From her monolithic sculptures to her delicate installations, Greek sculptor Venia Dimitrakopoulou follows an intuitive practice that defines itself through a material and spatial understanding of her surroundings. In her labour-intensive work, which carries ancient methods of knowledge transmission, she attempts to unite historical narratives with a personal need for spiritual expression, in order to connect with the viewer both on a sensory and a cognitive level.

She lives and works between Athens and the island of Aegina. She is a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece and the Association of Sculptors of Greece.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)

2019

• Primordial Future, A Trilogy of exhibitions: Matter, Logos, Sound, Cyclades Art Gallery, Syros
• Various Works, Achillea Gallery, Paros

2019-2018

• Primordial Future Trilogy of exhibitions Matter- Logos- Sound:
  • Matter, Archeological Museum of Palermo “Antonino Salinas”, Palermo
  • Logos, Gallery della Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino
  • Sound, Sartorio Museum and Castello Di San Giusto, Trieste
• “An Archeology of Timelessness”, ΑΝΤΙ Art Gallery, Antiparos, Greece.

2016

• Selected works, Artespressione Gallery, Milan, Italy.
• On Guard II, Eynardeion, Aegina, Greece.

2014 – 2015

• Promahones: A Sculptural Installation, Benaki Museum, Pireos st. Annexe, Athens, Greece.

2013

• Literature as performance: in the context of the international scientific conference organized by the society for the promotion and learning with the collaboration of the Hellenic studies center of Harvard University, Arsakeio, Athens

2011

• Mapping Oneself, Athens Art Gallery and Blue Building in Exharcheia, Athens, Greece.

2009

• Conquered Territories of Mneme and Cosmos, Athens Art Gallery, Athens, Greece.
• Faces from the Volcano, Atrium of the Athens Hilton Hotel, Athens, Greece.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)

2021

• Quieter than Silence_In Between Spaces”, Venetia Initiatives, November 2021, New York
• Roma Arte in Nuvola, November 2021, Rome
• Back to Athens 8: Profiles of the Future: An inquiry into the limits of the possible, July 2021, Athens
• Eureka! Achillea Gallery, June 2021, Paros

2018

• Black in White, Historical Archive of the Cultural Section of Pireos Bank, in the framework of Athens 2018-World Book Capital, Athens, Greece.
• Wopart, Work on Paper Art Fair, Centro Esposizioni, Technochoros Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland.
• Don’t Judge a Cover by its Artist, The Art Foundation (TAF), Athens, Greece.

2017

• Artists in Athens – City of Crisis, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (Berlin) and Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Athens, Greece.

2015

• Imago Mundi, participation to the Greek collection of Luciano Benetton Collection, Italy.
• “Art Dovecotes”, in collaboration with the platform of art and culture Aegeanale, Diles and Rinies, Tinos, Greece.

2013

• 1^st Mykonos Biennale, Ciné Manto, Mykonos, Greece.

2012 – 2013

• The Art of Bookbinding: From Byzantium to Contemporary Artistic Creation, Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens, Greece.
• The Other Greece, a benefit exhibition to support education and art. Kouros Gallery New York, NY. Fulbright Foundation Greece.

2011

• Presentation of the “Life Giving Spring” video in the context of the “Researcher Night” (Marie Curie Actions) to the National Hellenic Research Foundation Greece.

2010

• Open Spaces, 11 artistic interventions in the town of Aegina, Greece.
• Breaths of Art, Park of Nea Smyrni, Athens, Greece.
• Ceramic Symposium, Aegina Archaeological Museum, Aegina island, Greece.
• Marathon – 2,500 years, European Cultural Centre of Delphi, Greece.
• Greek Artists’ Books: Contemporary Artworks & Editions, Art-Athina, Athens, Greece.

2008

• Silent Dialogues: Portraits of Multimedia in the Passage of Time, ACG Art Gallery, American College of Greece, Athens, Greece.
• Aegina of the Painters, Cultural Organization of the Municipality of Aegina, Greece.

WORKS AND STUDIES FOR PUBLIC SPACES

• Golden Spear, Archaeological Museum Antonio Salinas, Palermo
• Emergence, public art installation (in progress).
• Elxis, installation for the hotel Mykonos Riviera (in progress).
• Promahones, garden of the National Archeological Museum of Athens (2016).
• Fallen warriors, Athens Was Hotel, Lycabettus, Athens, Greece (2015).
• Towards Light, Phosphor Asset Management S.A., Lugano, Switzerland (2010).
• Αgamemnon, in the Athens Hilton Hotel, Greece (2009).
• Relief bust of musician Dimitris Mitropoulos, in the American College of Greece (2008).
• Relief bust of Eleftherios Venizelos, in the American College of Greece (2007).
• Bust of Dr Iakovos Diamantopoulos, at the Municipality of Lavrion, Attica. (2006).
• Sculptural installation in a public space in Kastella, Piraeus. (2005).
• Sculptural installation and artistic study for remodeling and upgrading the harbour entrance of Aegina island, Greece (2004).
• Three relief busts of Eleftherios Venizelos, in the Athens International Airport – ‘Eleftherios Venizelos’ (2001)

PUBLICATIONS

• Venia Dimitrakopoulou, Allemandi publications. Torino, 2018
• Dialogues, 3^rd of Mirrors, Polyphonic narrations on a social world in crisis, Alexandreia Publications, Athens 2015.
• Venia Dimitrakopoulou. Promahones, Hatje Cantz, Berlin,2014.
• Μapping Oneself, Futura Publications, Athens 2011.
• Γλυπτική – Sculpture, Futura Publications, Athens 2010.
• Conquered Territories of Mneme and Cosmos, Phoinikas Publications, Athens 2009.

ARTIST TALKS – PRESENTATIONS AND ACTIVITIES

• Presentation with the theme: “Writing and Logos as an image” at the Faculty of Architects of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 2019.
• Lecture on “Sculpture by Giannoulis Chalepas” at the postgraduate programme of the Department of Communication and Media Studies of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 2018.
• Presentation of artistic work at the American College of Greece – Deree, Athens 2017.
• Speech on the subject “Love-Death-Self” in the postgraduate programme of the Department of Communication and Media Studies of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 2016./li>
• Lecture on “The sacred in art” Wolfson College, Oxford 2015.
• Workshop on contemporary Greek art at the Biennale Giardini as part of the educational programme of the Biennale, Venice 2015.
• Presentation of artistic work at the Ca’ Foscari University, Venice 2015.
• Lecture on “The sacred in art”, Benaki Museum, Pireos Annexe, Athens 2010.
• 2007 onwards Organises sculpture workshops for children in Aegina, Greece./li>
• She has also developed cultural activity in a specially organized space in Aegina (small theatre of Iason Molfessis), where she hosts and/or organizes theatrical performances, concerts, sculptural works, poetry evenings, etc

Awards