Two elements of nature, two contrasting worlds, make up the universe of the exhibition “Of the Ether and the Sea,” featuring works by sculptor Venia Dimitrakopoulou, at the Historical Archive – Museum of Hydra. It is co-organized by GSA/Historical Archives–Museum of Hydra and Kourd Gallery, and curated by Eleni Varopoulou.

Hybrid forms—fragments of creatures that seem to belong simultaneously to the sea and the sky—emerge from the surface of the marble in the new works by the internationally acclaimed sculptor. And they coexist with the “Oceanic Ethers,” works in Chinese ink on paper, in which successive flowing lines trace a transitional space between the aquatic and celestial elements.
This is a body of work that highlights fundamental polarities of the world and humanity’s ongoing effort to approach and interpret them.

“These new works explore transitions between opposing states: the heavy and the light, the aquatic and the aerial, absence and presence, the visible and the invisible, matter and humanity’s ceaseless desire to transcend it.
I believe that from the earliest myths to the present day, humanity has dreamed of flying through the ether and traveling across the sea.

The exhibition is presented here in Hydra, where the sea has been not only a point of departure, travel, and return, but also a battleground for freedom that has shaped the history and identity of the island and its inhabitants. “Something of this memory still seems to permeate this place. Perhaps that is why the passages my works seek find a natural counterpart here,” explains Venia Dimitrakopoulou.

And the exhibition’s curator, Eleni Varopoulou, notes:
“Beyond the rich thematic universe—as it emerges in this particular exhibition at the Hydra Historical Archive and Museum, transporting visitors to distinct cultural environments, ecosystems, and representations of the collective imagination, there is the idea of emergence, which takes precedence and transcends the individual themes of the works. It comes to the fore thanks to the essential role played by the sense of emergence in the sculptor’s struggle with the material, in the artist’s own hand, and in the act of painting. Form is extracted from matter as an expression that emerges. Shapes and color come to the surface; the past emerges within the present; memory springs forth from the depths of remembrance.”

Since June 17, the work “Anadyomene”—another new metal sculpture—has been installed at the entrance to the Hydra Historical Archive and Museum as a preview of the exhibition.

INFO
Venia Dimitrakopoulou, “Of the Ether and the Sea”
Curator: Eleni Varopoulou
Dates: 31 July – 14 September 2026
Venue: Historical Archives – Museum of Hydra
Co-organized: GSA/ Historical Archives – Museum of Hydra- Kourd Gallery