Georgia Kotretsos

BA, Durban Institute of Technology; MFA, School of Art Institute of Chicago

Georgia Kotretsos is a visual artist, researcher and publisher based in Athens. Having spent her adolescence in South Africa during its democratic transition from apartheid, her work is deeply informed by the intersections of place, politics, and perception. She holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from the Durban Institute of Technology. Kotretsos’s artistic practice challenges conventional ways of seeing and studying art, proposing liberatory and anarchist approaches that emphasize the viewer’s emancipation as central to the formation of knowledge about art. Her research advocates for alternative epistemologies, encouraging new ways of understanding how knowledge is created and experienced within specific cultural and spatial contexts. | https://georgiakotretsos.com/

Kotretsos has exhibited extensively in Greece and internationally, with her work presented at prominent venues such as the Onassis Art Center and Asian Society in New York, the 4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, the Tinguely Museum in Basel, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. She has delivered lecture-performances at important events, including the Venice Biennale and the Asian Contemporary Art Week in New York, and participated in residencies across Greece, Italy, and Germany. Her career is also marked by her role as co-founder of the Boots Contemporary Art Space in St. Louis and her editorial contributions to Art21 Magazine. Kotretsos’s work continues to explore the dynamic relationship between viewer, place, and knowledge, earning her recognition and support from international art foundations and cultural institutions.In 2019, she founded THE TEΛΟΣ SOCIETY, Arts & Culture Research Lab Observatorium.

Research Projects

• AWARDS 1 TO 9 is a research-driven, pedagogical art installation led by Georgia Kotretsos for ALink and A Break in Time, marking ACG’s 150th anniversary. Created with nine sculpture students, it explored high-achievement methods for early-career artists. The resulting public installation, soon permanently housed in a children’s institution, emphasized mentorship, collective authorship, and civic engagement—leaving a lasting legacy of artistic purpose, responsibility, and intergenerational impact.
• DURHAM UNIVERSITY IAS ARTIST FELLOWSHIP. Georgia Kotretsos has been invited as an Artist Fellow at Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) for the Michaelmas Term(October–December 2025). She will join an interdisciplinary academic community where she’ll explore innovative ideas through artistic research. Her contribution will engage multiple faculties, using art as a critical lens to deepen inquiry and expand collaborative dialogue across disciplines. Affiliate organization, THE ΤΕΛΟΣ SOCIETY, Arts & Culture Research Lab, Observatorium.
• AEGEAS FELLOWSHIP–DEREE THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF GREECE. Following her IAS Fellowship, Kotretsos will return to teach at DEREE, The American College of Greece, supported by the AEGEAS Fellowship. Her research at the intersection of art and workplace environments will inform a peer workshop at the Visual Arts program and Frances Rich School. By sharing new methods and insights, she will directly benefit students and contribute to an evolving pedagogy rooted in cross-sector creative engagement.
• HELLENIC CENTRE, «BOOKMORPHS from Greece & the UK», London, UK. Kotretsos will exhibit in “BOOKMORPHS from Greece & the UK,” a curated show at London’s Hellenic Centre in October 2025. The exhibition features around 40 contemporary artists’ books by Greek and UK artists, examining the book as a visual and conceptual art medium. Curated by Fiona Mouzakiti, Despina Stavrou, and Christina Mitrentse, the exhibition will be accompanied by a printed catalogue.
• THE TEΛΟΣ SOCIETY, Arts & Culture Research Lab and Observatorium. Founded in Athens in2019, THE TEΛΟΣ SOCIETY (TTS) is a nonprofit arts and culture lab focusing on interdisciplinaryresearch through philosophy, science, technology, and art.TTS emphasizes sustainability, inclusivity, and the creative “practice of seeing,” especially in Greece’s remote and peripheral areas. Grounded in metamodernism and Deleuzian thought, TTS builds collaborative, site-specific projects to shape cultural understanding and systemic transformation. Website: https://www.thetelossociety.com
• TTS | DECAEXASELIDO, 2025 Launched by THE TEΛΟΣ SOCIETY, Decaexaselido is a publishing platform advancing critical research in Greek arts and culture. Named after the 16-page booksignature, it symbolizes precision and depth. The inaugural edition features research by Dimitrios Papachristos, Marianna Stefanitsi, Anais Alifieri, and Liana Psarologaki, selected by an international jury including Georgia Kotretsos. Their compact publications, designed for clarity and public accessibility, will be released as a boxed set in Athens in September 2025. This project bridges scholarly research with contemporary discourse, offering a new model for disseminating academic thought in art and cultural studies.
• TTS | CELLAR 10, 2025 CELLAR 10 is a mid-length documentary produced by THE TEΛΟΣ SOCIETY after three years of research on Greek winemaking at ACHAIA CLAUSS. The film, featuring Periklis Baltas and oenologist Sotiris Karagiannis, explores the winery’s historic architecture and enduring cultural legacy. Founded in 1861, the chateau survived turbulent periods to remain a key figure in Greek viticulture. From the original Mavrodaphne barrel (1873) to Gustav Clauss’s chapel, the documentary frames the winery as a symbol of resilience and identity. Supported by the Greek Ministry of Culture, CELLAR 10 serves as both an archive and an artistic tribute.
• TTS | BREAD & CHARCOAL, 2022-2025. Led by Georgia Kotretsos, Bread & Charcoal is a sculptural research project that examines bread as an artwork, social dimension, and cultural artifact. Initiated in 2023 on the 20th anniversary of UNESCO’s Intangible Heritage Convention, it’s supported by Greece’s Ministry of Culture and THE TEΛΟΣ SOCIETY. The project includes 13participatory research events held across Greek villages, bakeries, and public spaces. Bread is approached as both sustenance and shared ritual—embodying aesthetics, memory, and community. The project culminates in a publication that reimagines bread as sculpture and cultural text, celebrating its poetic and unifying role in Greek life.