A new exhibition by internationally acclaimed sculptor Venia Dimitrakopoulou will open at the Historical Archive–Museum of Hydra on July 31, inviting visitors to explore the symbolic relationship between sea and sky through a series of new sculptures and works on paper.
Titled Of Ether and Sea, the exhibition runs through September 14, 2026, and is co-organized by the Historical Archive–Museum of Hydra and Kourd Gallery. Curated by Eleni Varopoulou, it presents newly created marble sculptures alongside Oceanic Ethers, a series of Chinese ink works on paper.
The mermaid with the flute, 2026, Rosso Portogallo marble.
The exhibition centers on the dialogue between opposing yet interconnected elements of nature. Dimitrakopoulou’s hybrid forms emerge from marble as fragments of beings that appear to belong simultaneously to the sea and the sky, while layered flowing lines in her ink works trace a transitional space between the aquatic and the celestial.
Together, the works explore universal dualities, including weight and lightness, presence and absence, the visible and the invisible, and humanity’s enduring desire to transcend the limits of the material world.
Reflecting on the exhibition, Dimitrakopoulou says the works investigate passages between contrasting states that have occupied the human imagination since antiquity. She notes that dreams of flight through the heavens and voyages across the sea have shaped civilizations for centuries.
Emerging from the Waves, 2026, Pentelic marble.
The artist also points to Hydra as a natural setting for the exhibition, describing the island as a place where the sea has long represented departure, return and the pursuit of freedom. That historical memory, she says, continues to resonate, making the island an ideal home for works that explore transition and transformation.
Curator Eleni Varopoulou describes the concept of “emergence” as the exhibition’s central thread. Beyond its thematic references to cultural landscapes, ecosystems and the collective imagination, she says the exhibition reflects the creative process itself, with forms emerging from stone, color rising to the surface and memories resurfacing into the present.
Anadyomene, 2026, aluminium, electrostatic paint.
Ahead of the exhibition’s opening, Dimitrakopoulou’s new metal sculpture Anadyomene has already been installed at the entrance to the Historical Archive–Museum of Hydra, serving as a preview of the exhibition.
Exhibition Information
“Of Ether and Sea” by Venia Dimitrakopoulou
Curator: Eleni Varopoulou
Dates: July 31 – September 14, 2026
Venue: Museum of Hydra’s Historical Archive
Co-organizers: Museum of Hydra and Kourd Gallery
