GEORGE TOURKOVASILIS: CALENDAR

Opening Friday, November 7th, 2025, from 8–10 p.m, featuring a DJ set by Tourkovasilis' longtime friend, Lambros Tsamis / DJ Lo-Fi, from 9–11 p.m.

Calendar spans vintage silver gelatin prints, c-prints, and digital color prints from the early 1960s to the late 2000s. It chronicles the photographic life of Greek writer and artist George Tourkovasilis through discoveries made in the archive he left behind after his passing in 2021. A prolific image-maker, Tourkovasilis produced thousands of photographs throughout his life and moved fluidly between photographic media. Calendar offers a snapshot portrait of this continuum, introducing, among others and for the first time, his later digital works, which explore an aesthetic of abstraction, radical zooming, and experimental editing. In these photographs, one can trace Tourkovasilis' restless curiosity and evolving vision—an artist in perpetual engagement with the world around him, unbound by the expectations of professionalized practice.

George Tourkovasilis (1944–2021) is known to a wider audience as the author and illustrator of The Rock Diaries (Τα Ροκ Ημερολόγια, Odisseas, 1984), the archetypal book of Greece's underground music scene of the 1970s and 1980s. A graduate of the Law School of Athens, with an unfulfilled dream of directing (Costa-Gavras was his mentor from 1962 to 1967), Tourkovasilis left his postgraduate studies and ambitions of directing in 1968 and moved to Paris, where he settled for the next ten years. He worked professionally as a portrait photographer and as an assistant to the painter Yannis Tsarouchis, recording Tsarouchis's models outside of work, and Greek artists at the Cité Universitaire such as Silia Daskopoulou and Periklis Korovesis. In the spring of 1980, the Photographic Center of Athens presented his first solo exhibition, Faces and Spaces (Πρόσωπα και Χώροι), which kindled a years-long collaboration with Giorgos Chronas and Odos Panos Publications, for which he often wrote articles and contributed photographs. 

Recent exhibitions include: HER, Radio Athènes (2025); George Tourkovasilis at Paris Internationale with RECORDS (2024); Ah, This! (curated by Helena Papadopoulos), Felix Gaudlitz, Vienna; Stay Hungry, Ermes Ermes, Rome (2023); Ithaca, Herald St, London (2023); Spent, (curated by Maya Tounta), Akwa Ibom, Athens; Strange Switch, (curated by Andreas Melas), Melas Martinos; The Night, Sleep (curated by Helena Papadopoulos), Radio Athènes (2022); and Anti-Structure, (curated by Andreas Melas), Deste, Athens (2021). A monograph designed by Julie Peeters, published by BILL, edited by Helena Papadopoulos, Julie Peeters, and Maya Tounta appeared in October 2025. Tourkovasilis' estate is represented by Akwa Ibom, Radio Athènes, and Melas Martinos. 

One of the most prolific personas of the Athenian underground scene since the early 80s, DJ Lo-Fi (aka Lambros Tsamis, or RR Hearse) is a musician, performer, DJ, producer and writer. He has released two vinyl records, several cassettes, and has participated in various compilation releases. He has featured in the short film of Michalis Anastasiou, "Cirkle" (1988), has contributed writings to the local music press ("Pop & Rock," "Sound & Hi-Fi," "Jazz & Jazz," "Lemon," "Merlin's Music Box" etc.), and has published two books, "Analipsis" (2017), and "Metamorphosis" (2020).

The exhibition was made possible through the generous support of the Carved to Flow Foundation.
With special thanks to Natasha Koliou and the George Tourkovasilis Estate.

Akwa Ibom, Valtetsiou 35, 1st floor, Athens, 10681

www.akwaibomathens.org