Onassis AiR
The international artistic research and residency program of the Onassis Foundation in Athens
An artistic research, residency, and fellowship program that supports and promotes artistic process and experimentation by bringing together creative practitioners from diverse geographies and practices.
Onassis AiR is an international artistic research and residency program established in Athens, Greece, in 2019. It is located next to the Onassis Stegi in the Neos Kosmos neighborhood of Athens and, since 2025, has expanded its activities to Onassis Ready, a new addition to the Onassis Foundation’s dynamic ecosystem, dedicated to experimentation with digital technologies and large-scale projects.
Since its launch, Onassis AiR has been committed to fostering artistic research and process by providing time and space to arts professionals from diverse disciplines and across the world, enabling them to delve deeper into their practice without the pressure of presenting a final work.
After six successful years and the support of more than 200 Fellows, Onassis AiR has grown into a hub for cross-disciplinary thinking and exchange among local and international art practitioners and researchers. The program creates space for sharing ideas and engaging with current issues, remaining connected both to its immediate context and an ever-shifting global landscape. Situated in the broader Mediterranean region, Onassis AiR finds itself in proximity to current geopolitical tensions and recognizes the necessity of addressing these challenges through critical awareness and dialogue.
For the 2025–26 season, the program expands its role as a platform for creative experimentation and enriches its artistic community by welcoming creators across four strands, in collaboration with the departments of Dramaturgy, Onassis ONX, and Production & Technical Support of the Onassis Stegi. Building on the creative paths of past Fellows, the Onassis AiR Extended Research Residencies, Dramaturgy Fellowships, and AiR/ONX Fellowships continue. At the same time, we introduce the Technical Residencies, a new strand focused on the individuals who provide technical and production support for artistic creation. We also continue to participate in international networks such as Grand Luxe and Europe Beyond Access, while expanding our global partnerships to Asia, strengthening both cross-border exchange and inclusion across practices and geographies.
This season, Onassis AiR places additional emphasis on artistic practices at the intersection of design and the applied arts, welcoming creatives who work with materials, produce large-scale objects or visual installations, and experiment with immersive technologies or the relationship between performance and cutting-edge tech.
Below, you can explore the current fellowships, our public events, upcoming Open Calls, past programs, and key moments in our history.
Between September 2020-July 2021, our programs brought together an interdisciplinary group of artists and arts practitioners to conduct collective research around two thematics areas we found urgent to explore: identities and ecologies. Our publications aim to document this process by assembling the ideas and inquiries that emerged as part of the collective research.
How does the personal become collective? How does knowledge get practiced and exchanged?
Over the past years, we have experienced different ways of “cohabitation” inside the Οnassis AiR house, through an exchange of practices and methodologies, while also exploring the more-than-human world through city walks and research trips within Greece and beyond. In order to shed light to this process we created a short video documentary in 2021 that brings together in a non-chronological order some of our collective moments.
A selection of images from the Onassis AiR residency programs and house in Frynichou str. during the 2019-2022 period.
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Photo: Elpida Fragkeskidou
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Photo: Myrto Katsimicha
Aris Papadopoulos, Scanning the Walkscape, 2020
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Photo: Ash Bulayev
From the selection process of the Onassis AiR 2019-20 participants, Delphi, March 2019.
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Photo: Myrto Katsimicha
Artist talk by Young Girl Reading Group, Onassis AiR, February 18, 2020.
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
Presentation by Alex Baczynski-Jenkins
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
The School of Infinite Rehearsals Movement I
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
The School of Infinite Rehearsals Movement IΙ
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
The School of Infinite Rehearsals Movement I
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Photo: Nefeli Myrodia
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Photo: Ioanna Zouli
Field trip to Prespes
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
'The Gamified Workshop Toolkit' on collaborative communication and attitudes facilitated by Doreen Toutikian.
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
The School of Infinite Rehearsals Movement IΙ
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
The School of Infinite Rehearsals Movement IΙ
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
Presentation by Kenneth Pietrobono
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Photo: Ronny Skevis
