Tilda Swinton – Ongoing

The performer, visual artist, and fashion icon Tilda Swinton meets her longtime collaborators and friends in a singular, deeply personal exhibition at the Onassis Foundation’s new space, Onassis Ready. Director Luca Guadagnino creates an intimate new portrait of her in the form of a short film and a sculptural work. With re-edited footage, a new soundtrack, and manipulated imagery, Jim Jarmusch transforms scenes from his surreal zombie film, "The Dead Don’t Die" (2019), into an entirely new installation.

Tilda Swinton comments: “With the honor of this extraordinary invitation, I have had the opportunity to reflect on the mechanics of my working practice over the past forty years. And to come to rest on the—ever present—bedrock and battery of the close fellowships I found from the very first and continue to rely upon to this day. In focusing attention on profoundly enriching creative relationships in my life, we share the narratives and atmospheres that inspire us: we offer new work, especially commissioned for this exhibition, as the most recent gestures borne out of various companionable conversations that keep me curious, engaged and nourished. An ongoing—and unbroken—thread of breadcrumbs through the wood, new leaves on long-established trees. The perpetual seedbed. I should be so lucky, in the gift of such an invitation, in such friends and in such a life.”

Nature, memories, the essence of memory itself, ancestors and spirits, friendships and fellowships, and the liminal space of creation—these are central themes in Swinton’s work, frequently explored alongside her creative collaborators.

In "Ongoing", they delve into these concepts through various forms. The exhibition highlights Swinton’s remarkable career in eight chapters, focused on Swinton’s closest collaborators.

The first chapter of the exhibition honors innovative filmmaker, writer, gardener, activist and artist Derek Jarman (1942-1994), Swinton’s first major collaborative partner. Together, they created nine films, serving as each other’s muse and mentor. This presentation, enriched with archival material from Swinton’s archive, includes a large-screen installation showcasing“The Last of England” (1987), as well as a special installation featuring previously unseen Super8 footage from Jarman’s personal collection. “The Last of England” is a poetic and urgent reflection on the decline of traditional English culture in the 1980s, named after Ford Madox Brown’s painting of the same name.

Together with filmmaker Joanna Hogg, with whom Swinton grew up and made her first films, she has made an installation piece, Flat 19. This project recreates the apartment where Swinton lived in London during the 1980s and 1990s, a space where Swinton collaborated on several early projects. The multi-media installation blends image, sound, and scenery to evoke the physical and emotional essence of the flat.

Flat 19 is not only a meticulous recreation of the space but also an exploration of memory and how spaces shape our histories. The installation delves into the intimate relationship between the environment and personal history, examining how these spaces are in constant dialogue with the memories and experiences they hold.

Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino created a new intimate portrait of Tilda Swinton, in film and silver. He has made a short film and a sculpture, both as an ode to Swinton. Guadagnino collaborated several times with Tilda Swinton, in the films “The Protagonists” (1999), “Io sono amore” (2010), “A Bigger Splash” (2015), and “Suspiria” (2017).

The Thai independent film director Apichatpong Weerasethakul has shot a new film at Tilda’s home ground in Kimmerghame. This intimate, meditative two-screen work delves into themes they have explored for years, such as liminal states between being present, creating and sleeping. Together, they previously created a breathtaking, poetic exploration of time and memory with the film “Memoria” (2021).

For the first time, Pedro Almodóvar presents his short film “The Human” Voice as an installation piece. Written and directed by Almodóvar in 2020, the film is based on Jean Cocteau’s play of the same name. Starring Tilda Swinton in a mesmerizing performance, it also marks Almodóvar’s first English-language work. With his signature attention to detail, stunning design, and bold colors, the film creates a vivid setting that blurs the line between life and theater.

Jim Jarmusch has developed a new work for the exhibition at Eye, using fragments from his film “The Dead Don’t Die.” Here, in an entirely new installation developed especially for the exhibition, you can see a two-channel edit of “The Dead Don’t Die” (2018), in which Tilda Swinton plays the idiosyncratic character Zelda Winston.

The unremarkable provincial town of Centerville is the stage of an encounter between aliens and zombies. This dual-screen installation is accompanied by a new soundtrack by Jarmusch’s band Sqürl.

In 2025, photographer Tim Walker completed a photoshoot with Tilda Swinton at her family home. The resulting series deeply explores her Scottish ancestry, weaving themes of family history, memory, and the spectral presence of the past. The images evoke a connection to the land, reflecting the interplay between nature, ancestral roots, and the lingering ghosts of generations before.

Olivier Saillard, one of fashion’s leading historians and curators, has curated some of the most exclusive fashion exhibitions at institutions such as the Musée de la Mode in Paris and Marseille, the Musée Bourdelle, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Together with Tilda Swinton, he has developed several innovative performances.

They created a performance centered around Swinton’s own wardrobe, incorporating pieces from her personal collection, costumes from films, red carpet gowns, as well as clothing passed down from her ancestors and family.

As the main performer, Swinton stages a dynamic ‘performative inventory’ of her personal archive, bringing her wardrobe to life in a unique exploration of identity, memory, and history.

Included in the presentation is The Maybe—an enigmatic and evocative work exploring a series of unanswerable questions from within the confines of a glass case. Conceived and performed by Tilda Swinton and first performed at the Serpentine Gallery in London in an installation created with Cornelia Parker in September 1995, thereafter in the Museo Barracco in Rome in 1996 and, in 2013, at MoMA in New York. Visitors are treated to a glimpse of Tilda Swinton in a state of slumber, enclosed in her own glass case—a living, breathing, silent being that invites questions about mortality and time.

"That sense of discovery, a newness to something that already exists, runs through the exhibition, titled Ongoing." – I-D (UK)

"As you walk over the creamcolored carpet marked with stains and peek your head through loosely painted open doors, you listen through small speakers to the carefully phrased voice of the now 64-year-old Scot, who recalls memories that are at times funny, touching, or heartrending.

You don’t just hear about her coming-of-age as an artist; you almost see and feel the impact that certain urban events had on her. Biographical information in museums should really always be experienced this way [...]." – NRC (NL)

‘Friendship, loss, connections – through Ongoing, Swinton makes the visitor part of a kaleidoscopic dialogue. In a wondrous way, it is both more personal and more universal than a traditional retrospective could ever be." – de Volkskrant (NL)

‘Tilda Swinton is Conjuring New Ghosts." – I-D (UK)

"[...] one comes away from Tilda Swinton: Ongoing uplifted, inspired and itching to find someone to collaborate with." – Financial Times (UK)

"Swinton’s exhibition is an invitation to travel with her through her world, a walk through her garden. To slip, for a moment, into her coat, her home, her skin. To not just look passively, but to make connections, to take part in the unfinished process of her creative journey through forty years in cinema." – Filmkrant (NL)

"The most beguiling collaboration is “A Biographical Wardrobe,” a funny, moving performance […]" – Financial Times (UK)

"Her CV doesn’t read as a straight path, but as a network of intersections. And that’s exactly what Ongoing shows: a body of work that doesn’t end in an overview, but constantly opens itself up." – Knack Focus (BE)

Access by public transport:

By bus: Line 838, Stops: 2nd Agias Annis (300 m) | School 3rd Agias Annis (280 m)

By trolleybus: Line 21, Stop: Papadopoulou (1.3 km)

By metro: Line 3, Station: Eleonas (2.4 km)

By UBER:

Visit the exhibition "Ongoing" by Tilda Swinton at Onassis Ready with Uber. Follow the link and get 30% off for two of your rides.

*The code will be available and valid from May 6 until July 5, 2026.

On the occasion of the exhibition “Tilda Swinton – Ongoing,” discover a curated selection of publications on Swinton’s work, alongside items inspired by her personality. At the specially designed shop, you will find the official exhibition catalogue and a collectible shirt with handmade embroidery, created especially for the exhibition, along with tote bags, posters, T-shirts, cards, notebooks, stickers, and publications by the Onassis Foundation.

Throughout the exhibition, enjoy bites and drinks by Nokela Project at Onassis Ready.

Eye Filmmuseum stands as a global hub for discussion and innovation in the world of moving images. Known for its leadership in film preservation and presentation, Eye views film as art, entertainment, cultural heritage, social documentation, and a medium in constant flux. Through film programming, presentations, and exhibitions, Eye showcases both the masters of film and bold, experimental new voices.