9th (Θ’) PAINTING STUDIO / DIRECTOR: N. ARVANITIS
The 9th Painting Studio was established in 2008 and operated through 2025 under the direction of Nikos Navridis. Since 2025, it has been directed by Nikos Arvanitis.
The five-year curriculum is structured in three cycles (semesters 1-2, 3-8, and 9-10) within a unified, studio-based framework organized around thematic modules and projects.
The Studio approaches painting as an expanded field and functions as a platform for experimentation and the development of contemporary and hybrid artistic practices. Emphasis is placed on research-based approaches that foreground process and critical engagement with diverse media. At the same time, the Studio seeks to familiarize students with theoretical tools and current discourse in the visual arts, as well as with the social and institutional frameworks through which artistic work is produced and circulated. The goal is to develop technical and conceptual tools while fostering a distinct artistic language through sustained production, presentations, and critical feedback.
Collaborations with other fields of cultural production are a consistent priority and an integral part of the program. These take shape through joint projects and partnerships with institutions, groups, and arts professionals beyond the School, supporting students’ preparation for their subsequent careers.
Particular emphasis is placed on the notion of community as an educational and productive condition, a shared learning ecosystem in which knowledge and artistic work are shaped through exchange, collaborative research, shared resources, care, and solidarity. The Studio operates as a training ground within the real conditions of contemporary art, strengthening interdisciplinarity, networking, collaborative methodologies, and active engagement with the public realm.
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Website: https://www.theta.asfa.gr/
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In the 2025/2026 academic year, the elective theoretical course “Art, City, Sound” is hosted in the presentation space of the 9th Painting Studio.
The 9th Painting Studio also participates in the D4 course “Artistic Studio” of the Department of Theory and History of Art, by Assoc. Prof. Esther Solomon.
NIKOS ARVANITIS / ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Nikos Arvanitis (b. 1979, Athens, GR) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, A and at the MFA course “Public Art and new artistic Strategies” at the Bauhaus University of Weimar, DE with scholarships from the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD and the A. S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. He received the first prize on the ZeitGenosse Schiller competition for public art (Weimar, 2005), he was nominated for the “5th DESTE Prize” of the DESTE Foundation (Athens, 2007) and he received the 2nd Prize of the Spyropoulos Foundation Award (Athens, 2009). In 2014 he was Artist in Residence at the Atelierhaus Salzamt in Linz. Arvanitis co-founded the artist-duo Barking Dogs United with Naomi Tereza Salmon (2005) and has maintained a long-standing musical collaboration with Hans Joachim Roedelius (Cluster/Kluster, Harmonia).
Nikos Arvanitis’ artistic and research work focuses on the social and political dimensions of sound, image and objects, on the structures and potential uses of public space, as well as on the anthropocentric approach to nature. Central to his practice is the exploration of the contradictions of human agency, the power structures it produces and the relationship between idealization and reality. He uses a wide range media – from installations, sound, painting and drawing, to public interventions, video, music and radio productions – to subvert institutional narratives and entrenched perceptions. His methodology includes fieldwork, interviews, archival study and found footage.
His work has been shown in numerous solo and group shows in Greece and abroad, including: cross section archive, Athens (2025), ΕΜΣΤ National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (2025), MoMus – Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki (2025), Kunstraum Memphis, Linz (2023), State of Concept, Athens (2022, 2020), a.antonopoulou.art gallery, Athens (2019, 2011, 2008), Bâtiment d’Art Contemporain Le Commun, Geneva (2015), Galleria Artcore, Bari (2013), Institute of Contemporary Greek Art, Athens (2013), Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (2011), BWA Wroclaw Galeria Awangarda, Wroclaw (2011), 2nd Les Ateliers de Rennes – Biennial d’Art Contemporain, Rennes (2010), Locust Projects, Miami (2010), Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cairo (2010), Halle 14, Leipzig (2010), 2nd Athens Biennial (2009), ACC Galerie, Weimar (2008), Deste Foundation Centre For Contemporary Art, Athens (2007).
Government Gazette issue announcing the appointment: ΦΕΚ 4108/Γ/30.10.2025
