WHO: My name is Georgia Sagri, and I am a visual artist whose practice centres around performance. However, I consider myself an interdisciplinary artist, as I work across various media including installations, sculpture, painting, and video art.
WHAT: This space that I am in is called HYLE, and it has served as both my studio and my home for several years now. I established HYLE around 2014 because it was important for me to create a centre where my artistic practice could engage with both the local and international arts community in Athens. HYLE not only hosts my work but also provides opportunities for younger or emerging artists to present their artwork, often for the first time.
HOW: Coming from New York, where I had lived for almost 10-12 years, I found the artistic scene in Athens to be quite isolating when I moved back. It was very difficult for me to build a network of peers and cultivate the kind of intergenerational connections that I had valued in New York. This isolation has been exacerbated by the difficult financial situation that artists in Athens and across Greece have faced, particularly in disciplines like performance art, which have struggled to find platforms and markets.
WHERE: HYLE serves as a hub where I can not only develop my multidisciplinary practice but also host and support other artists. It is a space that bridges the local and international arts communities in Athens, providing a platform for emerging creators to share their work.
WHY: In my view, one of the most critical issues facing the arts in Athens and Greece is the way the roles and responsibilities within the "artistic milieu" have become fragmented and overwhelming for individual artists. Too often, artists are forced to be the producers, distributors, sellers, curators - essentially everything - of their work. This places an immense burden on them and disrupts the coherence and interconnectedness of the broader arts ecosystem.
To address this, I believe the first step is to re-establish the clear and vital role of the artist within this network. Only then can we build up the supportive infrastructure, whether in the form of the market, funding, or institutional mechanisms, to truly empower and sustain artistic production in Athens. The current model, where artists are left to navigate these challenges alone, is simply unsustainable.
My hope in creating HYLE was to build a space that could help foster a more cohesive, collaborative, and nurturing environment for artists in Athens. By providing a hub for both my work and that of emerging creators, I aim to combat the isolation and fragmentation that I have experienced and work towards a future where the arts can truly thrive in the city.
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