A cultural legacy remains alive when each generation can encounter it afresh. In Paros, the exhibition Beating on the Wings of the Mind and Art by Venia Dimitrakopoulou offered such an encounter: a meeting between contemporary artistic thought, the presence of antiquity and the distinctive setting of an island inseparable from the history of sculpture. The Evangelos Pistiolis Foundation supported the exhibition as sponsor.
A cultural sponsorship rooted in continuity
Presented at the Archaeological Museum of Paros in Parikia from 20 July to 19 August 2025, the exhibition was curated by Eleni Varopoulou and organised by the Friends of Paros and Antiparos, with the kind support of the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades. These distinct roles matter: artistic creation, curatorial interpretation, local initiative, archaeological stewardship and sponsorship each contributed to a shared cultural undertaking.
For the Foundation, supporting this undertaking expresses a clear understanding of cultural philanthropy. Heritage is a resource for reflection, imagination and exchange. Its significance extends beyond the preservation of objects to the conditions in which people can approach them, consider their meaning and recognise their continued relevance. A contemporary exhibition within an archaeological museum makes that relationship particularly tangible.
The museum as a place of encounter
Archaeological collections ask us to look across considerable distances of time. Contemporary sculpture introduces another perspective into that experience: the voice of an artist working in the present. The resulting dialogue invites attention to both. It encourages the visitor to examine how a form can carry memory while remaining open to a new interpretation.
In Paros, this conversation took place in relation to the museum’s Nike and archaic Gorgon. Four new sculptures formed the core of Dimitrakopoulou’s presentation: Resting Nike, Wing of Myth, Perpetual Flight and The Message of Dawn. Works in Pentelic marble were accompanied by ink drawings on handmade paper and six heads in volcanic stone. A composition by Panagiotis Kalantzopoulos and an illustrated Greek–English catalogue extended the exhibition’s vocabulary beyond the sculptural object.
Flight as an invitation to thought
The image of the wing gives this exhibition a particularly resonant point of departure. Read as an artistic metaphor, flight can suggest the movement of thought, the possibility of renewal and the human desire to look beyond the immediately visible. A wing in repose and a wing in motion raise different questions about the same aspiration: how does material suggest something as elusive as freedom, possibility or expectation?
Such questions do not demand a single answer. Their value lies in the space they create for sustained observation. Sculpture gives weight and surface to an idea; the viewer supplies time, attention and personal experience. Within this exchange, the title of the exhibition can be understood as a proposition about art itself: imagination changes how we perceive what is before us.
Place, material and the experience of looking
The choice of an archaeological museum on Paros gives the encounter a distinct cultural context. On an island closely associated with marble and ancient sculpture, a new sculptural language enters an already rich field of references. This does not erase the differences between periods or materials. Rather, it allows those differences to become part of the experience.
Looking at sculpture requires movement as well as stillness. A change of position alters a contour; light changes the way a surface is perceived. The exhibition’s combination of sculpture, drawing and sound invites a similarly attentive approach. These different forms of expression can be considered together without reducing any one of them to an illustration of another.
Why cultural support matters
Cultural sponsorship has a practical purpose: it supports the presentation of artistic work. It also carries a broader responsibility. Respect for the artist’s voice, the integrity of a museum and the knowledge of the professionals involved gives that support its substance. In this account of the exhibition, the Foundation’s contribution is recognised alongside the people and institutions responsible for its artistic and organisational identity.
The importance of such initiatives lies in the opportunity they create for a public encounter with art and history. Supporting that opportunity reflects confidence in culture as a shared field of learning, dialogue and discovery.
A chapter in the Foundation’s cultural giving
The sponsorship in Paros belongs within the Foundation’s commitment to people, knowledge and cultural continuity. It links support for contemporary creation with respect for the places and collections through which the past remains accessible. This is a considered form of giving: one that recognises artistic work as part of the intellectual and cultural life of a community.
The exhibition concluded in August 2025. Its place in the Foundation’s record of giving is therefore that of a completed cultural initiative. By documenting it, the Foundation acknowledges a collaboration in which the artist, curator, organisers and archaeological institution retained their distinct contributions, united by an invitation to see heritage with renewed attention.
Sponsor: Evangelos Pistiolis Foundation.
Exhibition information: Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades
