Encounter Point: Archaeology and art in dialogue at the Archaeological Museum of Kavala 

Archaeology and art, feeding more and more often into each other nowadays and sharing a common path, converge in multiple ways around a wide range of concepts and practices: from artistic interventions in museum spaces to archaeological interpretations informed by artistic creation, ancient and contemporary art engage in conversation with one another, which maximises the impact of both.

This art exhibition, unfolding among the exhibits of an archaeological museum, develops its narrative through the different meanings, interpretations and associations suggested by the archaeological finds already on display. Such a challenge invites multiple readings, and it is in this perspective that the Archaeological Museum of Kavala aspires to serve as an Encounter Point between a collection of antiquities and a collection of art produced over the past few centuries.

The Archaeological Museum of Kavala hosts representative pieces of cultural heritage from the broader region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, chronicling the history of the city of Kavala from antiquity to Byzantine and modern times. The Bank of Greece Art Collection, on the other hand, features mainly figurative paintings, prints and sculptures by Greek artists, which provide glimpses into modern Greek art from the 19th century onwards, evoking timeless values and strong symbolism.

The exhibition starts on the ground floor, where more recent works of art mingle with pieces from the Museum’s permanent collection from the prehistoric era to Hellenistic Neapolis, Byzantine Christoupolis and Kavala in modern years. Common themes and quests, as well as kindred stimuli in terms of style, artistic vocabulary, textures and materials across the two collections, invite to a parallel, yet diversified, approach to ancient and modern artworks and open up new points of view within the museum space.

The exhibition continues in the Museum’s temporary exhibition area, with a selection of prints, paintings and sculptures from the Bank of Greece Art Collection, illustrating how artists, whether from Western Europe (James Basire, Pierre Bouillon and others) or from Greece (Angelos Giallinas, Yannoulis Chalepas, Georgios Chatzopoulos), viewed 19th- and 20th-century Greece, in line with the intellectual and cultural currents of the time and according to which the ideals of  antiquity were to be admired and revived in representations of places, people, ancient monuments and art. As additional ‘proof’ of the string of conversations that can be sparked between ancient and more recent art, selected objects from the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Thassos enter this part of the exhibition and, in interlocution with the themes of more recent prints, trigger a new round of observation and joint appreciation.

Ultimately, centre stage goes to the Museum itself, which plays host to this parallel viewing of the two Collections; it is indeed the meeting place where the knowledge and feeling of different times in the past interact and appeal to today’s viewers in ways sometimes familiar, sometimes unexpected, through the compelling images and the stories they tell.

Charis Kanellopoulou

Art historian, curator of the exhibition

Centre for Culture, Research & Documentation

Bank of Greece

Prepare for your visit and watch the introductory video of the temporary exhibition: