Pioneering Greeks: Katerina Koskina, Director of EMST
Welcome to “Pioneering Greeks”, the weekly column of GTP Headlines, which highlights the Greeks that stand out for their creative thinking in the business world. “Pioneering Greeks” is a collaboration between LoveGreece.com and Greek Travel Pages (GTP).
This week we introduce Katerina Koskina, the director of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (known as EMST in Greek) in Athens.
Born in Corfu, Koskina studied French Literature at the University of Athens, as well as History and Philosophy of Art at Paris I-Sorbonne University. In addition, she studied Museology at the Ecole du Louvre. She also has a PhD in Art History.
From 1988 to 1992 Koskina worked at the European Cultural Centre of Delphi as a Special Advisor for visual arts. She was the Greek Commissioner at the 23rd Biennale of Sao Paulo in 1996 and at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005, and the Director of the 3rd, 4th and the 5th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art (2011-2015).
Koskina is known to be a strong, bright and modern woman and very passionate about her job. She aims to establish the museum in the hearts of visitors as a site for education, information, entertainment and dialogue, without borders.
As she points out, “contemporary art is a reflection of the current events, of today, and as active citizens our interaction with them is redefined through contemporary art, which in essence is an alternative look on now”.
Koskina has organized, directed, curated and/or co-curated group and one-man shows and contributed essays to several books and exhibition catalogues, as well as articles in newspapers and art magazines.
She has been awarded as Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia and Chevalier dans l’ Ordre national de la Legion d’ Honneur.
Inspired by the dynamism and creativity of the Greek entrepreneurial spirit, LoveGreece was founded in 2013 as an initiative to boost and promote the country’s image abroad by profiling talented and successful Greeks. With their ethos and vision, Greece’s entrepreneurs and professionals are an important aspect of the country worth highlighting to the world. LoveGreece is powered by Gina Mamidaki, the founder of the G & A Mamidakis Foundation.
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