Onassis Culture

Onassis culture, with the Onassis Stegi as its hub, with its theatrical and dance performances, its art exhibits, conversations, lectures, printed editions, and steady digital presence, begins the conversation about what’s happening, what should be happening, what we’d like to see happening in Athens, Beirut, the Balkans, New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires—in short, all over the world.

And this journey outward does in fact take place, as dozens of performances that embark from the Onassis Stegi go on to tour all over the world—an example of an outward-looking procession of Greece at its very best—but more importantly, in nonmaterial ways: through ideas, questioning, refutation.

Art remains colorless if it stays trapped inside. Culture, as the Onassis Stegi understands it, gets out and travels through the city, goes down to the center of Athens and advocates for it as a diachronic, but also living place, a space for the fermentation, collision and exchange of ideas. Onassis AiR, a year-long program situated in the center of athens, in which all participating residents can interact as equals, without the pressure of time, work and deadlines, represents the epitome of the Foundation’s philosophy: that the conditions for creation must be ensured. Time for ripening allows talent to break free and develop.

With respect for the past, yet intent on avoiding nostalgia or idealization, Onassis Culture sketches the future, seeks the energy and momentum in every corner and patch of light in the city, encourages talent and energy, introduces people to one another and is constantly looking for what sets them apart, what affects them, what has meaning, what will in the end change the city’s particular way of being. At the same time, it speaks up, disagrees, advocates and takes a position regarding anything that stands in the way of freedom, democracy, life. From the center of Athens, the message travels. The local becomes global. And the global, local.