Doomed companions, unsubstantial shades

Curator Akis Kokkinos discusses his recent exhibition Doomed companions, unsubstantial shades at the Hellenic Residence in London, organised and produced by NEON Organisation. The exhibition brought together the legacy of Nobel laureate Greek poet and diplomat Giorgos Seferis with the work of twelve Greek-speaking migrant contemporary artists reflecting on the themes of identity, nostalgia and trauma in the current socio-political condition.

Akis Kokkinos is an independent curator, lecturer and commissioner living between London and Chios. He is also the founding director of DEO projects, an alter-institution in Chios, supporting transnational dialogue and the existing cultural infrastructure on the island.

He studied the MA Curating contemporary art at the Royal College of Art (2018-2020), fully funded by a double NEON scholarship, the Schilizzi Foundation, and the RCA continuation fund.

His projects have been featured in international media and platforms, including Frieze magazine, Artforum, Damn Magazine, Art Basel Stories, ESTADÃO, El Pais newspaper, among others.

Akis’ curatorial practice is focused on ways to disrupt the ‘objective’ and institutional by introducing or supporting other less appreciated and recognised forms of knowledge. Through multidisciplinary discourses, eco-feminist, non-western approaches, and other non- rational thoughts and philosophies, his practice focuses on the less spoken, invisible or liminal.

Image | From left: Savvas Christodoulides, He loved nature, 2008, Stefania Strouza, Anatolia, 2012, Doomed companions, unsubstantial shades, 2022, NEON at the Hellenic Residence, Installation view | Photograph © Christine Constantine, courtesy NEON and the artists