Former tobacco factory sets Athens' radical art scene alight
Ambitious group show ‘Portals’ transforms Athens’ historic Public Tobacco Factory into a platform for international contemporary art, including new work by Glenn Ligon, Teresa Margolles and Danh Vō
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

It’s often the buildings with the most curious past lives that make for the most striking stages. In Athens, a colossal new group show, ‘Portals’, has a backdrop almost as intriguing as the art it frames.
‘Portals’ takes place in the city’s former Public Tobacco Factory, constructed in 1930 to cultivate a crop that served as one of Greece’s most important exports. ‘The former Public Tobacco Factory building is an iconic structure in the city centre, a symbol of the country’s path to industrialisation and, at the same time, a footprint of its architectural heritage,’ says Elina Kountouri, exhibition co-curator and director of Neon, the non-profit arts organisation who co-organised the show and renovated the historic building.
Nikos Navridis, Try again. Fail again. Fail better, 2013, galvanised sheet metal, oven paint, LED light, Edition 2021, courtesy the artist, NEON and Bernier/Eliades Gallery. Installation View 'Portals', Hellenic Parliament + NEON at the former Public Tobacco Factory, courtesy NEON
Though the story begins with tobacco and ends with world-class contemporary art, the shapeshifting building has demonstrated versatility over its near-century history. It’s done time as a prison, been a Second World War air-raid shelter, housed Romanian refugees, been home to the Greek Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Finance, and its present occupant, the Hellenic Parliament, with which Neon collaborated for ‘Portals’.
This rich history is in tune with the theme of the show. This year marks 200 years since the start of Greece’s War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire and the birth of the modern Greek nation. In 'Portals', parallels are drawn between this seminal moment in Greece’s history, and the Covid-19 pandemic that continues to shake the world.
‘Two hundred years ago, the Greeks had to design their future as an independent state and uphold the values of rule of law and personal liberties. Today, humanity is being forced to reshape everyday reality and to reassess its understanding of what freedom means. Once again, we are asked to reimagine lives reborn out of revolution and upheaval,’ says Kountouri, who co-curated ‘Portals’ with Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker director, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
(Front to back) Do Ho Suh, 348 West 22nd St., Apt. A & Corridor, New York, NY 10011, 2000-1, translucent nylon, D.Daskalopoulos Collection; Apostolos Georgiou, Untitled, 2020, diptych, acrylic on canvas. Courtesy the artist and Rodeo, London / Piraeus. Installation View Portals, Hellenic Parliament + NEON at the former Public Tobacco Factory, courtesy NEON
Danh Võ, Untitled, 2021 (detail), mixed media. Courtesy the artist. Commissioned by NEON. Installation View ‘Portals’, Hellenic Parliament + NEON at the former Public Tobacco Factory, courtesy NEON
Neon, founded in 2013 by collector and entrepreneur Dimitris Daskalopoulos, sees its platform as the city. By focusing on initiatives in civic and social contexts, it identifies the power of contemporary art to inspire individuals and society. Hosted in the building’s west wing, the group show features 59 artists from 27 countries with 15 site-specific, newly commissioned works. Among the artist’s presenting new commissions are Glenn Ligon, Duro Olowu, Teresa Margolles, Michael Rakowitz, Danh Vō and Chrysanthi Koumianaki.
Ligon’s Waiting for the Barbarians, a white neon work in direct conversation with the building’s architecture, takes its title and inspiration from a work by Greek poet CP Cavafy. It presents nine English translations of the poem, one of which was generated through Google Translate. ‘CP Cavafy was one of the first modern Greek poets I was introduced to in high school and I always admired the subtlety of his language and the directness with which he approaches themes of same-sex desire,’ the American artist tells Wallpaper*. ‘Since I don't read Greek, I have always relied on translations, but since there are dozens of translations of Cavafy into English I realised that it might be interesting to present them simultaneously instead of picking the “best” translation of a particular poem. The poem is over a hundred years old but its themes of cultural dissolution, fear of the other, and political expediency resonate strongly today.’
RELATED STORY
Before and after: a history of the world’s most extraordinary art spaces (opens in new tab)
Glenn Ligon, Waiting for the Barbarians, (detail), 2021, Neon. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery. Commissioned by NEON. Installation View 'Portals', Hellenic Parliament + NEON at the former Public Tobacco Factory, courtesy NEON
Duro Olowu, Bound, Lost, Found, Heaven sent: A Trail of Objects, 2021 (detail), courtesy the artist. Commissioned by NEON. Installation View Portals, Hellenic Parliament + NEON at the former Public Tobacco Factory, courtesy NEON
Olowu’s new work Bound, Lost, Found, Heaven sent: A Trail of Objects, staged within the factory’s former customs house, comprises textural sculptures, rendered in ash, oak and sapele and cedar wood, synthetic and natural fabrics, alongside those using found antique objects.
Through his multifaceted work, Olowu hopes to ‘subliminally create an environment that examines various historical and contemporary ideas of migration, beauty and "found" truths. Such as ancient and modern connections between Ethiopia and Greece as expounded by Homer in his poems “Odyssey” and “The Iliad”. In these poems, Ethiopia was referred to as Aethiopia, which translates to ‘burnt face’. The connotations of which reveal hidden and pervasive undertones in politics and art.’
Daphne Wright, Maple Row Sunflowers, 2019, mixed media, courtesy the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London. Installation View Portals, Hellenic Parliament + NEON at the former Public Tobacco Factory, courtesy NEON
Other artists are presenting existing works in a new context. These include pieces by Daphne Wright, Do Ho Suh, Shilpa Gupta, Adam Pendleton, Ed Ruscha, Steve McQueen, Maria Papadimitriou and Brazilian artist Adriana Varejão. Irish artist Wright is presenting works from a recent series, A quiet mutiny, which explores the melancholy and mundanity of domestic life. ‘In dried but unfired clay, I recreated familiar objects that included a child’s pushchair, houseplants, and a fridge. I chose these things because of their momentary quality; they are only fleetingly valued in our daily lives,’ she says.
‘Portals’ was inspired by an article from 2020 by the novelist Arundhati Roy, who viewed the pandemic as a ‘portal, a gateway between one world and the next’. She acknowledged that the rupture created by the pandemic individually and collectively opens a portal, one that we can negotiate our transition through.
Kutluğ Ataman, Küba, 2004, 40 channel video installation with sound, 40 used chairs, 40 tables, 40 television sets, D.Daskalopoulos Collection; Adam Pendleton, Our Ideas #2, 2018, silkscreen ink on Mylar, courtesy of Yaacov Gorsd Collection, Art Consultancy Idit Orni. Installation View 'Portals', Hellenic Parliament + NEON at the former Public Tobacco Factory, courtesy NEON
According to Roy, ‘we can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world.’
Here, each artist is dissecting the pluralism of ideas, our cultural understanding of history and politics, the role of public space and our communal past, present and future. ‘The consequences of the pandemic – psychological, physical, social, economic and political – have not yet been fully quantified,’ says Kountouri. ‘The exhibition intends to point out how this specific moment in time is leading us to a portal. The connection is the passage, a gateway. Once we pass through to the other side, we will need to reconfirm, for the wellbeing of future generations, our commitment to certain principles: the rule of law, human rights and democracy.’
(From left) Solange Pessoa, Untitled, 2013, soapstone. Courtesy the artist and Mendes Wood DM São Paulo, New York, Brussels; Maria Loizidou, A Monumental Lightness, 2021, cotton, linen, silk threads and metal. Courtesy the artist and Kalfayan Galleries, Athens – Thessaloniki. Commissioned by NEON. Installation View Portals, Hellenic Parliament NEON at the former Public Tobacco Factory, courtesy NEON
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 2005, lead, clothes, earth, cacti. Private Collection Rome, Italy; Elias Sime, TIGHTROPE: ECHO!?, 2020, reclaimed electrical wire and components. Courtesy the artist and James Cohan, New York. Installation View Portals, Hellenic Parliament + NEON at the former Public Tobacco Factory, courtesy NEON
Maria Papadimitriou, My Soul My Beast (Portable Monument of Animality), 2016, mixed media Edition 2021. Courtesy the artist, NEON; Anastasia Douka, Anger organizes, 2021, anodised aluminium, car spray paint, polyethylene. Courtesy the artist. Commissioned by NEON. Installation View Portals, Hellenic Parliament + NEON at the former Public Tobacco Factory, courtesy NEON
INFORMATION
‘Portals’, until 31 December 2021, former Public Tobacco Factory – Hellenic Parliament Library and Printing House, Athens, neon.org.gr
ADDRESS
218 Lenorman St.
104 43, Athens
VIEW GOOGLE MAPS (opens in new tab)
Harriet Lloyd-Smith is the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations. She started at Wallpaper* in 2017 and has written for leading contemporary art publications, auction houses and arts charities, and lectured on review writing and art journalism. When she’s not writing about art, she’s making her own.
-
These London spas are utterly relaxing urban escapes
These London spas offer transformative treatments in awe-inspiring spaces for total relaxation in the midst of the big city
By Mary Cleary • Published
-
Max Richter: ‘Visual art culture is wide open in a way that classical music, unfortunately, sort of isn't’
Hot on the heels of Max Richter’s new album, ‘Sleep: Tranquility Base’, and recently opened multi-arts haven in rural Oxfordshire, we speak to the acclaimed composer about creating a sonic antidote to complex times
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Discover all the Rolex watches released at Watches and Wonders 2023
Rolex unveils bold new additions to its iconic watch families
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
The best London art exhibitions: a guide for March 2023
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, and those around the UK in March 2023, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Harriet Lloyd Smith • Published
-
Remote Antarctica research base now houses a striking new art installation
In Antarctica, Kyiv-based architecture studio Balbek Bureau has unveiled ‘Home. Memories’, a poignant art installation at the remote, penguin-inhabited Vernadsky Research Base
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Desert X 2023 is a staggering sculpture extravaganza spanning California’s Coachella Valley
Will Jennings travels to the Coachella Valley to explore outdoor sculpture exhibition Desert X 2023, which sees projects balance impact, subtlety, and unapologetic enormity
By Will Jennings • Published
-
Buckhorn Sculpture Park: inside the art paradise dreamt up by collectors Sherry and Joel Mallin
As legendary art collectors Sherry and Joel Mallin prepare to sell their upstate New York home – and the star-studded collection occupying Buckhorn, its onsite sculpture park – we go behind the scenes of this art treasure trove, and the extraordinary life, work and spirit of the Mallins
By MZ Adnan • Published
-
Theaster Gates’ New Museum exhibition meditates on mourning, materials and community
Theaster Gates talks about his first US museum show, ‘Young Lords and Their Traces’ at The New Museum (until 5 February 2023), a moving homage to the creative forces who came before
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Ryoji Ikeda and Grönlund-Nisunen saturate Berlin gallery in sound, vision and visceral sensation
At Esther Schipper gallery Berlin, artists Ryoji Ikeda and Grönlund-Nisunen draw on the elemental forces of sound and light in a meditative and disorienting joint exhibition
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Cecilia Vicuña’s ‘Brain Forest Quipu’ wins Best Art Installation in the 2023 Wallpaper* Design Awards
Brain Forest Quipu, Cecilia Vicuña's Hyundai Commission at Tate Modern, has been crowned 'Best Art Installation' in the 2023 Wallpaper* Design Awards
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Michael Heizer’s Nevada ‘City’: the land art masterpiece that took 50 years to conceive
Michael Heizer’s City in the Nevada Desert (1972-2022) has been awarded ‘Best eighth wonder’ in the 2023 Wallpaper* design awards. We explore how this staggering example of land art came to be
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published