NEON, the Athens-based initiative founded by leading collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos, will conclude its activities later this year, “after 14 years of activity, having fulfilled its cultural and social mission,” according to a release.
NEON’s final project began last year when the first of three exhibitions by Chicago-based artist Michael Rakowitz opened at the Acropolis Museum in May, while the second exhibition opened last October.
The trilogy of exhibitions, collectively titled “Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures,” were presented in collaboration with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, the Acropolis Museum, and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Athens.
The last of these will involve a new commission by Rakowitz that will be installed at the Old Acropolis Museum when it reopens in the second half of 2026 after a 19-year closure for renovation. The work will be the first piece of contemporary art installed at the ancient site. “The final chapter,” a press release reads, “will explore stories of diaspora and how objects from diverse historical, geographical, and archaeological contexts come together to form layered narratives.”
Under director Elina Kountouri, NEON presented 44 exhibitions for contemporary artists like Tino Sehgal, Adrián Villar Rojas, Lynda Benglis, Antony Gormley, and Phyllida Barlow. NEON also organized projects for deceased artists like Mike Kelley, Mario Merz, Louise Bourgeois, and Martin Kippenberger, which launched the initiative.
Additionally, it commissioned over 100 new works by artists, nearly three-quarters of which were by Greek artists. This group included Marina Abramović, Igshaan Adams, El Anatsui, Anastasia Douka, Glenn Ligon, Teresa Margolles, Maria Papadimitriou, Rena Papaspyrou, Gala Porras-Kim, and Danh Vo.
Installation view of “Allspice | Michael Rakowitz & Ancient Cultures,” 2025, NEON + the Acropolis Museum.
Photo Natalia Tsoukala
The venues for these projects were equally wide-ranging, from museums such as EMST and the Museum of Cycladic Art to ancient sites like the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and the Ancient Agora; as well as the Kerameikos Neighborhood, a parking space in central Athens, and other public spaces. One of these works is now on permanent view: Gormley’s RULE II (2019), which he donated to the island of Delos in 2025. “Using the city as its space NEON has pioneered an innovative model of practice and exhibition across diverse spaces and contexts,” the release reads.
NEON’s largesse for presenting contemporary art in Greece also extended beyond its itinerant exhibition program. It spent €1.4 million to renovate the former Public Tobacco Factory to transform it into a contemporary culture center which it then handed over to the Hellenic Parliament in 2023. Per a release, 13 other Greek institutions have new equipment and facilities as a result of the exhibitions NEON mounted there.
Daskalopoulos, who appeared on ARTnews’s Top 200 Collectors list each year between 2001 and 2020, donated a group of 350 major contemporary artworks to four museums, with the EMST/National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens receiving 140; Tate in the UK getting 110; and the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, sharing 100.
