Museum of Contemporary Art Opens in Serres, Northern Greece

Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni at the Museum of Contemporary Art – Konstantinos Xenakis Gallery in Serres

The Greek city of Serres, the second largest city in the Region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki, recently welcomed a new museum of contemporary art.

Located in the former Papaloukas military camp, where the Municipality of Serres is also creating a new cultural park, the new Museum of Contemporary Art – Konstantinos Xenakis Gallery hosts 171 works donated by late Greek artist Konstantinos Xenakis.

Xenakis was a painter, sculptor and poet. His work often included written script, in particular the Hebrew alphabet, symbols and codes of everyday life, traffic signs, alchemy, the zodiac, mathematical and chemical symbols, Egyptian hieroglyphics, letters from the Greek, Phoenician and Arabic alphabets*. He passed away in 2020, at the age of 89.

A modern museum accessible to all

The new museum – gallery invites travelers to explore all stages of Xenakis’ work through new technologies and audiovisual material.

The venue is also accessible to people with mobility issues, while it includes tactile artworks, sign language videos and videos with subtitles, information in QR codes and in the Braille code.

During an event for the museum’s opening on Sunday, Culture Minister Lina Mendoni highlighted that the Museum of Contemporary Art – Konstantinos Xenakis Gallery it is also a “green” museum.

“It has almost zero energy consumption and is completely accessible to people with disabilities, taking into account modern standards and perceptions such as inclusion, which is a government priority,” she said.

The Museum of Contemporary Art – Konstantinos Xenakis Gallery also includes works donated by private collectors.

It was created as part of the “Cultural Dipole in the cross-border area” project of the Interreg V-A “Greece Bulgaria 2014-2020 program.

*With information from Wikipedia