GREECE IN CONTEXT

About GIC

The series Greece in Context explores topics in relation to Greek identity, citizenship, and culture through encounters of people and reflections on ideas originating from different exhibits. Grounded in the belief that material culture can open powerful pathways to understanding the present, the series brings together Greece-focused thinkers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds to engage directly with the collections of the Benaki Museum.

In each episode, artists, writers, scholars, curators, activists, and cultural practitioners, visit the museum and select an object that resonates with their interests, their work and their experiences. Through these encounters, the exhibits become starting points for reflection on contemporary Greece: its social transformations, cultural continuities and ruptures, and its place within a broader global landscape.

The series addresses pressing issues shaping Greece today, including the environment, social justice, urban life, health and wellbeing, migration, and cultural expression. These conversations are framed through the lens of sustainability, that is understood not only through its social, economic, and environmental dimensions, but also through culture as a vital fourth pillar that gives meaning and cohesion to them all.

At its core, Greece in Context envisions cultural institutions as places of belonging and exchange, where diverse communities can feel at home, engage as active members of society, and contribute to social and cultural change. Through this approach, the Benaki Museum becomes a site of active inquiry and dialogue: a living space – one that not only preserves cultural heritage but also fosters critical engagement with the present.

By foregrounding the interplay between objects, voices, and ideas, the series contributes to an expanded understanding of Greece as both a historical and a contemporary cultural formation.

Participants

  • Michael Afolayan, Artist, Activist, ANASA Cultural Center
  • Christos Carras, Executive Director, Dinos & Lia Martinos Foundation
  • Yannis Hamilakis, Joukowsky Family Professor of Archaeology and Professor of Modern Greek Studies, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown University
  • Sophia Handaka, Curator of World Cultures, Benaki Museum
  • Michael Herzfeld, Ernest E. Monrad Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
  • Stathis Kalyvas, Gladstone Professor of Government and Fellow of All Souls College, University of Oxford
  • Dimitris Krallis, Former Director of the SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies, Professor, Department of Global Humanities, Simon Fraser University
  • Rick Lowe, Artist
  • George Manginis, Academic Director, Benaki Museum
  • Maria Papadimitriou, Artist
  • Katerina Vrana, Stand-up Comedian

This series is an initiative incorporated within the collaborative framework between the Benaki Museum and the SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University.

This project is lead by Dr. Eirini D. Kotsovili (SNF CHS and Global Humanities Department at SFU) and Dr. Sophia Handaka (Benaki Museum) who have initiated this collaboration and are the creators of this project.

Benaki Museum is one of the largest and most diverse museum organisations in Europe. Founded in 1930 by a Greek born and raised in Alexandria, Antonis Benakis, it operates today as a network of seven museum buildings and two cultural venues across Athens and beyond, with hundreds of public programmes yearly. The Museum holds roughly half a million artworks, photographs, and archives covering the entire span of Greek culture—from prehistory to the present—alongside collections of Islamic, Chinese, Pre-Columbian, African and European art. It includes four archival departments on photography, architecture, history and performative arts, a large research library, a historic passementerie workshop, and the Patrick and Joan Leigh Fermor House in Kardamili, which hosts international residencies. As the museum approaches its centennial, the Benaki reflects on a legacy grounded in civic trust, generosity and institutional humility. It believes deeply in culture as a force that could connect worlds and worldviews, encourage dialogue and intercultural understanding.

Hellenic Studies began at SFU in 1996 with the establishment of the Hellenic Canadian Congress of British Columbia Chair in Hellenic Studies, made possible by donations from the Hellenic Community of Vancouver with matching funds from the Province of British Columbia. The inaugural chair-holder, Dr. André Gerolymatos (1996 2019), worked tirelessly to secure more funding and resources to expand the discipline at SFU.

In 2011, these efforts culminated in the establishment of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies, through a generous multi-million dollar donation by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. To date, over $22 million has been raised towards the study of Greece at SFU and our team has grown to include faculty members from a wide range of disciplines, with partnerships across North America, Europe, and China.