Unreal, surreal, but ultimately real, Plásmata 3, the wide-ranging exhibition by Onassis Stegi in Athens, creates a world where the boundaries between reality and illusion dissolve and the everyday becomes magical. Through June 15, works by Greek and international artists activate 31 locations in Pedion tou Areos Park, giving space to the analog, the physical, and the imaginary. These are accompanied by more than 70 sets from DJs and music producers, over 15 talks, 13 film screenings, and four kiosks featuring flavors from the neighborhood’s diverse communities.
The third edition of Plásmata — meaning “creatures” in Greek — is an invitation to play, to see the world around us differently. Rather than following Pedion tou Areos Park’s main pathways, Plásmata 3 invites us in at night to explore its hidden groves and gardens and discover a new nocturnal topography that emerges among the flowerbeds, on its margins, and at its core.
Twenty-six artists from diverse fields have created an unconventional treasure hunt that blends truth and illusion. New commissions, work from the Onassis Collection, fresh projects by artists from ONX (Onassis Digital Culture Incubator) and AiR artists’ residency, and more make up this year’s Plásmata. Just as the art seems to sprout from the park, activities like music events, meals, radio broadcasts, talks, and film screenings engage audiences every night.
Among the hybrid works — many of which are part of the Onassis Collection — are strange emblems charged with spiritualism, mythical creatures, ancient column-pillows visitors can lie on comfortably, monuments made from shattered Athenian pavement marble, bodies caught between falling and ascending a staircase to nowhere, glass flowers lit by human embrace, Amazons on motorcycles, spinning seashells that echo dripping water, and familiar yet uncanny beings who emerge from flowerbeds.
Plásmata 3 doesn’t divide art into digital and analog. Instead, it emphasizes art’s natural evolution through time: from shadow puppetry to projection mapping, from painting to film, from video art to contemporary digital and post-digital expression. Here, technology is a tool, not the goal. The artists don’t serve artificial intelligence — they use it, transform it, subvert it, surpass it. Guided by imagination, artists create new narratives that do not submit to algorithms but question them, reinvent them, and drive them mad.
To learn more, visit onassis.org.
The Artistic Director and Curator for Plásmata 3 is Afroditi Panagiotakou. The Executive Director is Dimitri Theodoropoulos, the General Manager is Prodromos Tsiavos, and the exhibition design is by Loukas Bakas.
