Nikos Alexiou. The Collection

Benaki Museum / Pireos 138

Exhibition Duration: 14.03.2024 – 26.05.2024

Exhibition curators: Polyna Kosmadaki, Yorgos Tzirtzilakis

Architectural Design: AREA

Nikos Alexiou is known as an artist. Using natural materials, fragile constructions, modern technology, paper, metal, etc. he left a rich body of work often inspired by Greek tradition and history. He represented Greece at the Alexandria Biennale in 2005 and the Venice Biennale in 2007.

However, another of Alexiou’s qualities was that of a collector of contemporary art. He consistently built up his collection by buying the works he included in it. Shortly before his death (2011) he donated his collection to the Benaki Museum and already in 2017 the Museum intended to present it in an exhibition. This year the circumstances allowed it and so the entire collection will be exhibited as a “body” in the Museum building / 138 Pireos St.

Στάθης Κατσαρέλης, Εργαστήρι στο Άγιο Όρος, Υφαντό, Μουσείο Μπενάκη ΓΕ 46515
Stathis Katsarelis, Laboratory in Mount Athos, Woven, Benaki Museum ΓΕ 46515

It is a distinctive set of contemporary art works by Greek and foreign artists, which constitutes yet another aspect of a multifaceted artist who redefined artistic practices in our country at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century, with a lasting impact.

This Collection can also be understood as another ‘work’, which Alexiou constantly rearranged in his places of residence, multiplying the synapses and narratives. The multi-layered yet incomplete nature of the Collection makes it a functional whole, which proposes a tactile and physical experience. The particularity of these 236 works by eighty-seven artists lies in the way each one maintains its autonomy and rhythm, interacting with the others and with the work of the artist-collector Nikos Alexiou himself.

Adam Chodzko, Meeting, 2001, Εκτύπωση σε χαρτί, Μουσείο Μπενάκη ΓΕ 46408
Adam Chodzko, Meeting, 2001, Print on paper, Benaki Museum ΓΕ 46408

For the needs of the exhibition and in an attempt to interpret the specificity of this particular Collection, a special environment was created: an “exhibition machine” with paths, levels, tensions, groupings and flows along the centre of the Museum’s exhibition space, with some works spilling out by activating the perimeter walls. Using dexion and black carpet to display the series, visitors are invited to wander through the space, moving between the works, discovering and searching for them.

Stephen Dean, Άτιτλο, 1995, Υδατογραφία σε χαρτί εφημερίδας, Μουσείο Μπενάκη ΓΕ 46517
Stephen Dean, Untitled, 1995, Watercolor on newspaper, Benaki Museum ΓΕ 46517

The Collection includes works by

AIDS-3D (Daniel Keller, Nik Kosmas), Andisheh Avini, Carmen García Bartolomé, Bernhard Cella, Adam Chodzko, Stephen Dean, Werner Moser Dorfmann, Jimmie Durham, Jack Early, Marie Françoise Poutays, Gert & Uwe Tobias, Anne Kern, Jörg Mandernach, Caitlin Masley, Jason Meadows, Amy O’ Neill, Enoc Perez, Simon Periton, Mary Redmond, Rémy Rivoire, Irys Schenker, Kai Schiemenz, Jim Shaw, Alex Slade, Stephen Sutcliffe, Philip Tarlow, Yuken Teruya, Pae White, Andreas Angelidakis, Alexis Akrithakis, Nanos Valaoritis, Ino Varvariti, Kostis Velonis, Lydia Venieri, Vangelis Vlachos, Ntikos Vyzantios, Alexandros Georgiou, Vaso Gavaise, Voula Gounela, Daniel, Katerina Diakomi, Pavlos Dionysopoulos, Manolis Zacharioudakis MSAZ, Eleni Kamma, Eirini Karagiannopoulou, Apostolos Karakatsanis, Apostolos Karastergiou, Stathis Katsarelis, Ilias Kafouros, Panos Kokkinias, Charis Kontosfyris, Kostas Koulentianos, Antonis Kyriakoulis, Dafne Kostopoulou, Giorgos Lappas, Spyros Litinas, Pieretta Lorentzatou, Diana Maggania, Voula Masoura, Giorgos Mavroeidis, Christos Mitas, Christina Mitrentse, Michalis Michailides, Vasilis Mpalatsos, Dora Economou, Christodoulos Panagiotou, Maria Papadimitriou, Leonidas Papadopoulos, Dimitris Papaioannou, Aimilia Papafilippou, Nina Pappa, Elena Poka, Poka-Yio, Georgia Sagri , Yorgos Sapountzis, Minas Semertzian, Danae Stratou, Nikos Tradafyllou, Alexandros Tsantilas, Dimitris Foutris, Nagia Fragouli, Yannoulis Chalepas, Manolis Charos, Kostas Christopoulos, Madalina Psoma