EVENTS

Margarita Kataga writes.

The center is reestablished through a collaboration station for the hotels of the city of Athens and those of Omonia Square.

The endless aesthetic quests of hotel design seem to achieve a new Ark of catering and hosting ideas, beyond the rigidity of urban regularity and the welcome indiscretion and anarchy of open space.

If architecture has always been a destination, the encapsulation of cultural proposals is the reason for the re-establishment of lobbies and the renewal of the atmosphere of welcome. It records a common code of aesthetic recognition through familiar reference points of the global intelligentsia, which is certainly achieved through the "mild" proposals of galleries exhibited in hotels curated by ART ATHINA. If the public space in Omonia Square was constantly waiting for a fruitful reading of its cultural and architectural environment, the new hotel units, bringing "new manners," seem to have contributed "with art" to the new beginning.

Since the 1990s, major international hotel groups have adopted the promotion and exhibition of works of art in their accommodations, defining and enhancing the role of art as a compelling visual narrative that helps visitors get to know aesthetics and contemporary cultural heritage.

The Brown Hotels chain was founded in 2010 by hoteliers Leon Avigad and Nitzan Perry and is renowned for its unique design hotels in countries such as Israel (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem), Croatia, and Greece. The desire of its founders is to create hotels that not only showcase to travelers the authentic culture and energy of the city, but also to re-introduce to the residents themselves the nightlife of the city and its unique neighborhoods.

Thanks to the creative collaboration of Art Athina with the Brown Hotel until April 26, 2023, the lobbies of Brown Hotels from reception areas are transformed into galleries, offering a different cultural experience to their guests. The 26 Greek art galleries participating in this pop-up exhibition selected works by renowned and younger visual artists, thus giving the opportunity to highlight and record contemporary trends and proposals in the art world.

At the Brown Hotel, Dave Red Athens on Veranzerou Street, we are welcomed into the lobby by the sculpture installations of Chrysa (MIHALARIAS ART) and Apollon Glyka (ekfrasi-yianna grammatopoulou). Their precise integration into the space makes them appear as works in situ, specially designed for the surroundings.

In the beautiful lobby with art deco architectural elements of Brown Acropol, the photographic work of Petros Efstathiadis (CAN Christina Androulidaki Gallery) and the painting of Filippos Theodoridis are in full harmony (Zoumboulakis Galleries).

At the Brown Kubic on Agiou Konstantinou street, painting dominates with the colorful, multidimensional compositions of Michael Kiousis (Alma Contemporary Art Gallery), Ioanna Konstantinou (Art Zone 42), Efthymi Malafouti (Peritechnon Karteris Art Gallery), Strategoula Giannikopoulou (Genesis Gallery), Panagiotis Alexiou (ASTROLAVOS Art Gallery), OPI Zouni (Roma Gallery), and Magda Asteri (Technohoros Art Gallery). At the entrance of the hotel comes the sci-fi animation of Theo Triantafyllidis (the Breeder).

And at the main Lighthouse Hotel Athens, a complete art Athina exhibition is presented throughout the lobby and lounge area of the first floor. The visitor has the unique opportunity to get to know the iconography of the figure through the paintings of Irene Karagiannopoulou (a.antonopoulou.Art), Konstantinos Kakanias (Rebecca Camhi Gallery), George travel (Athens Art Gallery) and the power of abstraction in the works of Apollon Glyka (ekfrasi-yianna grammatikopoulou), Iakovos Volkov (Alibi Gallery), Leonidas Giannakopoulos (Agathi Kartalos), Antonakis (Eleftheria Tseliou Gallery), Yiannis Adamakos (CITRONNE gallery), Kostis Veloni (Kalfayan galleries), Evangelos Papagiannis (Gallery Art Prisma), Vasilis soulis (Artower agora), Filippos Telesto (Allouche Benias Gallery).

Nature and still life find their interpretation and substance in the works of Ada Anastasea (Gallery 7), Caroline Larsen (Dio Horia), Antonis Staveri (Skoufa Gallery), and Konstantinos Kakanias (Rebecca Camhi Gallery).

The exploitation of the power of art in the hotel sector thanks to the collaboration of an annual international exhibition of contemporary art, Art Athina, with the Brown Hotels Group, reflects—in the city center and in various parts of the wider Omonia Square area—the potential of the contemporary art scene. Art comes alive, giving visitors and the wider community the opportunity to reflect on harnessing the power of art through established branding in the important hospitality sector.

The participating art galleries are:

a.antonopoulou.art, Agathi Kartalos, Alibi Gallery, Allouche Benias Gallery, Alma Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Zone 42, Artower Agora, ASTROLAVOS art galleries, Athens Art Gallery, CAN Christina Androulidaki gallery, CITRONNE Gallery, Dio Horia, ekfrasi - yianna grammatopoulou, Eleftheria Tseliou Gallery, Gallery 7, Gallery Art Prisma, Genesis Gallery, Kalfayan Galleries, Michalarias Art, Peritechnon Karteris Art Gallery, Rebecca Camhi Gallery, Roma Gallery, Skoufa Gallery, Technohoros Art Gallery, The Breeder, and Zoumboulakis Galleries.

Duration: 23 March-26 April 2023

Hotel addresses

Brown Lighthouse Athens (Marikas Kotopouli 3)

Dave Red Athens (Veranzerou 25 and Marika Kotopouli)

Brown Kubic (Agiou Konstantinou 26-28)

Brown Acropol (Piraeus 1)