Since the Greek curator Katerina Gregos was appointed the artistic director of Athens’ National Museum of Contemporary Art in 2021, she has not only helped transform it and build its collection but also helped cement its place on the global cultural map.
Now, Gregos is curating her biggest project yet: a three-part exhibition series focused exclusively on women artists. The first exhibition of What If Women Ruled the World opens tomorrow (Dec. 14), with two related exhibitions opening on February 10 and May 11, in a slow but steady takeover of the institution that asks, “What does a museum look like if it’s filled only with art by women?”
It’ll look fabulous, that’s for sure. More than 350 women will show their artwork at the museum in Athens, from now through well into summer. “This is the very first time a major public museum is exhibiting exclusively work by women artists, in both its permanent collection and temporary exhibition program,” Gregos told Observer. “Women artists and cultural practitioners are still underrepresented in most aspects of the art world, and we wanted to reverse the narrative.”
The series includes solo presentations by overlooked Greek artists like Leda Papaconstantinou and Chryssa Romanos alongside works by rising artists like Danai Anesiadou and Malvina Panagiotidi. The first exhibition in the series is called “WOMEN, together” and features artworks by twenty artists, including Helene Appel from Germany, Syrian artist Diana Al-Hadid and Greek artist Eleni Kamma, as well as solo exhibitions by artists Leda Papaconstantinou, Chryssa Romanos and Danai Anesiadou, plus a performance by Alexis Blake.
Observer had a chance to catch up with Gregos to chat about this vast undertaking, how far the world still has to go and her personal sheroes.
Why do you want to build a museum of only women artists?
I think it’s a statement about the need for museums and institutions to showcase more women. Would the world really be a better place if women were in charge? Especially now, with the wars across the world, undoubtedly driven by men of power with inflated patriarchal egos and a biased view of the world, this seems a relevant question to ponder.
Why do you believe women are still underrepresented in 2023?
The decision-makers who influence the course of important global events are still predominantly men. There is progress but not parity. The situation is clearly better in the visual arts and culture, with women having greater representation and visibility than ever before. Still, there is a lot of tokenism, even today, and many institutions are not embracing change fast enough. Especially in museum collections and, glaringly, in the art market and especially auction houses (which are still dominated to a large degree by men), women continue to be dramatically under-represented. Change is often slow, unwanted or met with resistance.
Do women in the art world not stick together as much as they should? How can we step up our game?
Women everywhere do not stick together as much as they should; sometimes we are even our own worst enemies. This is changing, but not fast enough. In this highly competitive world, we all exist with this sense that we’re in competition with each other. One of the reasons the patriarchy has been dominant for so long is that while men are also competitive, the “old boys club” has tended to stick together. We need more solidarity between women.
What excites you the most about the forthcoming exhibit, “WOMEN, together?”
The fact that it is a kaleidoscopic, rich, multicultural and multi-faceted celebration of women artists of all ages who each have distinctive and recognizable practices. Showing these practices together creates an entirely new perspective on the museum’s collection. And we will be showing several works from the D.Daskalopoulos Collection Gift, the largest and most important in the museum’s history. I am looking forward to seeing these works side by side with works from our collection to observe what kind of dialogue unfolds—particularly within a context that makes a statement about gender inequality in museums and art institutions in general.
Tell me about one woman mentor who has helped you along your path.
My mother Nadia Gregos (1944-2019) was a beacon of female power, intelligence, resourcefulness, creativity, strength, resilience and courage and one of the most original and funny personalities I have ever come across. She grew up in a conservative Greek family and rebelled, going from art school and being part of the Flower Power generation to being a full-time working mum at a conservative period in Greece when many women were stay-at-home wives and domestic carers. She married my father, a feminist who did not know he was one, changed several careers successfully and was unashamedly polyamorous. We had our disagreements, and though she also was a product of her time in terms of her limitations, her unbridled enthusiasm, passion for life, combativeness and refusal to be put down by any man inspires me to this day. For some reason, whenever I think of her, I think of Jo Anna Isaak’s book The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Laughter—one of the first feminist books that also inspired me. This title perfectly describes her.
What is next for you?
In the next year, I’ll be curating three exhibitions for the museum, among the many other exhibitions we are preparing. Two are part of the What if Women Ruled the World exhibition cycle. One is the first European museum exhibition in more than ten years of the work of the Iranian-American painter Tala Madani, who I first worked with in 2011 on the exhibition “Speech Matters” for the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Then I’m curating the first-ever retrospective of Penny Siopis, who is one of the most important artists of her generation yet still under-appreciated. Born in South Africa in 1953 to Greek parents, Siopis came to prominence in the early 1980s and 1990s with her feminist and history paintings. She has established herself as one of the most important artistic voices on the African continent and beyond, becoming an important voice for the next generation of young artists.
