Twenty nine galleries form 7 countries, 20 side-projects, 3 Museum Exhibitions, and almost 800 pieces by artists are the total figures from the 5th Art Thessaloniki International Contemporary Fair, which is being held from 25-28 November at the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre, while observing all health measures.

Art Thessaloniki is organised by TIF-Helexpo and the fair’s artistic director, Mr Pantelis Tsatsis. In fact, its operation coincides with the Thessaloniki International Book Fair, placing the Exhibition Centre and Thessaloniki in the culture and art spotlight.

It is an established international art institution, organised for physical participants, and standing proudly beside the most important corresponding European exhibitions. The Honoured Artist of the 5th Art Thessaloniki is Professor Emeritus of AUTh, Mr Giannis Fokas. The main characteristics of this year’s Art Thessaloniki, which is being held in pavilions 9 and 10 of the exhibition centre, are the following:

• At the opening of the fair, award-winning composer and best composer of the year internationally, Ms Lina Tonia, will present her new composition for the first time.
• An honorary distinction will be bestowed on painter Dimitris Alithinos and painter Giorgos Lazogkas for their corpus of work and their contribution to contemporary Greek art.
• A Museum Exhibition will be presented with works by internationally distinguished artist Victor Vasarely, in partnership with the Museum of Drawing Skopje.
• The Yiorgos Melikis Ethnographic Centre will present the original installation ‘K.P. Cavafy “BODY, REMEMBER... the beds in which you lay”’.
• The Museum Exhibition on the Greek Revolution 1821-2021 will present works by A. FRIEDEL, P.V. HESS, as well as newspapers and letters from the 1821-1828 period.
• A dance-theatre performance will be held, during which 11 dance performers and 3 musicians will create a landscape of emotions, directed by Ms Marianthi Psomataki.
• For the 2nd time, the Cultural Association of Entrepreneurs of Northern Greece, in partnership with Art Thessaloniki, will present the ‘MATAROA’ awards to 10 artists, who will exhibit their work in individual pavilions.
• The Municipality of Thessaloniki will be participating in the fair with its own pavilion, in which representative artworks from the Municipal Gallery will be exhibited.
• During the fair, WAVA (World Association of Visual Arts) in partnership with Art Thessaloniki will present 2 awards - Best Gallery and Best Artist.

Art Thessaloniki is a major exhibition event in art and culture

Art and Culture are best expressed in major exhibition events, such as the 5th Art Thessaloniki Fair, pointed out the CEO of TIF-Helexpo Mr Kyriakos Pozrikidis during the Press conference held at the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre today. “The fair is visited by collectors, art buyers, and gallery owners from Greece, Europe, Balkan countries, etc.’, stressed Mr Pozrikidis, noting the there will be galleries participating from mainland and island Greece, Italy, Iraq, Turkey, Japan, and America.

In turn, the artistic director of the Fair, Mr Pantelis Tsatsis, stressed that the Fair will also be enriched by a programme of side events and speeches by art historians, underlining that ‘Art’ is a large exhibition if one takes into account the difficulties because of the pandemic.

The Honoured Artist at this year’s fair, Professor Emeritus at AUTh, Mr Giannis Fokas, mentioned that this event is a celebration of art, and he took a moment to explain that Art

Thessaloniki succeeded in being organised with physically present attendees, just like other major European fairs on art and culture.

The deputy mayor of Culture and Tourism of the municipality of Thessaloniki, Ms Maria Karagianni, pointed out that Art Thessaloniki is a very important artistic institution and that the municipality chose to participate once again this year with a pavilion.

The General Director of TIF-Helexpo, Mr Alexis Tsaxirlis, stressed that November is a month of culture for Thessaloniki, given the Art Thessaloniki and TIBF “duo”, which provide cultural bodies of Thessaloniki the opportunity to participate in these exhibition events.

Lastly, the project manager of Art Thessaloniki, Ms Anna Tombazi, noted that this event will be completely different to all other exhibitions.

It should be noted that only people who have been vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 will be allowed entry to Art Thessaloniki, while all necessary protection measures for Covid-19 will be taken.

The working hours of the event are the following: Thursday 25 November 16:00-22:00, Friday 26 November 14:00-21:00, and the weekend of 27-28 November 11:00-21:00.