Many consider that her colour-popping, dizzying creations influenced Andy Warhol. Without doubt, the avant garde Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama was a forebearer of the Pop Art movement. The still-spritely 89-year-old with the signature flaming wig has exhibited hallucinatory works such as “Infinity Nets” and her "Dots Obsessions" series (Kusama feti...
Read moreIn Greece for the summer and want to drink like a local? How about trying one of the many indigenous born-and-brewed beers? Athens Insider plays beertender and rounds up a few of the coolest beers to try this summer. From Athens to Peloponnese, Crete or Santorini, Greece prides itself in a whole range of lagers, ales and beers bursting wi...
Read moreYannis Dramis, a born and bred Athenian, re-discovers his native city as he captures Athens’ spray-canned facades where nightly, young artists such as “Sonke” vie for recognition, credibility and space on the city’s walls. “I have always liked to walk through decadent parts of the city, places, where ‘normalcy’, or a sense of ...
Read moreThe Big Beard might finally be on its way out as the compulsory millennial youth prop. But its potency as a cultural and religious marker will always endure, say anarchic British design duo Gilbert & George. The prodigious pair have cemented this all-pervasive hirsute legacy in their latest primal exhibition The Beard Pictures, to mar...
Read moreMary Katrantzou – one of Greece’s biggest overseas success stories – bolted out of the gates in 2008, pioneering a thrilling new look for women, typified by bold digital prints and structural silhouettes. She quickly became one of the most talked-about designers with Rihanna, Sarah Jessica Parker and Michelle Obama among her high-profile ...
Read moreWant to grab a coffee? Get your caffeine fix with art, sculptures and music for company at these four great museum cafes. Photos by Marie-Irène Moschona Acropolis Museum With a cafe on the ground floo...
Read moreAn essential element of the streetscape of every Greek city and town, the corner kiosk’s or periptero’s unique contribution to the rhythm and character of Greek daily life cannot be undermined. Open until the wee hours of the night, the periptero is where one stocks up on cigarettes and newspapers (strung out like laundry and ...
Read moreInsider’s linguistics whiz and cultural commentator John Carr provides our readers with a fool-proof guide to avoiding verbal offence here in the Great Olive Belt. Visitors and newcomers to Greece are often under the impression that the Greeks, being a voluble, open and highly expressive people, have little use for the kind of...
Read moreAncient customs that claim to elevate your Γούρι (Gouri) – your luck - are still widely practised, especially around New Year. Here are the most popular ways to usher in good luck and fortune for the year ahead. Plus, Insider shares a few trusty Greek tips to staying lucky – and warding off misfortune - all year long. As luck...
Read moreFrom rebel teen to globally-hailed artist, Stella Sevastopoulos catches up with the acclaimed sculptor Costas Varotsos, best known for his Athenian landmark ‘The Runner’, and encounters living proof that art conquers all. Costas Varotsos has proven that where there’s a will there’s a way. From expelled rebel teenager, to a suc...
Read moreInsider’s books expert Anna Roins delivers her verdict on Victoria Hislop’s latest paean to Greece, Cartes Postale from Greece. Costas, from Dodoni, works on his plot of land, his ‘kipo’, from morning to night to avoid his malodorous wife. One day, he discovers a piece of shimmering white marble under the hardened soil. ‘By mi...
Read moreA trip to the museum just became a much easier sell for families with young children in Athens. The Benaki has opened an exciting new public exhibit “Childhood, Toys, and Games”, housed in an impressive neo-Gothic tower in seaside Faliro. Today’s gadget-obsessed children will receive an illuminating glimpse into a lost world o...
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