FESTIVAL
The Collective of Collectives Art Festival returns to Athens from 1–11 of October 2026, bringing together the city’s independent, artist-run spaces for a two-week programme of exhibitions, workshops, screenings, performances and music.
Self-organized, non-profit, and artist-led, the festival transforms Athens into a living map of underground and experimental culture. By moving from venue to venue, audiences are invited to discover the city’s vibrant network of self-funded initiatives and project spaces that drive its contemporary art scene.
The Collective of Collectives Art Festival is more than an event — it is a platform for visibility, collaboration, and cultural exchange, showcasing the diversity and vitality of Athens’ artistic voices.
THIS YEAR’S THEME
Athens stands at a complex intersection: a city marked by migration routes, economic crisis, tourism-driven development, and rapid real estate investment. Parallel to these realities, an explosion of self-organized cultural spaces has reshaped the city’s artistic life. Much of the most experimental work now happens outside institutions – in living rooms, former shops, shared studios. These initiatives form an informal but vital infrastructure.
Yet they operate precariously.
In an effort to strengthen this decentralized ecosystem, this year's open call invites you to apply those practices of horizontal structures, shared resources, and co-creation within the Athenian habitat.
In a city that (re)negotiates belonging and public space, we ask you to create art that feels borderless, where personal histories, displaced narratives, and experimental aesthetics meet without hierarchy.
Cherry’s
CYPHER
Cynefin Athens
DOS
Esto Association
F.E.A.
HGW std.
ististist project
Living Room
Micro Gallery
Mouries collective
OKAY drops
Puja Journal
Red Carpet project space
Upper Ankyle
Zoetrope