Visual artist Nektarios Pachiadakis has been selected to represent Greece at the 10th Beijing International Biennale, which will take place from December 29 to February 2, 2025, in Beijing, with his work Living Stone – Moni Kapsa. The work invites the international audience to reflect on climate change, environmental degradation, and entropy through a pictorial representation of the arid and rocky landscape of Crete.
The diptych work focuses on the materiality of stone, the traces of time, and the detailed mapping of rocks. With earthy tones and engraving strokes, the artist highlights the relationship between matter and decay, the slow change of nature, and the confrontation between stability and chaos. His painting functions as an experiential dialogue with the Cretan landscape, where stone becomes an active carrier of experience, memory, and geological time.
Pachiadakis graduated from the School of Fine Arts of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with honors and a scholarship from the Greek State Scholarship Foundation (IKY), and also completed his master’s degree with honors and a scholarship in “Audiovisual Arts in the Digital Age” at the Ionian University. He has received the “Award of Excellence from the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY). His artistic and research work currently focuses on stone, geomorphology, tradition, and the psychogeography of Crete, through painting, digital works, interactive art forms, and performance art in nature. His works are included in public and private collections in Greece and abroad. In addition, one of his works was awarded by the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle in Thessaloniki and is part of its permanent collection. My CV includes four solo exhibitions as well as numerous participations in group exhibitions.
The writer and poet Manolis Xexakis writes about his work:
“Stone… is a body that breathes slowly. Anyone who has walked in the rugged mountains of Crete will recognize in his works the morphology of the xeromadara… The work does not depict, but shares the experience of being there. Every crack is a gesture, every shadow a breath.”
The theme of this year’s Biennale, “Coexistence,” explores the harmony and contrasts between nature and man, tradition and technology, globalization and cultural particularities. The event showcases both traditional and contemporary art forms, from painting to new media and interactive installations.
Through his work, Nektarios Pachiadakis contributes to the international dialogue on how humans coexist with time, nature, and their changes—offering a profound, experiential view of the Cretan landscape and timelessness.
http://www.bjbiennale.com.cn/en/
Louiza Karapidaki, Art Historian, AICA member
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