The Irene Y. Panagopoulos Collection, opens its second exhibition, Everything I Know Is a Borrowed Map, curated by Akis Kokkinos. The exhibition explores the act of collecting as a vehicle to understand whose stories are preserved, whose are on view, and whose are in storage. Questioning inherited systems of classification and the hierarchies imposed by dominant ideologies, this exhibition suggests new liberated ways of approaching knowledge and interpreting the world.
Investigating the tools and methods of museological practices, the exhibition challenges the norms that control how objects, human artifacts and nature’s creations are classified, categorized, and displayed. Through the vitrines and storage grids, these systems shape our perception of history while simultaneously limiting it within fixed dimensions of space and time.
Encased in glass resembling an aquarium, the exhibition is transformed into a vessel that controls and preserves the collection. At the same time, it invokes the aquarium’s condition of constant movement, activating a dynamic ecosystem in which the viewer becomes an active participant. Roles shift, objects become subjects, and storytelling expands beyond imposed boundaries. In this space, visitors are invited to question, erase, and rewrite their own “maps” through engagement with the Irene Y. Panagopoulos Collection.
Bringing together a wide range of materials, from archives and historic maps to works by leading Greek and international artists, the exhibition unfolds across six sections called Marginalia.
Note: Marginalia, the supporting information printed along the edges (the margins) of a map, has evolved into a key navigational element for this exhibition.
Marginalia I: Setting the scene and attributing a performative character to the exhibition, the first section functions simultaneously as a gate and a barrier, commenting on the cartographies of power and border-control systems.
Marginalia II: Archival materials, redeveloped constructions and artworks shaped by nature’s elements, intuition and metaphysics, introduce questions of gender power and emotional accumulated experience that bring into conflict institutional frameworks and fragile forms of knowledge.
Marginalia III: The exhibition is transformed into a performative act highlighting the importance of storage and preservation within the collection’s context. Following the trajectory of the grids, issues of queerness, feminism, race and censorship come to the spotlight whenever “their grid is pulled out”.
Marginalia IV: A combination of different artworks and archival materials presented in different ways puts in focus issues of geography, territory, political power, knowledge construction and their effects on human lives.
Marginalia V: A corpus of artworks created by female artists explore ways of using the human body as an instrument of resistance to imposed patterns of control.
Marginalia VI: Rare archival materials, selected artists’ publications, sound works, and sculptural installations reframe the space as a living ecosystem, inviting the audience to step into the unknown and observe the world through the vitrines we inhabit.
The exhibition curator, Akis Kokkinos, extends the exhibition’s inquiries through a series of conversations, unfolding its different threads while allowing additional voices and perspectives to emerge. Shifting knowledge across margins and centers, the series unfolds as a set of notes and drafts shaped through listening, exchange, and shared reflection.
An introductory guided tour of the exhibition will be given by the curator one hour prior to each conversation, at 18:00. Admission only with reservation.
30 September 2026, 19:00
Kader Attia: On Repair
Language: English, Duration: 75 minutes
Kader Attia’s practice investigates how societies remember, classify, and repair the wounds produced by colonial histories and modernity.
04 November 2026, 19:00
Max Hooper Schneider: On aquariums and the vitrines we inhabit
Language: English, Duration: 75 minutes
Artist Max Hooper Schneider discusses his long-standing engagement with habitat-like environments, including aquariums, as sites where biology, design, and exhibition-making intersect.
24 February 2027, 19:00
Irene Y. Panagopoulos: On borrowed maps and uncharted waters
Language: Greek, Duration: 75 minutes
In this conversation, the collector Irene Y. Panagopoulos reflects on her role as both caretaker and cartographer of meaning.
Credits
Curated by Akis Kokkinos
Featuring Anthony Akinbola, Kader Attia, Thomas Bowen, Christo, Benedetto Civiletti, Haris Epaminonda, Simone Fattal, Wilhelm von Gloeden, Petrit Halilaj, Mona Hatoum, Sheila Hicks, Susan Hiller, Birgit Jürgenssen, Anselm Kiefer, Jannis Kounellis, Angelika Loderer, Stathis Logothetis, Maria Loizidou, Sarah Lucas, Nour Mobarak, Jordan Nassar, Melik Ohanian, Daniil (Panagopoulos), Racine, Ugo Rondinone, Georgia Sagri, Niki de Saint Phalle, Lucas Samaras, Sin Wai Kin, Takis, Jean Tinguely, Yannis Tsarouchis, Erika Verzutti, Andy Warhol, anonymous.
Irene Y. Panagopoulos Collection
Founder: Irene Y. Panagopoulos
Board of Trustees: Elli Tsangrides Panagopoulos, Pericles Tsangrides Panagopoulos, Philippos Tsangrides Panagopoulos
Advisors: Roupen Kalfayan, Irene Kalliga
Head of Collection: Katerina Hadji
Registrars: Christina Makri, Dora Paisi
Public Programme & Exhibition Production: Foteini Salvaridi
Communication: Christina Makri, Katerina Zachou
Collection Assistant: Matina Tsigakou
Exhibition Production
Art Conservation: Vassilis Argyratos, Foteini Fragkaki
Artwork Insurance: DAES
Artwork Installation: Construcktivist, Move Art
Artwork Transportation: Move Art
Study Furniture Design: Ilias Lefas
Study Furniture Production: K. & S. Katsadouras
Wooden Constructions: Vassilis Kaltsis
Metal Constructions: Epsilon Construction
Lighting & Technical Support: The Show Solution
Aquarium Maintenance: Glassbox Aquarium Design
Graphic Design: Bend
Text Editing & Translation: Apostolos Vassilopoulos, Vassilis DouvitsasPrinting: Pletsas Kardari
Photography: Nikos Alexopoulos
Video: Fani Bitou
Recordings: Evagoras Bekiaris, Konstantinos Chaikalis
Polyphonic Reading Device Contributors
Audio Contributions: Maria Loizidou, Georgia Sagri, Stavros Stavrides, Centre of New Media and Feminist Public Practices (Elpida Karaba, Marianna Stefanitsi, Valia Papastamou, Ioanna Zouli)
Bibliographic Contributions: Kader Attia, Max Hooper Schneider
Parallel Programme Contributors
Kader Attia
Irene Y. Panagopoulos
Max Hooper Schneider
Special thanks to Stelios Kois, Antonis Voudris & Melina Smpokou, Angelo Margonis, Nohad Bouez.