Contemporary artists from Greece and abroad revisit classical archaeology, myths and ancient artefacts in “Fragments and Futures: Contemporary Encounters with Ancient Worlds”, currently on show at the Art Space Pythagorion, on the island of Samos.
Curated by Katerina Gregos, artistic director of the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST), and ioLi Tzanetaki, the exhibition features sculpture, painting, installation, film, collage and digital media.
‘The Herald’, 2023 by Panos Profitis. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and The Breeder, Athens, Greece
The artists combine traditional materials such as marble and clay with contemporary techniques and technologies, including digital scanning, projection and 3D production, to create works that bridge antiquity and the present. Rather than presenting antiquity as a fixed historical narrative, “Fragments and Futures” explores it as an ongoing process of interpretation. Fragments as symbols encourage new readings of the past and inspire alternative visions for the future.
Through feminist, queer and postcolonial perspectives, the participating artists engage with mythology, ruins and the classical body, challenging inherited ideas of beauty, power and cultural heritage. Several works also examine how museums and archives shape historical narratives and question whose stories are preserved and whose remain untold.
‘TIME: A Faceless Entity,’ 2026 by Natalia Manta. Photo: Courtesy of the artist / photo: Dimitra Tzanou
Set against the backdrop of Samos’ rich archaeological heritage, the exhibition brings archaeology into the active dialogue about past and present.
The exhibition also marks the tenth anniversary of the Schwarz Foundation’s Visual Arts Program under the curatorship of Gregos, developed in collaboration with Tzanetaki.
* “Fragments and Futures: Contemporary Encounters with Ancient Worlds” runs until 30 September 2026 at Art Space Pythagorion on Samos.
