Works from students at Parsons School of Design and Athens School of Fine Arts are presented on the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) and Lincoln Center campuses

July 21, 2021 – Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) showcase Faces of the Hero, a transatlantic visual arts exhibition presented in both New York City and Athens this summer as the inaugural collaboration of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation–Lincoln Center Agora Initiative (SNF-LC). Works by students from the Parsons School of Design and Athens School of Fine Arts that examine the meaning of a “hero” and “heroism” through time are displayed in outdoor public spaces on both campuses with free entrance.

The project is made possible by the generous support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), as part of the SNF-LC Agora Initiative, a collaboration that reimagines and reactivates cultural engagement in public spaces for a new era through international “Twin Agoras” at Lincoln Center and the SNFCC.

Faces of the Hero invited student artists and recent alumni to submit their works interpreting heroic figures or facets of heroism from the past until present day to a jury of representatives of the four institutions. The jury is comprised of:

Nikos Tranos, Professor, Athens School of Fine Arts, Dean of the Athens School of Fine Arts

George Kazazis, Professor, Athens School of Fine Arts

Maria Veronica San Martin, multi-disciplinary artist and educator

Lydia Matthews, Professor of Visual Culture, Parsons School of Design/The New School

Julia Foulkes, Professor of History, Parsons School of Design/The New School

Gabriella Triantafyllis, Director of Programming and Production, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

The selected 20 works that are currently on display, include 10 works from each city:

—Arpi Adamyan - The Island Orphanage

—Christos Antonopoulos - In Obscurity

—Konstantina Barbari – Beka - Exceeding the limits

—Layo Bright - Adebisi III

—Dimitrios Chitas - Helmets II

—Nicole Economides - Revisiting The Hero

—Caroline Garcia - Rebolusyon (Queen of the Carabao)

—Santo Jacobsson - Community Power

—Paulina Kim Joo - Kuruta

—Niovi Kafantari - Horses Inside Horse (after Delacroix)

—Josephine Lee - Signs in Another Language (series)

—Eleftheria Papadouraki - Fragments

—Anna Papadopoulou - BΟULOUBINA

—Kallia Papadopoulou - Nikiforos Mandilaras amid violent incidents during ASPIDA trial

—Liana Eleni Papalexis - White hero

—Depy Pavlidou - The end of the shift

—Kevin Quiles Bonilla - Carryover (Blue tarp at Chelsea Piers) [after Sylvia Rivera]

—Giouli (Panagiota) Stylianidou - Upfall

—Chuyi Sun – Madam Pang

—Isaiah Winters - Reverend Hathaway

The selected works, spanning painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography, collage, video, text-based art–photographed for the purposes of this exhibition–capture in an abstract or representational manner, responses to key moments in history, as well as to fragments of contemporary society and discourse. With their participation in this transatlantic visual investigation of the idea of heroism, student-artists gain visibility among the visitors of the two major campuses in New York and Athens prompting questions and conversations among them.

The free exhibition is part of Restart Stages, an outdoor performing arts center created on Lincoln Center’s campus. Faces of the Hero is also the title of the themed events programming of SNFCC on the occasion of the 200-year anniversary of the beginning of the Greek Revolution. Additional events, including plays, concerts, and educational programs celebrating the Greek historical milestone, will take place on the SNFCC campus in Athens.

Faces of the Hero is the first major collaboration of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative, a partnership that prioritizes meaningful artistic and community-focused activations of public spaces. With the partnership, Lincoln Center’s iconic 16-acre Manhattan campus welcomes the public to reactivated outdoor spaces, utilized as an “agora,” a public gathering place at the center of civic life. A desire to give Athens a similar space, one that truly belongs to the public, guided SNF in both creating the SNFCC through its largest grant to date and in giving it over to the people of Greece in 2017.

For more information, visit LincolnCenter.org/Hero.

View the artwork and download press images here.

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About the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC)

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) is a public space, where everyone has free access and can participate in a multitude of cultural, educational, athletic, environmental and recreational activities and events. It includes the Greek National Opera, the National Library of Greece as well as the Stavros Niarchos Park, one of the largest green areas in Athens, covering 21 hectares. The SNFCC was created thanks to an exclusive grant by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, which delivered it to the Greek State upon completion.
SNFCC.org

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FOLLOW STAVROS NIARCHOS FOUNDATION Cultural Center (SNFCC) ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook: @SNFCC
Instagram: @SNFCC
#SNFCC
#FacesoftheHero

About the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) is one of the world’s leading private, international philanthropic organizations, making grants to nonprofit organizations in the areas of arts and culture, education, health and sports, and social welfare. SNF funds organizations and projects worldwide that aim to achieve a broad, lasting, and positive impact for society at large and exhibit strong leadership and sound management. The Foundation also supports projects that facilitate the formation of public-private partnerships as an effective means for serving public welfare.

Since 1996, the Foundation has committed more than $3.1 billion through over 4,900 grants to nonprofit organizations in more than 130 countries around the world.

Learn more about SNF’s $100 million global COVID-19 relief initiative.

See more about SNF’s grantmaking work around the world at SNF.org.

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FOLLOW STAVROS NIARCHOS FOUNDATION (SNF) ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook: facebook.com/SNFoundation
Instagram: @snforg
Twitter: @SNForg
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/snforg
#SNFGlobalRelief

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About Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is the steward of the world’s leading performing arts center, an artistic and civic cornerstone for New York City comprised of eleven resident companies on a 16-acre campus. The nonprofit’s strategic priorities include: supporting the arts organizations that call Lincoln Center home to realize their missions and fostering opportunities for collaboration across campus; championing inclusion and increasing the accessibility and reach of Lincoln Center’s work; and reimagining and strengthening the performing arts for the 21st century and beyond, helping ensure their rightful place at the center of civic life. LincolnCenter.org.

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FOLLOW LINCOLN CENTER ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook: facebook.com/LincolnCenterNYC
Twitter: @LincolnCenter
Instagram: @LincolnCenter
#LincolnCenter
#FacesoftheHero

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Faces of the Hero is made possible by Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative.

Restart Stages is made possible by Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative.

Major support provided by First Republic Bank.

Additional support provided by BNY Mellon, Cleary Gottlieb, Warburg Pincus, Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), the Scully Peretsman Foundation, Amazon, Shari and Jeff Aronson, and Lincoln Center’s 20/21 Donors and Members

Endowment support is provided by Oak Foundation, PepsiCo Foundation, The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

In-kind support is provided by United Staging and Rigging, Worldstage, Inc., Audio, Inc., Hudson Scenic Studio, and TGIF Event Services

Lincoln Center’s artistic excellence is made possible by the dedication and generosity of our board members.

Operation of Lincoln Center's public plazas is supported in part with public funds provided by the City of New York.

Public support for Lincoln Center is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Gonzalo Casals, Commissioner, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

NewYork-Presbyterian is the Official Hospital of Lincoln Center.

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For more information, please contact:
Patricia Keim, Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)
[email protected]
212-486-7471

Isabel Sinistore, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
[email protected]
212-671-4195

Athena Balopoulou, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC)
[email protected]
+ 30 216-809-1000