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Programme
The first route of the museum ship will be the Mediterranean, an area of millennia of history and exchange, which has always mobilized and nourished the inspiration of artists, and naturally invites intercultural dialogue.
Discover the programme of activities on the quayside and in the towns: performances, concerts, conferences, screenings, workshops, meetings and other events.
Upcoming events
The ugly all
Expect a multisensory experience that will have the whole family laughing and shivering at the same time. A silent conversation about the power of creativity in the 21st century, disguised as a puppet show. Giant puppets, experimental dance, and group exercises come together to offer you a nonsensical story whose sole purpose is to navigate the complex labyrinth of the mind with a feather and tickle your soul. Accompanied and fused with Bartira's sound universe, she will use her ever-expanding sound bank to create an immersive sound environment live.
Stories from the Periphery, told by Silvia Albert Sopale and Kouyate Ansoumane
A collection of stories from diverse origins, told to broaden perspectives, open hearts, and bring souls closer together. All of these stories share a common thread: the presence of Afro-descendant people as protagonists. Brave, resilient, and joyful individuals who serve as mirrors for us to reflect on and imagine our own lives.
Migrating is not a crime
Top Manta proposes an afternoon of conversation, workshops and music to talk about the Mediterranean as a border, not as a tourist postcard. Based on the migrant experience, and from screen printing and sewing with recycled African fabrics, the proposal connects culture, anti-racism and social and solidarity economy to defend decent work and life without borders.
My continent of Africa, Beware the vampires قارتي أفريقيا، احذري مصاصي الدماء
The show takes its title from a song by Ibrahim Hesnawi, a Libyan reggae pioneer who started a musical movement that suffered political violence after Gaddafi's "Cultural Revolution" in the 1970s, when music was produced exclusively to serve the ideological propaganda of the state. The collaboration between Libyan artists Tewa Barnosa and boo.m is a sonic quest to explore reggae as a site of resistance in a time when pan-African solidarity is eclipsed and punished by imperial systems.
mebrat / መብራት
Adrasha’s project mebrat / መብራት explores the figure of the lighthouse as a symbol of guidance and border, translating its pulses of light into rhythms. Through field recordings, visual poetry, and personal archives, she articulates soundscapes that address displacement, communication, and belonging from a political and sensory perspective.
Ndox ak Ndox
NDOX AK NDOX is a sound performance based on the successive journeys of people from West and North Africa across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, connecting paths that represent both hope and tragedy. PASAPORTEMAN treats these waters as a body in a coma. Through sound, and accompanied by the artists Nusmaïl (Jokkoo), opo (Jokkoo), and 3xOJ (Rahgoul), he seeks to honor and revive this body so that it can tell its stories.
NKISI Presents ‘Serpent Songs’
Inspired by Nkisi’s ongoing research into the ethnographic music archives (1893 till present), ‘Serpent Songs’ invokes the serpentine movements of sound and the migratory paths of its vibrations. The musical composition delves into the psycho-acoustics inherited from ancient musical traditions. Here, music emerges as an enchanted consciousness; a vessel for its mythopoetic remembrance. Inspired by the primordial snake ancestors of these ancient traditions who shaped landscapes, rivers, and hills, ‘Serpent Songs' traces the trails of music they left behind.
Interfaz 14
The Mediterranean is often a hostile border, but also a point of cultural convergence between continents. 14 kilometers of Mediterranean Sea, at its narrowest point, separate the African continent from the European one. This musical session, structured as a story, explores the African musical genres that filtered into western homes and dance floors with sounds arriving from the south, often reinterpreted through an increasingly diverse and growing diaspora at the end of the last century and the beginning of this one.
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La Bissaperie
La Bissaperie is a collective invocation of Frantz Fanon's memory through a shared reading of his texts and the preparation of bissap, a hibiscus flower drink. I propose a friendly and horizontal meeting place focused on the revolutionary ideas of the thinker and a platform for people to connect with their identity, heritage and community.
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In the depths
The proposal is entitled In the Depths and takes the form of a performative lecture. It begins with the real history of the Atlantic as a space of violence and memory: the slave trade, ports with a Black presence in Spain (Barcelona, Seville, Cadiz), and how this past has been silenced or fragmented. From there, it takes a creative leap into the realm of the imaginary: how artists such as Drexciya have paved the way for thinking about the ocean not only as a tomb, but also as an archive, as a place of possibilities and future.
Migritude
Migritude is a powerful solo musical performance by Dudù Kouate that blends ancestral rhythms, voice, and found objects into a deeply moving ritual of sound and memory. Rooted in Kouate’s Griot heritage and shaped by his transnational journey between Senegal and Europe, the performance explores migration, identity, loss, and resilience. Migritude is an intimate yet universal experience: a living bridge between cultures, where the stage becomes a shared space of listening, reflection, and collective humanity.
Nadah El Shazly presents Laini Tani
El Shazly's new album, Laini Tani, exudes an intoxicating and exhilarating sense of excess, evoking a sensual haze of warm nights that stretch effortlessly into dawn, while the clubs continue to vibrate unaffected. Each track functions as a vignette, capturing fleeting but intense moments of introspection, defiance, or unbridled euphoria. Through subtle wordplay, layered metaphors, and personal symbols, El Shazly weaves a richly meaningful sonic and lyrical tapestry, where every note and every phrase suggests a more intimate narrative. The album plays on contrasts—between indulgence and contemplation, spontaneity and observation—inviting the listener to lose themselves in its mesmerizing rhythms while deciphering the deeper truths hidden within. The album's soundscape achieves a refined balance, creating a dynamic dialogue between classical Egyptian improvisation, vocal manipulation, and electronic rhythms. Nadah collaborates with 3Phaz as co-producer.
Past events
Bridges - Greek, Arabic and Turkish traditions
Christina Koza, singing in Greek, Arabic and Turkish, under the direction of master musician Kyriakos Kalaitzidis, oud and music composer, will be exploring universal traditional songs of the Mediterranean Sea. Famous violinist Zied Zouari from Tunisia will exceptionally be participating to this concert. The Mediterranean has always been a sea of encounters and exchanges. Each shore calls out to the other, constantly, inevitably, from ancient times to the present day, between East and West. It is this unique feature that will be highlighted in this concert, conceived by Kyriakos Kalaitzidis.
Orion's Belt - National School of Dance (KSOT) Young Choreographers
Darkness is hurled with a voiceless cry, a shadow that became a weight, an indelible mark. With a hand reaching out— that holds— never letting me go, without suffocating, without hurting. A path— a step that measures time, a step that erases fear. Where the weight becomes breath, and presence becomes refuge.
Glorious Epic
Glorious Epic by Sofia Mavragani is a visceral dance performance exploring the tension between heroism and vulnerability. Through the dynamic relationship of two bodies and the interplay of conflict and harmony, the piece reimagines glory as the tender strength found in collectivity.
PINK.WAV x HER Project
Exploring sound as a means of shared experience and emotional depth, pink.wav's sets fuse bass, haunting vocals, intricate breaks, and seductive percussion, offering a sonic reflection of human complexity. Organized by HER Project.
Guided Tours
Immerse yourselves to the exhibitions of Art Explora Festival with the guidance of experienced mediators.
Scola Society's Open Mediation Tours in Arabic, Farsi & Mandarin
“Open Mediation Tours at Art Explora in Piraeus” by Scola Society is a collaboration with EMST and a continuation of the action that is taking place in 2025 within the Museum. It proposes the research, outreach and implementation of mediation tours by a team of three people. The intercultural mediators from Iran, Egypt and China, will guide audiences from their respective communities in their native languages, thus Farsi, Arabic and Mandarin, through the method of situated mediation.
Postcards from the museum of me
In this interactive workshop, participants will become both artists and curators as they design their very own “Museum of Me.” Using a variety of provided materials, each participant will explore his/her personal history, identity, and imagination to create exhibitions that reflect who they are and what matters most to them. Through drawing, collage, writing, and object-making, participants will craft artifacts and displays that capture memories, dreams, and defining moments. The workshop is based on Eleni Geroulanou book “Nikiforos explores emotions, based on the Cycladic figurines.
“Dreams on waves” - Workshop on Community Radio
The workshop continues the artist’s practice on participation as a tool for investigating citizenship. The formed group of participants will learn how to produce a community radio show, narrate, discuss and record together and form questions on our everyday life and the experience of residents of Piraeus, with a focus on communities that experiences migration either in 1920’s and its legacies or very recent experiences. Through the use of sound, music and mapping, we will explore the present soundscape of Piraeus, producing for a future, through sharing experiences, poetry and music.
Radio Alhara x Art Explora - Urok Shirhan
Urok Shirhan (NL/Iraq), aka UROK, is an Athens-based artist, researcher and DJ working at the intersection of performance, visual arts and critical theory. UROK’s DJ sets unfold a polyglot club sound—where Arab, Latinx and Brazilian rhythms meet leftfield techno and deconstructed bass, blending sweet pop melodies with dark percussive drums. Throughout the Festival, during hours without live programming, the venue’s speakers will transmit the Radio Alhara broadcast.
Heavy Zeybek
The installation investigates how rhythm and sonic texture can be diverted, slowed down, or distorted through frequencies and vibrations. Eight metallic column-speakers, arranged in a circle, create a field of intensity where the dancer’s body responds to the force of sound upon a minimal marble platform. The work forms part of Panos Charalambous’s ongoing research into the expressions of popular culture in the Balkans and the Mediterranean, re-examining their forms in the present and within the specific context of Piraeus.
On Xerxes' Throne
A dystopian workplace at the Perama shipyards, where a longstanding ban on physical contact has turned human interactions into otherworldly simulations. The suppression of touch among the workers has alienated their communication, transforming the boatyard into a charged landscape of alienation and repressed sensuality beyond stereotypical heteronormative desires.
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Χαίρε
Εύα Στεφανή, Χαίρε, 2024, 2’ 23”
Μοντάζ: Παναγιώτης Παπαφράγκος, Αφήγηση: Εύα Στεφανή, Γυναίκα: Λουίζα Ντούρου
Μια νηρηίδα επιπλέει σε μια ηλιόλουστη, αμμώδη παραλία. Σα σύγχρονη Οφηλια, αφήνει το νερό με κλειστά μάτια να την παρασύρει, ενώ οι εκκλησιαστικές καμπανοκρουσίες που την περιβάλλουν μετατρέπονται σταδιακά σε αμανέ, σε ρεμπέτικους αχούς και προσευχή. Μια γυναικεία φωνή απευθύνεται ψιθυριστά στη Θεοτόκο, μέσα από ένα επαναλαμβανόμενο μάντρα που μετουσιώνει τον Ακάθιστο Ύμνο και την εμπειρία θέασης του έργου σε μυσταγωγική ιεροτελεστία. Σε ένα διαλογισμό για την εξιλέωση, την κάθαρση και τη φύση, για το νερό που μας φέρνει πίσω τις μητέρες μας, όπως χαρακτηριστικά έχει γράψει ο Gaston Βachelard (1942).
Ευγενική παραχώρηση της καλλιτέχνιδας και του PCAI
Manolis Pappos Rebetiko Night
Manolis Pappos and his collaborators take us on a journey into the world of rebetiko, the emblematic musical tradition of the port of Piraeus.
The Abduction of Europa
A unique workshop for children, inspired by the myth of Europa’s abduction by Zeus combining storytelling with live drawing.
"Undercurrents" - An Ambient Set by Fo
Between port and open sea, this ambient set drifts with the voices of waves and unseen creatures. Electronic textures merge with the primal pulse of water, evoking both the vastness of the water element and the intimacy of its depths. A meditation on sea, sound, and femininity, where the ancient power of nature finds resonance in the present moment. Curated by HER x Project
Frequently asked questions
The Art Explora Festival will take place from spring 2024 to spring 2026 in various Mediterranean cities.
Festival events take place both on the museum boat's quay and in heritage and/or emblematic sites in the stopover towns. To find out all about upcoming events in your town, consult our Agenda.
The Art Explora Festival offers a rich, multi-disciplinary program including visits to the museum ship, exhibition pavilions, virtual reality experiences, artistic performances, concerts, lectures, film screenings, creative workshops and meetings. You'll be able to discover local and international artists, as well as thinkers and cultural players exploring contemporary themes related to the Mediterranean region. To find out all about upcoming events in your city, consult our Agenda.
All Festival events are free of charge. Please note, however, that some events - such as workshops - require a reservation via the ticket office. Please consult the page dedicated to each event for more information on times and booking procedures.
To ensure that everyone has the best possible experience at the Festival, we have drawn up a visitors' charter listing a few good practices.
Yes, the boat is freely accessible on site. However, you can pre-book your time online on our website.
For reasons of safety and preservation of the boat, high heels and stilettos may not be worn on the boat.
To take part in the workshops and meetings offered during the Festival, you'll generally need to register in advance. Information on how to register will be available on the dedicated event page, where you can also find details of times and how to take part.
Yes, the Art Explora Festival also offers child-friendly activities, such as creative workshops specially designed for young participants. Take a look at the program to find out about events and activities for children and families.
The museum boat is open to all free of charge. To find out on which quay it will be moored, or to pre-book your slot, consult the page dedicated to your town.
Appropriate facilities have been set up on the Festival site for the reception and access of people with reduced mobility. The boat is equipped with a 1m-wide ramp, accessible to people with reduced mobility, but may require the accompaniment of a third party due to its gradient of over 6%. Access to the aft deck and immersive exhibition is possible. However, the upper deck is not accessible. Please inform us in advance of any special accessibility requirements, so that we can make the necessary arrangements.
Thank you for your interest in the Art Explora Festival! To find out more about our volunteer opportunities and to apply, please visit our "Become a volunteer"section of our website. There you'll find all the information you need about the roles available and the application procedure. We look forward to meeting you!
We're delighted to consider new partnerships for the Art Explora Festival. To find out how, please visit our dedicated page or write to us at contact@artexplora.org