The archipelagos of the Aegean and the aethers of the Mediterranean, those realms where, for millennia, winged and aquatic hybrid creatures have continued to gather and roam, while an endless succession of ancient myths intersects with age-old legends and beliefs, more recent traditions, and contemporary narratives, have inspired the sculptor Venia Dimitrakopoulou to embark upon a new artistic periplus. A voyage centred on the cultural memory of the Aegean; on the Mediterranean as the cradle of languages and great civilisations; on the lived experience of the maritime and insular world, for instance, the voice of the waves when stirred by the wind. In a series of recent works, the artist has increasingly turned their attention to wings and fins. The means by which the hybrid divinities of the celestial sphere, no less than the creatures of the aquatic world, move, hover, balance, and sway. At times above the earth, in the open air; at others beneath the water, whether fresh or salt. Marble, paper, and metal are the principal materials through which Venia Dimitrakopoulou pursues this new sculptural engagement with ancient Greek mythology and modern Greek tradition, while offering a tangible celebration of both the marine and the aerial elements. The artist’s sculptures and reliefs in white and rosecoloured marble, together with works in Indian ink on handmade paper, are presented inside the Historical Archives Museum of Hydra, while outside, in the public space in front of the Museum building, Anadyomene, a metal sculpture in two distinct shades of deep blue, stands as an emblem of emergence, absorbing the echo of the waves. The exhibition invokes in its title the primordial, inexhaustible Thalassa -the Sea- and her father, Aether. Alongside the new works inspired by hybrid creatures of the waters, it also includes sculptures derived from winged deities, first presented in last year’s exhibition at the Archaeological Museum of Paros. Yet beyond the rich thematic universe that unfolds throughout the exhibition at the Historical Archives Museum of Hydra, leading visitors towards distinctive cultural landscapes, ecosystems, and images drawn from the collective imaginary, the idea that ultimately prevails is that of emergence, one that transcends the individual subjects explored by the works. This is because the sensation of emergence occupies a fundamental place in the sculptural encounter with matter, in the trace of the artist’s own hand, and in the act of painting itself. Form is quarried from matter as expression comes into being. Shape and colour emerge through the surface; the past rises within the present; memory wells up from its deepest strata. Emergence, as a concept of both philosophical and aesthetic significance, not only runs through philosophical thought from Greek antiquity to the twentieth century, but also occupies a central place in the discourse of the contemporary sciences, and offers the viewer, with an emotional sensibility sharpened into perception, a way of apprehending Venia Dimitrakopoulou’s graphic and sculptural gesture as it unfolds between contingency and intention. With blue lines on paper, the artist renders the movement of the waves, their intensity, and their shifting rhythms. From the body of marble, or from metal, which asserts its own material imagination, she draws not merely latent energies but the expressive core of an imminent transformation.

Emergence is the shock of the momentum: the creative instant in which form suddenly comes into view, condensed yet forceful, surprising the viewer through its poetic resonances and its multiplicity of potential meanings.

Eleni Varopoulou
Curator of the exhibition
translated from Greek to English by Anna Zarifi

GENERAL STATE ARCHIVES / HISTORICAL ARCHIVES MUSEUM OF HYDRA
Epar.Od. Mandrakiou-Molou, Idra 180 40.

31.07 – 14.09.2026
Everyday: 9 AM – 4 PM, 7:30 – 9:30 PM