Draft:NEON (organization)

NEON (pronounced /né.on/) is a Greek-based non-profit organization founded in 2013 by collector and entrepreneur Dimitris Daskalopoulos and directed by Elina Kountouri.

It is a nomadic organization that commissions new work to Greek and international artists, puts together exhibitions and installations in venues across Greece, from the National Observatory of Athens to the Archaeological Museum of Mykonos and the Island of Delos and offers grants and scholarships to artists. NEON works in association with a range of cultural institutions and backs the programs of public and private organizations, all in the name of increasing access to contemporary art among people, offering all its programming for free...

In 2016 NEON renovated part of the Athens Conservatoire unused basement and in 2021, NEON renovated the former Public Tobacco Factory of Athens as a gift to the Greek State to be used as a cultural centre

NEON in collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Culture has launched a website title Contemporary Heritage, aiming to highlight the interaction between the Greek ancient past and contemporary culture.

Exhibitions and Projects
NEON Organization brings contemporary art to a wider audience by putting together free, widely accessible exhibitions in public and private places in Athens and the rest of Greece.

NEON has presented temporary solo and group exhibitions featuring works by some of the most important Greek and international contemporary artists :


 * Martin Kippenberger - A Cry for Freedom at the Museum of Cycladic Art (2013)
 * A THOUSAND DOORS at Gennadius Library in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery (2014)
 * This Variation | This Progress by Tino Sehgal, at the Roman Agora of Athens (2014)
 * Flying Over the Abyss at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete in Rethymnon and at the Contemporary Art Centre of Thessaloniki (2015) and at the Athens Conservatoire (2016)
 * TERRAPOLIS at French School at Athens in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery (2015)
 * Mario Merz | Numbers are Prehistoric at the Museum of Cycladic Art (2015)
 * NEON + MAI | AS ONE a collaboration with the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI) at the Benaki Museum (2016)
 * BREAKING NEWS-ATHENS by Michael Landy at Diplarios School (2017)
 * The Theater of Disappearance by Adrián Villar Rojas at the National Observatory of Athens (2017)
 * Mike Kelley | Fortress of Solitude at the Museum of Cycladic Art (2017)
 * Paul Chan | Odysseus and the Bathers at the Museum of Cycladic Art (2018)
 * Lynda Benglis | In the Realm of the Senses at the Museum of Cycladic Art (2019-2020)
 * Richard Long | Athens Slate Line at the Shrine of Dionysos Eleuthereus, South Slope of Athens Acropolis (2020)
 * Portals in collaboration with the Hellenic Parliament at the former Public Tobacco Factory (2021)
 * Louise Bourgeois | Maman at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre (2022)
 * Dream On in collaboration with the Hellenic Parliament at the former Public Tobacco Factory featuring works from the D.Daskalopoulos Collection Gift (2022)
 * 112, Climate Tone an online project for the World Weather Network (2022)
 * Doomed Companions, Unsubstantial Shades at the Hellenic Ambassador’s Residence in London (2022)

The annual NEON City Project activated archaeological sites, public spaces and locations through contemporary art exhibitions commissioning new work to Greek artists :


 * Aemilia Papaphilippou, Pulsating Fields at the Ancient Agora of Athens (City Project 2014)
 * Maria Loizidou, A Transfer at the Kerameikos Archaeological Site and Museum (City Project 2015)
 * Zafos Xagoraris, The Performance at the Parking, Ipirou & 3rd Septemvriou St. (City Project 2016)
 * Kostis Velonis, A Puppet Sun at the Historical Residence, Kaplanon St. (City Project 2017)
 * Andreas Lolis, Prosaic Origins at the British School at Athens (City Project 2018)
 * Panos Kokkinias, Stock Images at 4 Sofokleous St. (City Project 2019)
 * Dionisis Kavallieratos, Disoriented dance / Misled planet at Odeon of Herodes Atticus in collaboration with the Athens and Epidaurus Festival (City Project 2020)

Long Term Collaborations:

The Artist on the Composer is project in collaboration with the Greek National Opera. Through the project artist Nikos Navridis presented Noli me Tangere in 2019, director Yorgos Lanthimos presented Bleat starring Emma Stone and Damien Bonnard in 2022 and artist Ioanna Pantazopoulou presented A Summer Evening in 2023. Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bleat made its US Premiere in 2023 at the New York Film Festival

In collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades, NEON presents 3 exhibitions in Greek Cycladic Islands:


 * Constellations in the Dirt at Koufonisi in 2018
 * Antony Gormley | SIGHT on the archaeological site and museum of island of Delos in 2019
 * The Palace at 4 am. at the archaeological museum of Mykonos in 2019

Cultural Centres:

In addition to its exhibition programme NEON donated funds, funded construction, reconstruction and refurbishment works, and purchased permanent equipment for Greek institutions which hosted NEON exhibitions.

In 2016 NEON renovated the Athens Conservatoire basement which has been out of use for forty years, which then hosted IdeasCity Athens in collaboration with the New Museum; a five-day residency program and public conference with speakers such as John Akomfrah, Hito Steyerl, and Tania Bruguera. It opened to the later that year with the exhibition Flying Over the Abyss featuring artists such as Jenny Holzer, Matthew Barney and Hans Bellmer before handing it back to the Athens Conservatory .

In 2021, NEON and its founder Dimitris Daskalopoulos funded the renovation of the former Public Tobacco Factory - Hellenic Parliament Library and Printing House which was gifted back to the state as a Cultural Center in 2023. It opened the building to the public for the first time with two contemporary art exhibitions, Portals and Dream On , which featured new commissions and existing works by artists such as Glenn Ligon, Duro Olowu, Teresa Margolles, Michael Rakowitz, Danh Vō, Daphne Wright, Do Ho Suh, Shilpa Gupta, Adam Pendleton, Steve McQueen, Adriana Varejão, John Bock, Paul McCarthy, Thomas Hirschhorn and Damien Hirst.