Welcome to ATOPOS Contemporary Visual Culture

Atopos (i.e., Unclassifi-
able, of a ceaselessly un-
foreseen originality)
I surprise the other's
atopia on his/her face
each time... see more

Roland Barthes
A Lover's Discourse:
Fragments

: OUT OF PLACE, AND
SO, 1. STRANGE, UN-
WONTED, EXTRAORDINARY,
EUR., ETC. 2. STRANGE, ODD,
ECCENTRIC, ΔΟΥΛΟΙ ΤΩΝ ΑΕΙ ΑΤΥΠΩΝ
SLAVES TO EVERY NEW PARADOX,
THUC.; ΤΩΝ ΑΤΥΠΩΤAΤΩΝ ΑΝ ΕΙΗ
DEM. 3. UNNATURAL,
DISGUSTING, FOUL, ΠΝΕY
ΜΑ THUC. II. ADV. – ΠΩΣ, MARVE-
LOUSLY OR OBSURDLY, ID., PLAT.
Liddell Scott dictionary

ATOPOS (m e a n i n g literally in ancient Greek out of the ordinary, eccentric, unregistered) is an Athens-based, non - profit cultural organisation which aims to bring modern technologies together with fashion, design and contemporary art. Founded in 2003, it operates as an international, cultural think-tank, as well as an experimental forum for visual culture. ATOPOS works closely with emerging talents and established artists from the arts, fashion and design world. These synergies result into research-based, innovative projects in the form of museum and gallery exhibitions, art installations, performances and publications. Through these research projects and various collaborations, ATOPOS has been forming a unique collection of contemporary fashion items, historical and ethnological costumes, art works and video art works.
ATOPOS collaborates with cultural organisations, cultural and public benefit foundations, museums, galleries, independent artists, state entities and private companies in Greece and abroad.
The founders of ATOPOS are: Stamos J. Fafalios and Vassilis Zidianakis.

Managing Director

Stamos J. Fafalios was born in England of Greek parents. He studied Business, the history of Fine Arts and attended Part One of the Degree Course of the Architectural Association, London.
Although he is principally involved in the family business of Shipbroking, he has always maintained a keen interest in the Arts. When, ten years ago, he began spending more time in Greece, he took the opportunity to join an Architectural practice and, in 2003, together with the costume curator Vassilis Zidianakis, he set up ATOPOS Contemporary Visual Culture.
Today, Stamos spends his time between London and Athens, still working in the family business, practicing Architecture in Athens and assisting ATOPOS.

Artistic Director

Vassilis Zidianakis studied Ethnology and Anthropology as well as History and Civilization at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He studied alongside the costume designer Ioanna Papantoniou in Greece and the director and set designer Robert Wilson at the Watermill Centre in Long Island, U.S.A. He organised the first inventory and documentation of the ecclesiastical vestments of the Iviron Monastery in Mount Athos in collaboration with the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation (PFF). In 1999 he co-curated with Anna Balian an exhibition of “Amphia-Vestments of the Eastern Orthodox Church” at the Benaki Museum, Athens (53rd International Meeting of the Costume Committee of the ICOM). He was also the artistic director and co-curator of the exhibition “Ptychoseis= Folds + Pleats. Drapery from Ancient Greek Dress to 21st Century Fashion” presented at the Benaki Museum Annex during the summer of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games (organisation: Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation – Cultural Olympiad).
In 2003 he co-founded with Stamos J. Fafalios ATOPOS cultural organisation where he serves as the Artistic Director. In 2007 he was the curator of the “RRRIPP!! Paper Fashion” exhibition presented in Athens at the Benaki Museum Annex (1/3 – 29/4/2007, organisation: ATOPOS).

A Lover's Discourse: Fragments

Atopos (i.e., Unclassifiable, of a ceaselessly unforeseen originality) I surprise the other's atopia on his / her face each time I read there a certain tremendous innocence: the other knows nothing of the harm he or she has done me -- or, to put it less rhetorically, of the harm he or she has given me. Is not the innocent party unclassifiable (hence suspect in every society, which "knows where it is" only where it can classify faults)? X has many character traits by which it was not difficult to classify him (he was "indiscreet," "wily," "indolent," etc.), but I had had, two or three times, occasion to read in his eyes an expression of such an innocence that I persisted, whatever happened, in setting him, so to speak, aside from himself, outside of his own character. At that moment, I was exoneration him from all criticism or commentary. As innocence, atopia resists description, definition, language, which is classification of names (of faults). Being atopic, the other makes language indecisive; one cannot speak of the other, about the other; every attribute os false, painful, erroneous, awkward. The other is unqualifiable (this would be the true meaning of atopos).

Roland Barthes
A Lover's Discourse: Fragments