Ileana Arnaoutou & Ismene King

Ileana Arnaoutou and Ismene King (b. 1994 and 1993, Athens, Greece) are an artist duo based in Athens. Arnaoutou holds a BA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art and an MA in History of Art from UCL, while King holds an MFA in Sculpture from the Slade School of Fine Art.

Their practice transforms industrial ruins and natural remnants into sculptural forms, proposing an affective contemporary archaeology of industry. Rooted in Greece’s post-industrial landscape, their work reimagines discarded materials, including wind turbine fragments, aluminum factory debris, and abandoned vessels, as repositories of memory, grief, and regeneration. Through site-based research, walking, documenting, and collecting, they build an evolving archive of materials and images that is rearticulated into sculptures, installations, and spatial narratives. Drawing on cartography, aerial imagery, archival records, and photography, they trace connections between industrial histories, ecological transformation, and the intertwined lives of humans and non-humans.

Their work has been presented in solo exhibitions at Artnueve, Murcia (2025), and LISTE Art Fair Basel with Callirrhoë (2026). Recent group exhibitions include “In a Bright Green Field” (DESTE Foundation and the New Museum) at the Benaki Museum, Athens (2025), and “Liquid Ports” (2025) and “Wet Heart” (2024), organized by ATOPOS cvc. They are recipients of the G&A Mamidakis Foundation Art Prize (2022), the ARTWORKS – SNF Artist Fellowship, and the Ducato Residency Award (2025).

Ileana Arnaoutou & Ismene King are participants of the Onassis AiR Extended Research Residencies program for 2026/27.