ViZ Laboratory for Visual Culture is an initiative of Athens School of Fine Art’s Labs 11 & 12, powered by Onassis Foundation and the City of Athens Development and Destination Management Agency.
ViZ is an always evolving institution for the experimentation with the liquid limits between artistic production, the public sphere, the experience of the city and contemporary art education. It was founded as a hub for the study of the phenomena of visual culture, drawing on the ways young generations of ASFA students experience their relation to the internet, digital culture, computational structures, digital applications, public and social media. Transforming the space of the former Bar Guru Bar into a hybrid stage, ViZ organizes seminars, workshops, public talks, exhibitions, performances, and screenings to direct the spotlight onto the currents that model contemporary visual culture. ViZ’s activity reflects the new educational model advocated by the newly-instituted Labs 11 & 12 of the Athens School of Fine Art. Enhancing a post-media approach to artistic praxis, artistic education surveys the orbits that connect the public sphere with the digital and carnal selves, the performance of gender, the global scale overturns and the immense social changes. Organizing a dense program with guests from Greece and all over the globe, from the first months of its operation, ViZ presents solo shows and talks by international artists, experimental exhibitions with students’ participation with a thematic range that spans from artistic activism to the mechanics of digital gaming. In the age of global pandemics, ViZ hosts online seminars with international creators and establishes new digital channels to communicate with the audience.