About

Makis Faros was born in Athens in 1967. He lives and works in Athens as a video artist, film director, electronic music composer and technology consultant in museums, festivals, biennials and major exhibitions and cultural events. Recently he mainly shows installations. Faros has taught in private and public schools. He has participated as a musician and composer in bands like “On Purpose”, “Melting Ashes”, “Spider’s Web”, “Raw” and “This Fluid”. He has directed shows about art and architecture for state television of Greece and has collaborated with dance groups, creating with them videos, environments, concepts and music. He has also composed music for video works, installations, short films, and theater plays. His works can be found in museums and private collections.

Takis Zerdevas studied graphic arts in Athens and photography in Paris. With his return to Athens, he engaged with advertising photography (1978). In 1985 he founded the photography and video school FOCUS, which, together with Apostolos Zerdevas, he still manages. From 1998 he turned to artistic creation through photography and video. He has presented his work in 11 solo shows in national and international venues and has participated in various group exhibitions, such as “Foculisation du Regard” at the Western European Union building in Brussels (1995), “Aspects of Greek Photography” at the Museum of Modern Art in Nice (1998), “Mesiac Photography” in Bratislava (1998) and 2003, “I, Me, My self” at the Rethymnon Center for Contemporary Art (2001), Hommage to Antonis Benakis at Benaki Museum in Athens (2003) Periplo del Mediterraneo” at the Academia Linguistica di Belle Arte (2004), “Dialogues” at the Macedonian Museum, (co-production with Makis Faros), Photographic Conjuncture at the Museum of Photography of Thessaloniki (2004), the installation “Tavern” (co-production with Makis Faros), during the Olympic Games in Athens, among others. His works can be found in private collections and museums.

Zoi Pirini is a visual artist who lives and works in Loutraki and Athens. She was born in Athens and graduated from the Athens School of Fine Arts (2003). In 2011 she founded the Laboratory for Art Workshops, Lab2Art, which she still directs. She is a member of the artistic group “For Cancel”, the creator of “Festivart” and the educational platform “FutureBoards” and co-founder of the “TILT platform”. She has presented her work in various solo and group exhibitions, such as Symbols and Iconic Ruins at the National Museum of Modern Art (Athens, 2021), Theorimata 2 | On History at National Museum of Modern Art (2020), the Athens Photo Festival at the Benaki Museum (2019), the Platforms project at Athens School of Fine Arts (2019), the exhibition by For Cancel titled “near the baseLand” at Beton7 (2018) and in the solo exhibition at the Jazz Loft Festival (2014) among others.

Katerina Gkoutziouli is a curator, researcher and project manager currently based in Athens, Greece. She has curated various art exhibitions with a focus on digital arts and has collaborated with cultural and academic institutions in Greece and internationally, such as Athens School of Fine Arts, Goethe-Institut in Athens, ACM Siggraph and Benaki Museum. She has also been one of the editors of Curating.info and has contributed various essays and book reviews to art project publications and arts websites. She was the Artistic Director of the Athens Digital Arts Festival in Greece for the 11th and 12th edition (Public Space_s, 2015 & Digital Pop, 2016). From June 2016 to June 2018, she held the position of public engagement expert and curator at synAthina, a networking platform for active citizen groups initiated by the City of Athens. She is cultural advisor for the Municipality of Athens for the European funded project ROCK (HORIZON2020) related to the regeneration of urban spaces through culture and cultural heritage mentoring European cities on issues of citizens’ engagement and access to culture.  She is also the art curator of the section “Public Building and Digital Art” commissioning the work “AthSenSe – urban data lab”, a public art installation exploring the idea of smart cities and big data, part of the placemaking project This is Athens – Polis, inviting Athenian residents to co-create the city identity, initiated by the city of Athens Development and Destination Management Agency.Most recently, she has been the Project Manager for The Co-Museum Conference, an annual global event operating as a platform of expertise for the wellbeing of cultural organizations and the communities they serve taking place at the Benaki Museum, in Athens. She is also the co-curator of the exhibition “Imagine you Wake Up and there is no Internet” supported by NEON Organisation for culture and development to be held in Athens at Romantso, on 22 Oct – 15 November 2020.

Apostolos Zerdevas was born in 1979 in Athens. He studied photography at Focus School of Photography and Video and continued his studies in England with an MA in Art from the Chelsea College of Art and Design. He has participated in various exhibitions, in art institutions and museums, such as the DESTE Foundation, the Hellenic American Union, the ICA in London, the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki and elsewhere. Since 2003, he has been directing and teaching Photo, Video, and New Technologies at the Focus School of Photography and Video. Since 2016, he has been collaborating as a curator with the Athens Photo Festival.

Foteini Vergidou is a curator and researcher in Athens. Her curatorial practice develops around digital culture and the impact of new technologies on all aspects of the political, social and interpersonal. She has worked in various exhibitions and art residency programs in London, Berlin and Athens. From 2012 to 2015 she was the gallery director of DNA Berlin, in 2015 – 2016 she was on the curatorial team of the Athens Digital Arts Festival. Vergidou works as an independent curator with her most recent participation in The Wrong – Digital Art Biennale (2019 – 2020 ). She has collaborated with artists such as Santiago Sierra, Martin Creed and Constant Dullaart.

Michalis Antonopoulos was born in Athens in 1978. He is an electrician and in recent years has specialized in audiovisual installations. He has collaborated with museums, organizations and festivals such as: National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens, Athens Biennale, Concert Hall in Athens (Megaron), Athens Digital Arts Festival – ADAF, etc. He deals creatively with video and installations.