition, highlighting the breadth of Swinton’s multifaceted work.
The program includes six feature films, each preceded by a short film selected by Swinton from the collection of the Eye Filmmuseum and her own archive. At its core is the transformative actress and the roles that shaped her, as well as her collaborations with filmmakers featured in the exhibition: Pedro Almodóvar, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Luca Guadagnino, Derek Jarman, Jim Jarmusch, and Joanna Hogg.
From her cinematic debut in Caravaggio to the cult vampire film Only Lovers Left Alive, from the existential journey of Memoria to the sensual liberation of Io sono l’amore, and from the emotional exploration of loss in The Room Next Door to the gothic storytelling of The Eternal Daughter, the screenings trace the full range of her iconic career.
Masterclass by Onassis Stegi with Tilda Swinton
Tuesday, May 19, 12:00–13:30
Onassis Ready (Strati Tsirka 2, Agios Ioannis Rentis)
Language: English
As part of her exhibition, Tilda Swinton invites the public to an intimate and open exploration of creative life. Titled “Fellowship, Art & Nature,” the masterclass focuses on the networks of artistic, emotional, and chosen kinship that shape an artist’s journey over time.
Drawing from her long-standing collaborations with figures such as Pedro Almodóvar, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Luca Guadagnino, Tim Walker, Olivier Saillard, Derek Jarman, Jim Jarmusch, and Joanna Hogg, she reflects on how art is created collectively, how relationships fuel creativity, and how dissolving the boundaries between nature, life, work, play, art, and companionship gains deeper meaning.
Echoing both the themes of her exhibition and the broader curatorial direction of this year’s program at Onassis Stegi, the masterclass opens a space for reflection on the natural, social, and emotional ecosystems that support artistic creation today. It is, essentially, an informal and generous gathering—a rare opportunity to revisit these ideas through discussion, storytelling, and collective reflection with one of the most distinctive figures in contemporary cinema and performance.
The session will conclude with an open discussion and audience Q&A.
Audience: Primarily aimed at students and professionals in film, theatre, performance, fashion, and visual arts, including actors/performers, cinematographers, directors, playwrights, and screenwriters.
Admission: Free for students in film, performance, and related fields. Advance booking is required due to limited availability.
About Tilda Swinton
Tilda Swinton made her film debut in 1985 with director Derek Jarman in Caravaggio. Her second film was Friendship’s Death by Peter Wollen. She went on to collaborate with Jarman on seven films (out of his total eleven feature films), including The Last of England, The Garden, War Requiem, Edward II—for which she won Best Actress at the Venice International Film Festival—and Wittgenstein, continuing until Jarman’s death in 1994.
Swinton gained wider recognition in 1992 with her leading role in Orlando, directed by Sally Potter and based on the novel by Virginia Woolf.
Over the years, she has developed long-standing collaborations with filmmakers such as Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Dead Don’t Die), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (Hail, Caesar!), Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin), Luca Guadagnino (Io sono l’amore, A Bigger Splash, Suspiria), Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir Parts I & II), and Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer, Okja).
She has also worked with Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr (The Man from London) and appeared in the comedy Trainwreck, written by Amy Schumer and directed by Judd Apatow. In 2020, she starred in The Human Voice by Pedro Almodóvar.
She won both the Academy Award (Oscar) and the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2008 for her performance in Michael Clayton, directed by Tony Gilroy.
In 2020, she was honored with a fellowship from the British Film Institute and received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice International Film Festival.
In 2022, she appeared in Three Thousand Years of Longing by George Miller alongside Idris Elba, collaborated for the fifth time with Wes Anderson on Asteroid City, and worked again with Joanna Hogg on The Eternal Daughter. More recent appearances include The End (2024) by Joshua Oppenheimer, Problemista (2023) by Julio Torres, and The Killer by David Fincher for Netflix.
In February 2025, Swinton was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
She is the mother of twins and lives in the Highlands of Scotland.
About Onassis Ready
In the heart of Agios Ioannis Rentis, a former plastics factory has been transformed into something entirely new: Onassis Ready. It is an authentic, generous space where artists are invited to dream, rehearse, and take risks. Spanning 3,760 square meters, it is the newest creative hub within the ever-expanding ecosystem of the Onassis Foundation. The space was inaugurated in October 2025 with the exhibition you are invited by Juergen Teller.
Onassis Ready is not just a building—it is a responsive, adaptive space that welcomes artistic creation, including that of Onassis AiR/ONX Fellows, building a bridge between the physical and the post-digital world. It is where Athens meets New York and the wider world; where the post-digital intersects with the deeply human; where the ideas of tomorrow can be tested—boldly, quietly, and freely.
About the Eye Filmmuseum
The Eye Filmmuseum is a global hub for dialogue and innovation in the world of the moving image. Known for its leading role in film preservation and presentation, Eye approaches cinema as art, entertainment, cultural heritage, social document, and a constantly evolving medium. Through its film programs, presentations, and exhibitions, it highlights both the great masters of cinema and bold, experimental new voices.
