National Museum of Contemporary Art Αthens (ΕΜΣΤ) — Attraction in Athens

First some « essential » info/tips: This is one of the few museums open on Tuesday within Athens (outside Acropolis and archeological sites) The temporary exhibition are free There are a lot of rooms (and even floors) for temporary exhibitions This is « only » 8€ entrance There are less tourists compared to other more known museums Watch both « The Weather Orchestra » by Mikhail Karakis, and « Mahdokht » by Shirin Neshat. Both are around 11 minutes long

ESMT is very focused on modern art You will find a lot of projections of short movies (10 to 30 minutes). At the time we visited, there was around 10 of them and did half of them. Some are even using multiple screens in order to display multiple things, making it very nice such as « The Weather Orchestra » by Mikhail Karakis, or « Mahdokht » by Shirin Neshat. The pieces within this museum are using modern technologies such as videos as previously mentioned, … The themes that stand out from our visit questions the visitor on issues such as effects of the dominance of technology (social media’s impacts, artificial intelligence, …), climate changes, … It seems that the museums has a slight focus on Southern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean artists We stayed around 3 hours 45. Around 1 hour and 30 minutes for the exhibition called « Modern Love » Around 10 minutes for the exhibition called « Everything, Everywhere, All The Time » by Hannah Toticki 2 hours for the rest (permanent and other exhibitions that are on the same floors of the...

I have heard so much about it I was eager to visit the museum. When we finally managed yesterday afternoon. I was left gobsmacked. From the 5 story building, only the mezzanine and basement had exhibits; a photo exhibition by people in rehab and a Japanese calligraphy art. I found more interesting the 20 staff loitering around doing, well, not much. As nobody else was there, it could have been mistaken for interactive theater performance of the public servant life in Greece. If you are around it is worth a visit, and it’s free: courtesy of the Greek tax payers.

Coming from London, it makes you wonder why the manager of the museum had not prearranged the schedule of exhibits prior to the opening. Is it sheer incompetence or neglect? But even if nobody wants to entrust the precious collections to the hands of some amateur newbies, Athens is bursting with talent seeking a space to showcase their art. They could have easily hoover this art and celebrate it. They could even curated a room on the history of the building itself and it’s brand. Ah and yes. This is the FIX brewery, not EMSK (sounds like Slavic ending). Nothing wrong w the Slavic language but how the heck will anybody remember this brand. This this the FIX...

Unfortunately, the curators did not make a good job at selecting and showcasing the available items in a cohesive and coherent manner.

While some of the themes discussed in the exhibitions could have been interesting (e.g., growing up as a woman in a post-colonialist country), the series of works were only explained in very general terms and not presented in a logical sequence.

The most interesting works were related to Pinky Pinky, a South African urban legend, and how the artist imagined the character at the center of said legend.

Unfortunately, the usual plastic bags and pieces of junks (which the artists probably did not even make to be exhibited in a museum) were also there.

Special mention for the worst piece is the collection of "Portraits of influential women over 70," containg pictures of women who improved the world. Some of the women were inspirational, but then you had one whose tag was, and I am quoting, "gym enthusiast" and something about her love for hotel rooms. Really, I am sure she probably has done something meaningful, so please explain why her portrait belongs to the series with a proper...