Kosmas Nikolaou
Kosmas Nikolaou (b. 1984, Athens) is a visual artist based in Athens.
His practice is research-led and unfolds across installation, performance, and publishing, often engaging with archives, modernism, parapsychology, and alternative economies. Since 2018, sound has been a central medium in his work, employed both as material and as a spatial strategy. He has developed projects through an extensive range of residencies across Europe and the Middle East, which have deeply shaped his practice through context-based research and collective processes. In 2025 he was an artist-in-residence at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, supported by the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), Athens, and participated at the EMST Mentoring Programme with artist Marcus Coates as his mentor, with a focus on sound and narrative methodologies.
Education
2012 Master in Architectural Design, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
2009 BFA, University of Ioannina, Greece
2006 Erasmus Program, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milan, Italy
2002 School of Mineralogy and Engineering, NTUA, Athens, Greece
Residencies, Grants, Awards (selected)
2025 Residency at Cité internationale des arts, Paris (supported by EMST, Athens)
2025 EMST Mentorship Programme (mentor: Marcus Coates)
2023 ULYSSES: European Odyssey, Onassis AiR, Athens
2019 Alserkal Arts Foundation Commission, Dubai
2018 ARTWORKS Fellowship, Stavros Niarchos Foundation
2018 Alserkal Residency, Dubai
2017 Fondazione Pistoletto, Italy (Trauma & Revival)
2017 Blitz Residency, Valletta, Malta (Valletta 2018, European Capital of Culture)
2016 IdeasCity Athens, New Museum (NY)
2015 Research trips to BOZAR Brussels, ZKM Karlsruhe, Pushkin Museum Moscow
Solo Exhibitions (selected)
2026 Horror Vacui, Berlin Residency, Athens,
2025 Radio Free Europe, Petite Galerie, Cité internationale des arts, Paris
2023 Notes for a lost film, SNFPHI Commission,
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Public Humanities Initiative, Athens
2019 Mental Radio, D.O.C., Paris
2018 Choir and Manoeuvre, Blitz Residency & Villa Bologna, Malta
2016 Sojourning, Rebecca Camhi Gallery, Athens
Group Exhibitions (selected)
2026 Soft Seeds, Third Place, Vienna
2026 The way we live together now, Joey Ramone Gallery, Rotterdam
2025 Limassol Art Walks with Joey Ramone Gallery, Limassol, Cyprus
2024 Head to Head, Nylo The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik
2024 Living Forms, Joey Ramone Gallery, Rotterdam
2024 Taken Apart & Put Back Together Again, A Tale Of a Tub, Rotterdam
2022 A Scattering of Salts, American College of Greece, Athens
2020 For Living is Nowhere, Haus N Athen, Athens
2019 Gone Today, Here Tomorrow, AnnexM @ Athens Music Hall
2017 N.P. or the Possibilities of Life, Locus Athens
Other Projects & Initiatives
Co-founder (2012) and co-director of 3 137, one of Europe’s longest-running artist-run spaces, active in Athens and internationally.
Publishing and editorial projects in contemporary Greek art with a focus on the 1970s art history.
Black Market Tax. Tassa del Mercato Nero, an ongoing research project exploring economy, value, and solidarity networks.
email: kosmas.nikolaou@hotmail.com
instagram: @kosmas_nikolaou_
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