Opening | BOOKMORPHS: Artists' Books from Greece & the UK

The interactive exhibition BOOKMORPHS: Artists’ Books from Greece & the UK brings together a diverse selection of artists’ books, book works, book-art objects, limited and multiple editions, ephemera, and journals by 44 visual artists, curators, publishers, and theorists from both Greece and the UK. It marks the first comprehensive presentation in London of contemporary artists’ books by Greek and British visual artists in dialogue. 

BOOKMORPHS borrows its title from a term used by art writer Michael Hampton and aims to foster dialogue and exchange between Greek and British artists. 

Showcasing a wide range of techniques and media – painting, printmaking, drawing, writing, poetry, digital printing, cutting, bookbinding, sculpture, sound, and photography – the exhibition highlights the rich materiality and experimental nature of the book as an artistic form. 

What happens when a book’s legibility is disrupted? BOOKMORPHS invites audiences to engage with books through unconventional forms of ‘reading’: holding, touching, activating. Here, books transform into vehicles of unique, interactive experiences, allowing visitors to explore the anatomy of the book and connect more intimately with its content. 

In re-examining the meaning and history of the codex, these works address a range of social, political, cultural, ecological, and gender issues. Personal narratives and subversive themes are reimagined in the artists’ book format, expanding the ways books can be created, read, and understood as cultural artefacts. 

The various objects presented in BOOKMORPHS continue to abide by typical bibliographic references, even though an artist’s book presents a disruption to conventional literary structures. In an age of screen reading and doom-scrolling, this exhibition seeks to preserve a tactile connection with the book – as text, as layered object, and as interactive form. 

Participating artists: Eleni Angelou, Nikos Arvanitis, Rania Bellou, David Blackmore, Sarah Bodman, Ismini Bonatsou, BOOKEND - Matt Hale & Nick Cash, Maria Bourbou, Thodoros Brouskomatis, Jonathan Callan, Natassa Chelioti – Naga, Ioanna Delfino, Joe Devlin, Anna Dimitriou, Stephen Emmerson, SJ Fowler, Michael Hampton, Rowena Hughes, Inscription Journal (Gill Partington, Simon Morris, Adam Smyth), Antonia Iroidou, Eleni Kastrinogianni, Peggy Kliafa, Alexia Kokkinou, Georgia Kotretsos, Nikos Kryonidis, Vasiliki Lefkaditi, Eleni Maragaki, Kyriaki Mavrogeorgi, Despina Meimaroglou, Christina Mitrentse, Fiona Mouzakitis, Kiki Perivolari, Stamatis Schizakis, Ifigeneia Sdoukou, Christina Sgouromiti, Danai Simou, Dimitris Skourogiannis, Annetta Spanoudaki, Nectarios Stamatopoulos, Despina Stavrou, Aris Stoidis, Evangelos Tasios, Yannis Tzortzis, Leonie Yagdjoglou.  

Curated by Project 2 Athens (Fiona Mouzakitis & Despina Stavrou) and Christina Mitrentse  

Co-organised and hosted by the Hellenic Centre. 

Lead sponsor Captain Vassilis and Carmen Constantakopoulos Foundation. With the support of The A. G. Leventis Foundation. The catalogue is sponsored by The Panayotis & Effie Michelis Foundation.