National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens Reopens After Two Years

The National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST) has reopened after a two-year closure. Housed in the former FIX brewery in central Athens, EMST holds a prestigious national collection of contemporary art and develops a robust temporary exhibition program. Artistic director Katerina Gregos emphasizes the museum's role in bringing to light new pluralist and inclusive narratives, reflecting Greece's tumultuous history and diaspora cosmopolitanism, and becoming a cultural leader in the Mediterranean region. The reopening features several exhibitions. At the former studio of postwar Greek artists Nikos Kessanlis and Chryssa Romanos in Maroussi, Dimitris Tsoumplekas presents "Amazonios" (through July 3), a universe of nature and culture. Inside the museum, Antonis Pittas's solo show "jaune, geel, gelb, yellow" (through October 30) juxtaposes modernist ideals with the gilets jaunes protests, incorporating drawings by Theo van Doesburg from the Centraal Museum Utrecht. The group show "Statecraft" features 39 artists including Sasha Streshna and Thomas Kilpper, examining the nation-state and power structures behind state bureaucracy. In the Project Room, Eirini Vourloumis's "In the Same Space" dialogues with works by her grandfather, painter Andreas Vourloumis (d. 1999), contrasting contemporary smartphone photos of Athens with his depictions of the city half a century ago.