NEON, the Athens-based initiative based by main collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos, will conclude its actions later this 12 months, “after 14 years of exercise, having fulfilled its cultural and social mission,” in response to a launch.
NEON’s last mission started final 12 months when the primary of three exhibitions by Chicago-based artist Michael Rakowitz opened on the Acropolis Museum in Could, whereas the second exhibition opened final October.
The trilogy of exhibitions, collectively titled “Michael Rakowitz & Historic Cultures,” have been introduced in collaboration with the Hellenic Ministry of Tradition, the Acropolis Museum, and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens.
The final of those will contain a brand new fee by Rakowitz that might be put in on the Previous Acropolis Museum when it reopens within the second half of 2026 after a 19-year closure for renovation. The work would be the first piece of latest artwork put in on the historic website. “The ultimate chapter,” a press launch reads, “will discover tales of diaspora and the way objects from numerous historic, geographical, and archaeological contexts come collectively to type layered narratives.”
Below director Elina Kountouri, NEON introduced 44 exhibitions for modern artists like Tino Sehgal, Adrián Villar Rojas, Lynda Benglis, Antony Gormley, and Phyllida Barlow. NEON additionally organized initiatives for deceased artists like Mike Kelley, Mario Merz, Louise Bourgeois, and Martin Kippenberger, which launched the initiative.
Moreover, it commissioned over 100 new works by artists, almost three-quarters of which have been by Greek artists. This group included Marina Abramović, Igshaan Adams, El Anatsui, Anastasia Douka, Glenn Ligon, Teresa Margolles, Maria Papadimitriou, Rena Papaspyrou, Gala Porras-Kim, and Danh Vo.
Set up view of “Allspice | Michael Rakowitz & Historic Cultures,” 2025, NEON + the Acropolis Museum.
Photograph Natalia Tsoukala
The venues for these initiatives have been equally wide-ranging, from museums akin to EMST and the Museum of Cycladic Artwork to historic websites just like the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and the Historic Agora; in addition to the Kerameikos Neighborhood, a parking area in central Athens, and different public areas. Considered one of these works is now on everlasting view: Gormley’s RULE II (2019), which he donated to the island of Delos in 2025. “Utilizing town as its area NEON has pioneered an progressive mannequin of follow and exhibition throughout numerous areas and contexts,” the discharge reads.
NEON’s largesse for presenting modern artwork in Greece additionally prolonged past its itinerant exhibition program. It spent €1.4 million to renovate the previous Public Tobacco Manufacturing facility to remodel it into a up to date tradition heart which it then handed over to the Hellenic Parliament in 2023. Per a launch, 13 different Greek establishments have new tools and services because of the exhibitions NEON mounted there.
Daskalopoulos, who appeared on ARTnews’s High 200 Collectors listing every year between 2001 and 2020, donated a group of 350 main modern artworks to 4 museums, with the EMST/Nationwide Museum of Modern Artwork Athens receiving 140; Tate within the UK getting 110; and the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Artwork, Chicago, sharing 100.
