In the Greek capital, ancient history is everywhere you look.
But these days, the city is also home to boundary-pushing art.
Thomas Gravanis
A passerby might have mistaken it for a wedding feast.
From left: A view of the Piraeus neighborhood from Mikrolimano Harbor; taking in a piece from Sigve Knutsonâ’s exhibition, “Assembly”, at Carwan Gallery.Credit:Thomas Gravanis
The air was filled with the scent of lamb being roasted on an open grill.
A vast iron portal opened to reveal a regal interior with organic curves.
On the ground floor, the artist Andreas Lolis showed me his striking sculptures.
From left: Nolan’s minimalist exterior; The Clumsies, a cocktail bar in the Psirri neighborhood.Thomas Gravanis
They both tested the boundaries of what can be achieved within their chosen forms.
I came home two years ago, and I thought,What?
Sometime around 2015, Cacao Rocks started daubing walls with THIS IS NOT BERLIN as a form of protest.
The cod burger at Nolan restaurant is paired with an onion-and-pickled-cucumber mayonnaise.Thomas Gravanis
It had an energy that was addictive.
I could relate to Tsampourakis surprise.
But word has been filtering out that Athens is rebounding with a gusto unseen since the days of Plato.
The entrance to the Roman Agora.Thomas Gravanis
And so I decided to make a pilgrimage back to the fountainhead of Western culture.
It was dirty and difficult, but also incredibly creative.
It had an energy that was addictive.
From left: Paleo Wine Store pairs selections from Mediterranean producers with cheese and other small plates; stuffed animals adorn an arch in artist Hadi Fallahpisheh’s “Young and Clueless” installation at Rodeo.Thomas Gravanis
I hopped in a cab from the airport straight to theShila Hotel.
Armed with suggestions from my new friends, I was ready to sally forth to explore the New Athens.
I began with lunch at the citys first (and only) Japanese-Greek restaurant,Nolan.
From left: A former tobacco factory now houses the art center Neon; An installation by Turkish-American artist Kutluğ Ataman at Neon incorporates salvaged furniture and televisions.Thomas Gravanis
Today the citys allure is the way the centuries blend effortlessly.
This indifference to the law has made the bar an underground favorite.
How did you hear about it?
“Steel Works,” a series of scrap-metal sculptures by Philippe Malouin at the Breeder.Thomas Gravanis
Athenians asked me suspiciously later, as if I would expose their secret.
Other once-derelict working-class districts are also gentrifying with dizzying speed.
The area fell into decay last century, but has bounced back in the past several years.
The Breeder Gallery’s Alkistis Tsampouraki with a salvaged-steel piece by the artist Philippe Malouin.Thomas Gravanis
The neighborhood certainly encourages the creative use of historic space.
Just as eccentric is the nearbyLatraac, a cafe with its own skateboard bowl.
Greek artists have more international dialogue now.
From left: Athens-born artist-photographer Eftihia Stefanidi, from the Shila Hotel; Panos Street, in the Acropolis-adjacent neighborhood of Plaka.Thomas Gravanis
They move between MoMA in New York and the Venice Biennale and the Musee dOrsay in Paris.
Rude wanted to show me the most provocative street art in the city.
Rudes real name, it turned out, is Nikos Tongas.
I liked it because it is only four letters and so easy to write.
Can you see the reflections in her pupils?
One contained an image of a policeman raising a baton, the other a shifty-looking man in a suit.
The two big problems of Greece police brutality and corrupt politicians.
I gravitated toward an installation calledAcropolis Redux (Directors Cut)by conceptual artist Kendell Geers.
Those people were a kind of solution.
But today the citys allure is the way the centuries blend effortlessly.
As legend has it, the subterranean site was a wine bar in the time of Socrates.
That night, I sought out the ultimate in cross-generational entertainment atCafe Avissinia.
Think of it as the Greek blues, explained the Shilas Stefanidi, who had joined me for dinner.
It involvescharmolypi,the Greek idea of happy-sad.
By midnight, her advice seemed to be working excellently.
Each one is in a renovated stone warehouse that soars like an industrial cathedral.
I started atRodeo, the oldest of the three, having opened in 2018.
Greek artists have more international dialogue now, she said.
They move between MoMA in New York and the Venice Biennale and the Musee dOrsay in Paris.
Even so, the ancient cultural connection with the Middle East still felt tangible in Piraeus.
It is the beginning of every choice and every aversion.
Some things, it seems, never change.
