The Athens Art scene is now enriched by the old Public Tobacco Factory, an impressive building with a remarkable history and an optimistic future.
The Organisation NEON, in collaboration with the Greek Parliament, gave new life to the former Public Tobacco Factory and its imposing atrium. They remodeled the ground floor and surrounding areas and in 2021 handed it over to the public as a modern cultural and social space, open to all.
This new contemporary art venue is located in a densely populated part of modern Athens.
Art has found a new 19.000 square meters home very close to ancient Athens’ Plato School. The site is situated at 218 Lenorman Street, next to the region that in antiquity was called “The Academy”.
This is the norm for Athens. The new and the ancient, live side by side, by the banks of the river Kifissos.
The History of the Public Tobacco Factory
The Public Tobacco Factory of Athens was established in 1930. At that time cigarette production was booming and the tobacco industry was a major income stream for the Greek economy.
The goals for the Public Tobacco Factory were two. Firstly, to process and store tobacco and its byproducts, mainly cigarettes. Secondly, to ensure that the Greek state did not lose any tobacco taxes.
There were sales both within Greece and exports as well. That is why they established a Customs Office within the building. More than 4.000 workers produced tons of cigarettes under notoriously unhealthy working conditions.
The story of the Factory follows the turbulent story of Greece.
During WW2 the complex acted as a war shelter. During the occupation that followed, the German forces used it.
It has been bombed, it has served as a refugees’ shelter, and it has been abandoned. A positive turning point was the year 1989. Back then, the government declared it to be a monument of modern history and put it into the care of the Greek Parliament.
Today on the ground floor, one can find the Parliament’s Printing House and on the first floor, there is the Library of the Parliament.
The Parliament Library
The Tobacco Factory houses part of the Library of the Greek Parliament.
The Parliamentary Library is a general library with the main purpose of supporting parliamentary work. It especially supports the deputies and their scientific collaborators, as well as all the services of the Greek Parliament.
At the same time, it is open to the public. Anyone can seek information about the operation of the Parliament and the legislative process. One can also acquire data on the bills and the debates of the Plenary, and study its collections in its reading rooms.
The Library includes in its collections about 650,000 volumes of books of all sciences, newspapers, and magazines.
The former Public Tobacco Factory operates the part of the Parliament Library that is named the City Library, with reading rooms for all the collections of the library. There is also a small pilot lending library that includes the publications of the Library of Parliament, the Parliamentary Foundation for Parliamentarism and Democracy, and books by Antonis Samarakis, donated by him.
The Library staff serves the public on-site and via remote communication. For all the services provided by the Library of Parliament, one can submit a request to the e-mail [email protected].
The Recent Reconstruction
In Greece, if you survive long enough, miracles happen.
In 2021, Greece had the 200th anniversary of the Greek Independence War against the Turks. Because of that many projects came into being.
The Greek Parliament cooperated with the NEON Culture Organisation by Daskalopoulos, a well-known Greek collector, on this art project.
NEON proceeded to a generous sponsorship, which amounted to about 1.2 m euros (about 1.27 million US dollars). This way, there were extensive restoration works for an area of 6.000 square meters.
There were construction works such as the repair of walls, floors, frames, paints, and furniture. There was also the development and expansion of infrastructure networks. They established new electric, hydraulic, exhibition lighting, communication/internet, open WiFi, air conditioning, security, and fire detection systems.
The venue is also equipped with new elevators and accessible to visitors with a disability.
The restoration of the inside metallic rooftop was completed back in 2016 and is an impressive sight.
In 2021 the former Public Tobacco Factory opened to the public as a new modern cultural space.
Exhibition PORTALS in 2021
The emblematic building of the former Public Tobacco Factory opened its doors for the first time, as a new contemporary cultural center in Athens, in 2021.
The first international Contemporary Art Exhibition that took place in this new cultural space was named PORTALS. More than 50.000 visitors saw works by 59 international artists from 27 countries!
It was fair to say it was the contemporary art event of the year!
For this occasion NEON commissioned 15 new site-specific installations. 18 Greek artists exhibited new works or works which they renewed to be more site-relevant.
Within the framework of the commemoration of the Greek War of Independence and the challenges imposed on all of us by the pandemic, PORTALS provided new meanings through art.
The new norm is now change and disruption.
The exhibition took place in all renovated areas of the building: the atrium, corridors, halls, bathrooms, the former Customs Office, and the surrounding area, on the roof of the building.
The inspiration for the exhibition originated from an article by author Arundhati Roy in the Financial Times in April 2020 which states that “the pandemic is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.”
Exhibition DREAM ON in 2022
In 2022, for a second year, NEON activates the emblematic building of the former Public Tobacco Factory as part of its collaboration with the Hellenic Parliament to present DREAM ON, a contemporary art exhibition that celebrates art in the public space.
Curated by Dimitris Paleocrassas, Art historian and consultant of the D. Daskalopoulos Collection, DREAM ON brings together 18 large-scale installations from the D.Daskalopoulos Collection by Greek and international artists, as well as a newly commissioned work, and 20 drawings.
The exhibition brings into reality what many artists dare only to dream about. A venue where they can present their creativity through large-scale installations.
This open, impressive, historic, art space is calling art lovers from all over the world again and again. The game is on!