Onassis AiR
The international artistic research and residency program of the Onassis Foundation in Athens
An artistic research, residency, and fellowship program that supports and promotes artistic process and experimentation by bringing together creative practitioners from diverse geographies and practices.
Onassis AiR is the international artistic research and residency program of the Onassis Foundation, established in Athens, Greece, in 2019. Located next to Onassis Stegi in the Neos Kosmos neighborhood, the program expanded its activities in 2025 to the first floor of Onassis Ready, a new addition to the Onassis Foundation’s dynamic ecosystem, dedicated to experimentation with digital technologies and large-scale projects.
Since its launch, Onassis AiR has developed into a space for cross-disciplinary research and exchange among local and international art practitioners. As a process-oriented program, it is intended for practitioners seeking to nurture, develop, or refine work in progress, providing them with the time and space to focus on their practice without the pressure of completing or presenting a final work at the end of the residency. Based in Athens and connected to the wider Mediterranean region, the program supports encounters between different practices, perspectives, and forms of knowledge, while remaining attentive to the social, cultural, and geopolitical conditions in which contemporary artistic practices take place.
Over the course of the residency, the Onassis AiR Fellows work within a shared environment that combines personalized mentoring, peer-to-peer feedback, capacity-building activities, presentations, and targeted networking, while the residencies serve as a point of access to the wider Onassis Culture ecosystem.
Through the program, the Fellows connect with artists, curators, cultural professionals, and institutions in Greece and internationally, while gaining opportunities for future presentation, circulation, production, or co-production of their work. They also have the opportunity to connect with the local artistic scene and engage with previous participants and collaborators of the program.
Once in each residency cycle, the participants are invited to share their work in progress at the Onassis AiR Open Days: a public presentation shaped by the Fellows and their practices.
For the 2026–27 season, Onassis AiR continues its focus on crafts and material-based practices, with the Extended Research Residencies placing particular emphasis on the broader field of applied arts, including fashion and design. The strand also introduces a dedicated opportunity to conduct research and develop a project in collaboration with the Cavafy Archive. Alongside this expanded focus, the program continues its Theater & Dance Residencies, AiR/ONX Residencies, and Technical Residencies, as well as several Fellowships developed through existing partnerships. Its growing network of collaborations includes cultural organizations such as Ágora Porto and L’Abri in Geneva, with which it co-develops exchange residencies.
Below, you can explore the current residencies, our public events, upcoming Open Calls, past programs, and key moments in our history.
Between September 2020-July 2021, our programs brought together an interdisciplinary group of artists and arts practitioners to conduct collective research around two thematics areas we found urgent to explore: identities and ecologies. Our publications aim to document this process by assembling the ideas and inquiries that emerged as part of the collective research.
How does the personal become collective? How does knowledge get practiced and exchanged?
Over the past years, we have experienced different ways of “cohabitation” inside the Οnassis AiR house, through an exchange of practices and methodologies, while also exploring the more-than-human world through city walks and research trips within Greece and beyond. In order to shed light to this process we created a short video documentary in 2021 that brings together in a non-chronological order some of our collective moments.
A selection of images from the Onassis AiR residency programs and house in Frynichou str. during the 2019-2022 period.
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Photo: Elpida Fragkeskidou
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Photo: Myrto Katsimicha
Aris Papadopoulos, Scanning the Walkscape, 2020
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Photo: Ash Bulayev
From the selection process of the Onassis AiR 2019-20 participants, Delphi, March 2019.
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Photo: Myrto Katsimicha
Artist talk by Young Girl Reading Group, Onassis AiR, February 18, 2020.
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
Presentation by Alex Baczynski-Jenkins
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
The School of Infinite Rehearsals Movement I
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
The School of Infinite Rehearsals Movement IΙ
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
The School of Infinite Rehearsals Movement I
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Photo: Nefeli Myrodia
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Photo: Ioanna Zouli
Field trip to Prespes
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
'The Gamified Workshop Toolkit' on collaborative communication and attitudes facilitated by Doreen Toutikian.
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
The School of Infinite Rehearsals Movement IΙ
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
The School of Infinite Rehearsals Movement IΙ
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
Presentation by Kenneth Pietrobono
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
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