Former tobacco factory sets Athens radical art scene alight wallpaper.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wallpaper.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Greek billionaire Dimitris Daskalopoulos to convert Athens Tobacco Factory into a Cultural Centre
Search for:
Dimitris Daskalopoulos, the founder Neon. Credit: @diaronique photo by Trevor Leighton
World-renowned Greek art foundation Neon, established by billionaire financier and art collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos, will convert Athens’ historic Lenorman Street Tobacco Factory into a venue for a contemporary art exhibition called ‘Portals’ next year.
Built between 1927 and 1930, and designed by civic architects Pavlos Athanasakis and Antonis Ligdopoulos, the Lenorman Street Tobacco Factory was declared a historic monument by the Greek Ministry of Culture in 1989.
Renovations on the property began in 2000, but efforts were slowed by the Greek financial crisis of 2009.
What’s Happening: To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Greece’s liberation from the Ottoman Empire, the arts organization Neon will renovate the historic Lenorman Street Tobacco Factory in Athens into a giant cultural center.
The Download: Built in 1930 and designed by architects Pavlos Athanasakis and Antonis Ligdopoulos, the Lenorman Street Tobacco Factory was declared a historic monument by the Greek Ministry of Culture in 1989. Renovations on the property began in 2000, but the 2009 Greek financial crisis hamstrung those efforts. Half of the building currently lies unused while the other half houses the library of the Hellenic Parliament.
Neon founder Dimitris Daskalopoulos is currently leading a top-down renovation of the nearly 70,000-square-foot building, which will present the inaugural exhibition “Portals” from June to December 2021. Co-organized by Madeleine Grynsztejn, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and Elina Kountouri, director of Neon, “
Old Tobacco Factory in Athens to be Converted into Avant-Garde Art Space
The Lenorman Street Tobacco Factory. Credit: NeonGreece/Twitter
The world-renowned Greek art foundation Neon will convert Athens’ historic Lenorman Street Tobacco Factory into a venue for a cutting-edge art exhibition called “Portals” next year. After the exhibition ends, the venue will be handed back to the Greek state for future use as a cultural center.
The exhibition and conversion of the space will tie into the bicentennial celebration of Greece’s War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821.
Neon will renovate half of the historic tobacco factory, built in the early twentieth century, transforming it into a space that will house a show with work by some of the world’s most prominent contemporary artists from Greece and abroad, including Michael Rackowitz, Danh Vo, and Glenn Ligon, from June to December, 2021.
Old Tobacco Factory in Athens to be Converted into Avant-Garde Art SpaceGreekReporter com greekreporter.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from greekreporter.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.