Ioanna Neophytou was born in Limassol, Cyprus in 1986. She is a multidisciplinary artist, educator and researcher, based in Athens. Since 2023, she holds a PhD in theory and practice of visual arts at the University of Aix-Marseille, with a research under the title: “The images of war and the war of images: contemporary art and documentary in the necropolitics era” (La guerre des images et les images de la guerre: documentaire et art contemporain à l’ère de la nécropolitique). She also graduated from Athens School of Fine Arts (BA, MA, 2011) and the University Paris 8, with a Master of Contemporary Art and New Media (MA, 2016).

Her artistic projects have been presented in more than thirty collective exhibitions worldwide (including Archives Nationales, Paris 2015; 64^ème Salon de Montrouge, 2019; ELEUSIS – European Capital of Culture, 2023). Her short documentaries have been screened at many well-known festivals in Europe, earning multiple awards (including the audience award at the 20^th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival 2018, and a Special Mention from the committee at the 5^th Peloponnisos International Documentary Festival, 2019).

Her artistic practice and research focus on conflicts and their meta-narratives, emphasizing the importance of images as tools for narrating history and as objects of instrumentalization in conflict. With a longstanding interest in concepts such as geopolitics, ideology, historiography, national identity, and contemporary wars, her artistic practice has manifested in various forms over the years, including documentaries, short films, video installations, performances, and sculptures.

She has also worked as an art professor in Greece, developing an interest in participatory art. She has frequently collaborated with professionals from different fields and maintains a constant interest in engaging individuals in the creative process. Her interest in alternative pedagogy and education is reflected in her collaborative projects, education work, and documentaries. Her works redefine the importance of politics, participation, and collectivity, aiming to reclaim the public sphere.

Born in Limassol, 1986
Lives and works in Athens, Greece

Education

2016 -2023
PHD in Arts Plastiques et Science de l’Art, Aix-Marseille Université, France
Laboratoire d’Etudes en Sciences des Arts – LESA (UFR ALLSHS), Aix-en-Provence, France
Under the supervision of Christine Buignet and Claire Fagnart
Research title: The images of war and the war of images: contemporary art and documentary in the necropolitics era (La guerre des images et les images de la guerre: Documentaire et art contemporain à l’ère de la nécropolitique)

2013–2015
Master of Arts – University Paris 8, Vincennes–Saint Denis, France
Degree in Contemporary Art and New Media

2005 – 2011
Master of Arts – Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA)
Under the supervision of Panos Charalambous

Scholarships/Honours:

• Award of first monographic edition by the editions Tribew, in the 64^th Salon de Montrouge, 2019
  Publication of the e-book WC (Writing Creative)


• First Award in the international student contest «Crossing the borders. Perspectives on the First World War» organized by the National Archives of Paris and the University Paris 8, 2014
  As a result along with the writer Amelie Durand, they have presented the exhibition Les œuvres de mort / prises au hasard / se passent de commentaires


• ΙΚΥ (State Scholarship Foundation Greece)
  Scholarship for the master at the University Paris 8, France, 2013–2015

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• Sponsorship from Ministry of Education and Culture and Youth Board of Cyprus, for the participation in Santorini Biennale of Arts, Greece and Itinerant Performance Art Festival, New York, USA, 2012

Publications

• The images of war and the war of images: contemporary art and documentary in the necropolitics era
  PhD research (in publication process)


• WC (Writing Creative) — Artists’ e-Book, Tribew editions, 2019

Residencies

• Visual Voices Artist in Residency-2020, Thematic Focus: Media and Nationalist Narratives, July-September 2020
  Organized by Visual Voices
  


• Festival de l’histoire de l’Art, Fontainebleau, France, 2014
  Invited in the program «Rencontres Interantionales»
  Organized by National Institute of History of Art (INHA)

Lectures and talks

• International Conference: Images en Tr@nsit, Territoires et Mediums, LESA, Aix-Marseille Université, 27 – 29 April 2022
  Presenting the paper «L’art de la contre-visualité : Quand les artistes s’approprient la vision machinique (« Art of Counter-visuality : when the artists appropriate artificial vision»)


• Round Table Discussion Overlapping Circles, June 10th, 2021
  Organised by «Visual Voices» (Cyprus) and Anadolu Kültür (Turquie)
  Discussion accessible online: https://www.facebook.com/…
  


• International Conference AI Fictions
  3-5 June 2021, online: https://ia-fictions.net/en
  Presenting the paper: «Cybernetique Ecology: The return of utopia or a possible alternative?» (Écologie cybernétique : Le retour de l’utopie ou une alternative possible?).
  Presentation accessible online:
  https://ia-fictions.net/fr/participants/…
  Live discussion: Friday, June 4^th, 11:15-12:00 (GMT+2), under the theme «Art, Play, Mechanics».
  Discussion accessible online:
  https://ia-fictions.net/fr/sessions/…


• Conversation Exhibition Contemporary interpretations of European identity and the local social and cultural memory of Cyprus
  Thurdsay, June 3^rd 2021, online event
  Organization: Visual Voices
  


• Artist Talk, EESAB, Bretagne, France, 2017
  The curators of the exhibition «The Opposing Shore», discuss with the artists Ioanna Neophytou, Bady Dalloul and Aslan Gaisumov.

Solo Exhibitions

• War Games (Jeux de guerre)
  As part of the PhD defence of Ioanna Neophytou
  18/12/2023 – 21/12/2023, Bâtiment Turbulence, Aix-Marseille Université Saint-Charles, 3 place Victor Hugo, Marseille


• Les / œuvres de mort / prises au hasard / se passent de commentaires
  In collaboration with the writer Amelie Durand
  Museum of the National Archives, Site Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, France, 2015

Group Exhibitions (selected)

• Crossing 24/31: I always confuse south to north, north to south, Goethe Institute Nicosia, Cyprus, 2020


• 64^ème Salon de Montrouge, France, 2019


• Et on essayait d’y être, Montreal, Canada, 2018


• SIMUL, ensemble, Centre Culturel François – Villon, Enghien-les-Bains, France, 2018


• The Opposing Shore – 77^th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia, 2017


• *Restrictions apply, London, UK, 2016


• I am NOT Tino Sehgal, Nahmad Projects Gallery, London, UK, 2016


• Rooms 2016, Kappatos Gallery, Athens, Greece, 2016


• La Manifiesta, of Charles Pennequin and the Black Army, Le Générateur, White Night of Paris, France, 2014


• ARTERIES Project, Limassol, Cyprus, 2013


• Aeschylus’ Festival of Elefsina, (parallel events), Elefsina, Greece, 2012


• 1^st Santorini Biennale of Arts, Santorini, Greece, 2012


• Itinerant Performance Art Festival New York, Staten Island, New York, USA, 2012


• 12 Wagon festival, To treno sto Rouf theatre, Athens, Greece, 2011


• The plan Sotiria: Memory and disease in Arts, Sotiria Hospital, Athens, Greece, 2010


• Bipolar Disorder and Art, Athens School of Fine Arts, Athens, Greece, 2010

Documentary Festivals

Ioanna Neophytou is the director of three short documentaries (Painting, 2017; The fairs, 2018; Hands in Bleach, 2019) that have been screened in the following festivals:

• “Με τα μάτια ανοικτά”, (With the eyes open) – 6^th Tribute to Greek Documentary – online edition, Greece, 2020


• 12 Athens Ethnographic Film Festival – ETHNOFEST, online edition, as part of the section “Romantisism: Camera, Enchantment and the Real”, 2021


• 22^nd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Greece, 2020


• 5^th Peloponnesus International Documentary Festival, Kalamata Greece,2019
  Special Mention of the committee


• Docfest – 12^th Greek Documentary Festival, Chalkida, Greece, 2018


• Tirana International Film Festival, Albania, 2018


• 9^th Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival, Novi Sad, Serbia, 2018


• 8^th International Short Film Festival of Cyprus – ISFFC, Limassol, Cyprus, 2018


• Beyond the Borders, Castellorizo, Greece, 2018


• Balkan Film Food Festival, Pogradek, Albania, 2018


• Festival Paul Va Au Cinéma, Montpelier, France, 2018


• Ecrans Documentaires, Paris, France, 2018


• Marmaris International Short Film Festival, Turkey, 2018


• 5^th International Documentary Festival of Ierapetra, Crete, Greece, 2018


• Dublin Greek Film Festival, Ireland, 2018


• Diversions International Short Film Festival, Zagreb, Serbia, 2018


• 4^th Festival of Greek Documentary, “With the eyes open”, Athens, Greece, 2018


• 20^th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Greece, 2018
  Audience Award

Stage Design

• Omfalos, Palio Xidadiko, Limassol, Cyprus, 2016
• CITY GHETTOS OF TODAY – Miranda gazes upon the sea, Warsaw, Poland, 2014
• CITY GHETTOS OF TODAY – Les voix des Calibans, Paris, France, 2014
• Alert, Limassol, Cyprus, 2010
• Se sas pou mas akoute, Limassol, Cyprus, 2009

• Round Table Discussion «Overlapping Circles»
• Colloque International IA Fictions — Ioanna Neophytou, “Ecologie Cybernétique: Le retour de l’utopie ou une alternative possible?”
• IA Fictions, live discussion Art, Jeu et Mécaniques, with Beatrice Joyeux-Prunel, Claire Chatelet et Philippe Boisnard, Ioanna Neophytou, Hermes Salceda et Philippe Bootz.
• Antonis Georgiou — Interview with Ioanna Neophytou for the documentary Hands in Bleach in the 22^nd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, 2020
• Theodora Caragioulach – Interview with Ioanna Neophytou for the documentary Hands in Bleach in the 22^nd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, 2020
• Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Hands in Bleach
• Salon de Montrouge, 64^ème édition — Presentation of the participating artists — Ioanna Neophytou
• Fondation Françoise pour l’art contemporain — Presentation of the artists — Ioanna Neophytou
• Fondation Françoise pour l’art contemporain — Portrait #4 Ioanna Neophytou – Montrouge 2019
• Fondation Françoise pour l’art contemporain — SALON DE MONTROUGE – Interview with Ioanna Neophytou
• Inrockuptibles — Salon de Montrouge (1/3) : Ioanna Neophytou redonne leur voix aux “Spectatrices invisibles”
• Editions Tribew — WC (Writing Creative) d’Ioanna Neophytou
• Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Painting
• Feelsales — Painting documentary
• Cinemagazine, Με το βλέμμα στον κόσμο: Εντυπώσεις από το 5o Διεθνές Φεστιβάλ Ντοκιμαντέρ Πελοποννήσου (critical review of the documentaries Painting and The Fairs):
• Balkan Beyond Borders — The fairs (film presentation)
• Greek Stage Review, Anastasia Hassiotis — Interview with Ioanna Neophytou for the installation Room 518
• e-agenda review — Room 518: Βίντεο‑Εγκατάσταση της Ιωάννας Νεοφύτου στο πλαίσιο της έκθεσης Rooms 2016