Kostis Velonis (b. 1968) lives and works in Athens. He is represented by Kalfayan Galleries (Athens – Thessaloniki).

Education

2010

PhD, Department of Architecture, N.T.U.A University of Athens.

1999-2000

Cultural Studies (MRes) at the London Consortium (Birkbeck College, ICA, AA, 2000), London.

1994-97

Visual Arts at the Paris VIII University, (Maitrise, D.E.A), Paris.

Scholarships–Artist in residence-Awards

2018

Research Fellowship at Princeton University, USA.

“Kardamili Project” (residency and group show), Kardamili, Greece.

2016-2017

Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart (October-December 2016)

2016

Casa Maauad, Mexico City, Mexico.

2012

MAK Schindler Scholarship, Architect in Residence at MAK Center, Los Angeles, USA.

2011

IASPIS (The Swedish Arts Grants) Artist in Residence, Malmo, Sweden.

2009

Artist in residence at CORA-Kunststiftung Hamburg and Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, Hamburg, Germany.

2008

Illy Prize, Art Rotterdam, Netherlands.

2005

Deste Prize, Athens, Greece.

1998

Onassis Foundation Scholarship, Greece.

Recent Curatorial project

2021

‘Mr Robinson Crusoe stayed home. Adventures of design in time of crisis’ (curated by Polina Kosmadaki, Kostis Velonis), Benaki Museum, Athens.

Recent public sculpture commission

2019

“Life Without Tragedy” installation on view at Governor’s Island, New York, from 2 May – 31 October, 2019. Commissioned and produced by Onassis Culture, as part of the Onassis Festival 2019: Democracy Is Coming (during which it could be seen on Astor Place, April 10-30, 2019). The festival was organized by the Onassis USA and The Public Theater, NYC.

Solo Exhibitions (selected)

2020

‘199’, DESTE Foundation Project Space, Slaughterhouse, Hydra island.

‘Ghost Beggar’, Kalfayan Galleries, Athens.

2017

“A Puppet Sun” (solo show. Curated by Vassilis Oiconomopoulos), organized by NEON, Athens, Greece.

“Precision German Craftsmanship” (solo show), Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany.

2016

NOVA, Art Basel Miami Beach, Kalfayan Galleries.

“Part Company”, Casa Maauad, Mexico City, Mexico.(MX)

2015

“Mount the Air”, Kalfayan Galleries, Athens.(GR)

“This probably will not work”, Lothringer 13-Städtische Kunsthalle München (Three Person exhibition- Stefan Burger, Federico Delfrati) Cur. Jörg Koopmann, Dana Weschke, Munich (DE)

 “The Traveler and his Shadow”, Art Proposals, Nicosia (CY).

2014

The Future Lies Behind Us", (double solo) AD Gallery, Athens (GR).

2013

“The Grammary of Puppetry”, Monitor Gallery, Rome, (IT).

2011

“The promise of Happiness”, Signal Center for Contemporary Art, Malmo Sweden (SW).

 “Bulding the Stage”, Omikron Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus (CY).

2010

“Loneliness on Common Ground: How Can Society Do What Each Person Dreams”, National Museum of Contemporary Art (cur.Daphne Vitali), Athens (GR).

“Pastoral Dreams in the Days of Bankruptcy”, Dana Charkasi Gallery,Vienna (AU).

2010 “Marx in Arcadia”, AD Gallery, Athens (GR).

2009

“How one can think freely in the shadow of a temple",  Kunstverein in Hamburg  (cur. Florian  Waldwogel)-Hamburg (DE).

2008

“Craft Boy”, Monitor Gallery, Rome  (IT).

“Revolution Essentielle”, Academy of Fine Arts, Sarayevo (BiH).

2007

“The Folklore of the Universe“, Z. Athanassiadou , Salonica (GR)

BQ Gallery, European Kunsthalle, “...was einmal über heute gesagt werden wird: Köln Show2 (Cur. N. Schafhausen, F. Waldvogel), Cologne (DE).

2005

Galerie Kamm,  “Blind Date”  (with Katharina Jahnke), Berlin (DE).

The Breeder Gallery, (with Katharina Jahnke), Athens (GR).

2004

“Bauhaus is not our House”, The Breeder Gallery (GR).

Selected Group Exhibitions

2021

‘SYMBOLS & iconic Ruins’, National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) (group show), Athens.

‘To Do Without So Much Mythology’, Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna.

2019

‘A.O. – B.C. An audiovisual diary’, State of Concept, Athens.

‘On the edge of the Blade we run” (group show, curated by Alexandros Tzanis), venue: a former textile industry (ets.1936), Votanikos, Athens, Greece.

‘a.O. – b.c. An audiovisual diary’, STATE OF CONCEPT, Athens.

“The Manual of the Perfect Traveller” (curated by Maria Dialektaki), Snehta, Athens.

 ‘Land of Creation. A Tribute to Metsovo’, Averoff Museum, Metsovo.

“Crossing Lines” (curated by Christian Oxenius and Jan Tichy), Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Germany.

A Hollow Place - 'Nurseries of the unconscious. Desiring-productions and group fantasies’ (group show curated by Christian Oxenius and Nikolas Ventourakis), Yellow Brick, Athens.

“Landlord Colors: On Art, Economy, and Materiality”, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI.

 “Voyage around my room” (curator: Kika Kyriakakou), Municipality Art Center, Athens.

‘Pentadaktilos’ (curator: Savvas Christodoulides), Leventis Municipal Museum, Cyprus.

“SLUMBER” (curator: Charlotte Silbermann),
 Galerie Kunstpunkt, Berlin.

2018

“The Value of Freedom”, Belvedere 21, Vienna, Austria.

‘Refusing to Be Still’ – 5^th edition of 21:39 (curated by Vassilis Oikonomopoulos) Organised by Saudi Art Council, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

“Urgent Conversations: Athens-Antwerp. Part III” Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA), Antwerp, Belgium.

Unlimited, Art Basel, Kalfayan Galleries.

2017

ACTOPOLIS, Goethe Insitut in collaboration with the Athens School of Fine Arts, Athens, Greece.

Documenta 14, Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany.

“Perished Sun”, Kalfayan Galleries, Athens, Greece.

“Memory of Revolution”, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece.

April-August : Eco Art (Akamas Project), Paphos/ European Capital of Culture 2017, Cyprus.

 “The Kids Want Communism” (group show), MoBY Museums of Bat Yam, Bat Yam, Israel.

 “Corfu in Colour” (curated by Sozita Goudouna), Ionian Parliament, Corfu island.

2016-2017

“Urgent Conversations: Athens-Antwerp”, National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), Athens, Greece.

2016

“Urgent Conversations: Athens-Antwerp”, National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), Athens, Greece.

“Genii Loci “, Manege Central Exhibition Hall, Saint Petersburg, Russia

 “The Soft Power Lectures Show”, Panteion University, Athens.

2015

“Birth of Coexistence” (Curated by Hara Piperidou), Hellenic American Union, Athens.

“Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915 – 2015”, Whitechapel Gallery (Iwona Blazwick, Magnus af Petersens), London (UK).

“Super superstudio”, (Cur. by A. Angelidakis, V.Pizzigoni, V. Scelsi), Padiglione Arte Contemporanea, Milano (IT).

“In the Name of Le Corbusier”, Spiteris Residence, School of Architecture N.T.U.A, Athens (GR).

2014

“The Theater of the World”, Museo Tamayo (Cur. by Andrea Torrenblanca) Mexico City (MX).

“No Country for Young Men”, Palais des Beaux Arts (BOZAR), (Cur. by Katerina  Gregos) Brussels (BE).

“This is not my Beautiful House”, Kunsthalle Athena (GR).

“Tout Feu Tout Flamme”, Lefebvre & Fils,  Paris (FR).

2013

“Direct Democracy”, MUMA /Monash University Museum of Art, (Cur.by Geraldine Barlow) Melbourne (AU).

“HELL AS PAVILION”, Palais de Tokyo, (cur. by Nadja Argyropoulou), Paris, (FR).

“At Table and in Bed”, Andreas Melas & Helena Papadopoulos Gallery, Athens (GR).

2012

“Newtopia. The State of Human Rights” Mechelen Cultural Centre, The Old Meat Market, The City Museum Hof Van Busleyden, Lamot Conference and Heritage Centre, The Academy of Fine Arts, Scheppers Institute (Cur.by Katerina Gregos) Mechelen, (BE).

“Material and Culture” - MAK Center for Art and Architecture-Schindler House, Los Angeles, USA.

2011

“Melanchotopia”, Witte de With Contemporary Art Center (cur. by Nicolaus Schafhausen,  Anne-Claire Schmitz), Rotterdam (NL).

3rd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, (Cur. by Paolo Colombo, Mahita El Bacha Urieta, Marina Fokidis) Thessaloniki (GR).

“Dirty Humanism”, Faggionato Fine Art Gallery, (Cur. by N.Argiropoulou), London (UK).

“An Elusive Object of Art", Dana Charkasi Gallery (cur. Iara  Boubnova),  Vienna (AU).

“The Marathon Marathon project”, Acropolis Museum (cur.Hans Urlich Obrist, Nadjia Argyropoulou), Athens (GR).

2010

"Politics of Art", National Museum of Contemporary Art (Cur.Anna Kafetsi), Athens (GR).

2009

2nd Biennial Athens, “The World Question Center” (cur. Chus Martinez), Palaio Faliro (GR)

Palazzo Rospigliosi “Mediterranean” (cur. Elena Scipioni), Rome (IT).

Vlassis Caniaris. In Contrapunto. Institute for Contemporary Art and Thought with MIET (cur. Els Hanappe) National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, Athens (GR).

2008

Brussels Biennial 1 for Contemporary Art, “Show me, don’t tell me”, (cur. Nicolaus  Schafhausen, Florian  Waldvogel), Former Post Sorting Center, station Bruxelles Midi, Brussels (BE).

“Laugh track”, (Cur. Oliver Martinez Kandt & Ehsan Fardjadniya) YUM 21C,  Brussels  (BE).

“Unfair fair”, (Curated by Cecilia Canziani,Vincent Honoré) Rome (IT).

“Collage. Cut, paste” (cur. T. Markoglou), State Museum of Contemporary Art, Salonica (GR).

2007

9e Biennale de Lyon, “The History of a Decade that Has not Been Yet Named”  (Cur. S. Moisdon & H.U. Obrist),  Institut d'art contemporain, Villeurbanne (FR).

“In Present Tense “, (cur. T.Pandi, S.Sxizakis, D.Vitali)  National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (GR).

2006

“Don Quijote”, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, (cur. N. Schafhausen,  Sophie von Olfers),  Rotterdam (NL).

“The Grand Promenade”, National Museum of Contemporary Art, (Cur.A.Kafetsi), Athens (GR)

“Give(a)way”, EV+