The Nicos Poulantzas Institute announces the launch of a guided tour programme for the exhibition “Blind Spot: Sea Routes and Migratory Flows,” hosted at the Athens Municipality Arts Center. The tours will take place on a regular basis and aim to provide visitors with a deeper understanding of the works on display, as well as the broader thematic concerns addressed in the exhibition.
GUIDED TOURS
The tours will be conducted every Saturday by leading visual artists and field specialists. The schedule is as follows:
Saturday, 17 January 2026 — 12:00
Guide: Stamatis Samakouris, Visual Artist and Education Consultant
Samakouris will guide visitors through the exhibition, exploring the meaning and context of the works presented and their connection to issues of maritime mobility and migration.
Saturday, 24 January 2026 — 12:00
Guide: Giorgos Divaris, Visual Artist and Emeritus Professor, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Divaris will focus on the dialogue between contemporary artistic practice and the political realities underlying the exhibition.
Saturday, 31 January 2026 — 12:00
Guide: Giorgos Divaris, Visual Artist and Emeritus Professor, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
A second opportunity for the public to participate in a guided tour by the distinguished academic, offering renewed insights into the themes and works presented.
In parallel with the public programme, the exhibition will host educational activities and guided visits for secondary school students, fostering a link between cultural experience and classroom learning.
EXHIBITION THEME
The exhibition is centred on the 14 June 2023 shipwreck of the vessel Adriana off the coast of Pylos — one of the deadliest maritime disasters in recent Mediterranean history — which occurred within the Greek Search and Rescue Zone.
Carrying hundreds of migrants bound for Italy, the vessel sank in the Oinousses Deep, the deepest point in the Mediterranean Sea, marking both a literal and metaphorical “blind spot.”
According to historian and Director of the Nicos Poulantzas Institute, Maria Repousi, the works presented in the exhibition do not assume a neutral stance. Instead, they establish a space where power structures become visible, overlooked lives emerge from obscurity, and universal rights are asserted. The exhibition positions artistic practice as an act of resistance against the normalization of violence embedded in European — and particularly Greek — migration policies.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
The exhibition features works by the following artists, whose practices engage closely with its central questions:
Sakis Gountroumpis • Giorgos Divaris • Antigoni Kavvatha • Nikos Kokkalıs •
Despina Meimaroglou • Stefanos Papadas • Spyridoula Politi • Nafsíka Riga •
Stamatis Samakouris • Triantafyllos Tranos • Kostas Tsolis • Giannis Christakos
Encompassing painting, sculpture, installation, video art and mixed media, the works form a network of visual ethnography and critical inquiry.
Drawing on Jacques Rancière’s concept of the “distribution of the sensible,” the exhibition challenges assumptions regarding what is visible and audible in the public sphere, opening pathways for new ethical and political interpretations.
The presentation includes the Pulitzer Prize-winning 2016 photograph by Yannis Behrakis, depicting a Syrian refugee kissing his daughter while walking through storm conditions toward the Greek–North Macedonian border near Eidomeni. The work was previously housed at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.
The exhibition also hosts a written statement from the Initiative of Lawyers and Legal Scholars on the Pylos Shipwreck.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
All guided tours are free of charge and open to the public.
Early arrival is advised due to limited capacity.
Venue: Athens Municipality Arts Center, Vassilissis Sofias Ave., Eleftherias Park
Exhibition duration: 13 January – 8 February 2026
Opening hours:
Monday: Closed
Tuesday – Friday: 11:00–19:00
Saturday – Sunday: 10:00–15:00
Further information on the exhibition and accompanying events is available from the Nicos Poulantzas Institute.
Nicos Poulantzas Institute
Tel.: +30 210 3217745 | +30 694 5375326
Curators: Sakis Gountroumpis & Giannis Christakos
Text: Triantafyllos Tranos
Co-organizers: Nicos Poulantzas Institute & Visual Arts Group
