Yorgos Taxiarchopoulos
Artist, Curator and Director of Limassol Art Center
Jury of FotoSlovo Awards 2025
Jury of FotoSlovo Awards 2025
Yorgos Taxiarchopoulos, is an internationaly awarded visual Artist. His primary studies are BA on Economics and he has a distinguished record as a Director of large scale events, art and culture institutions and non profit cultural entities. Visual Arts Director of the Limassol Arts Centre-Apothikes Papadaki, Founding Director of the ACEY Europe-Arts & Culture Community.
Yorgos Taxiarchopoulos, a member of the Jury Committee for the FotoSlovo Awards 2025, shares his insights in an exclusive interview with us.
Yorgos Taxiarchopoulos, a member of the Jury Committee for the FotoSlovo Awards 2025, shares his insights in an exclusive interview with us.
"Participating in contests, awards is very important in order to do networking and showcase your work at the most relevant and friendly environment."
— Hello Yorgos! You have been managing cultural institutions for many years. From your experience, what are the key criteria you consider when deciding to showcase a photographer’s work in an art space? Which styles have recently caught your attention, and why?
— Context and presentation innovation are the most important priority criteria for me in general. I prefer to show art that captures my attention and my interests as curator. Other criteria more spesific may be the power and the tension of the image and the reasons behind the photographer's click.
— Do collectors or buyers influence the type of photography or artworks you exhibit or the choice is based only on artistic level? Beyond artistic quality, what factors (e.g., marketability, social media weight) influence your selection process?
— Actually I hold different criteria and priorities when I choose the works I show or include in the exhibitions. The Art Market of course plays a crucial role in our choices in general and has a huge impact in many aspects but when I set up an idea of an exhibition usually it is not taking the Art Market into consideration. I consider more if the photographer or his/ her works are relevant and how much they correspond to my final purpose of the cultural events.
— What advice would you give to photographers looking to catch the attention of major cultural institution directors like yourself?
— I would advice artists and photographers to ask for meetings, appoach normally the curator, call him/her and try to have a simple easy going contact and learn in advance all the details of the space they are interested to showcase their works. Personal contact with the cultural institutions is important factor, as well as the strength of his/her artistic work.
— How important is it for photographers to participate in contests, awards, or festivals to gain recognition in the professional art world and get noticed? Do you follow some winners or finalists of photography contests when selecting artists for the art spaces you manage?
— Yes, it is very important in order to do networking and showcase their works at the most relevant and friendly environment because not all art spaces are suitable for all kinds of works. Lately I do not follow photographers or artists who have won artistic contests like I used to do before but it is important to me when I read an artist CV or observe a portfolio to know that their work has won an Award or was distinguished in one way or another! That`s how I know the artists work.