Athens International Airport ‘Eleftherios Venizelos’ Exhibition area ‘Art & Enviroment’, Departure level (entrance 3), free entrance
Duration of the exhibition 17 January – 31 December 2020
Athens International Airport ‘Eleftherios Venizelos’, following its long-standing and successful cooperation with the Benaki Museum, currently hosts the exhibition ‘Toys-Toys-Toys!’ drawing on the collections of the Benaki Toy Museum.
The exhibition, which began on Friday 17 January, will last until Thursday 31 December 2020 and is hosted in the exhibition ‘Art & Environment’ area, located at the departures level of the airport, entrance 3.
Toys from the Benaki Toy Museum collections travel airport visitors to countries both distant and near. Dolls with local costume, toys handmade or industrially produced, transport toys and traditional toys alike introduce themselves and take us on a journey from the 19th to the late 20th century. At the end, we come to the conclusion that toys, apart from their recreational character, are part of the mosaic of history and the evolution of human civilization.
A few words about the exhibition
The journey begins with the world map as backdrop. Pictures of toys invite the traveller to identify their country of origin, while dolls dressed in colourful costume introduce their place of origin.
The video, produced by AbFab Productions, offers the visitor a quick tour of toys beloved by children and adults from all corners of the earth, awakens memories and stimulates knowledge as airplanes, cars, boats and spaceships merrily carry us all the way to the moon!
The Benaki Toy Museum in Palaio Faliro
The Benaki Toy Museum opened its doors to the public in 2017. Its holdings, based on the famed collection of Maria Argyriadi, include over 20,000 games, books, printed materials and articles connected to childhood, originating from Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia and dating from antiquity to around 1970. The Museum is housed in a late 19th-century building with stylistic references to the European Middle Ages donated to the Benaki Museum in 1976 by Vera Kouloura in accordance with the wishes of her husband, Captain Athanasios Koulouras, a benefactor from the island of Hydra.
EXHIBITION HASHTAG: #BenakiMuseumToys
Benaki Toy Museum: 14 Poseidonos & 1 Tritonos St., 175 61 Palaio Faliro.
Contributors:
BENAKI MUSEUM ΑTHENS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Coordinator
Sophia Handaka Supervision – Coordination
Chara - Helene Mitsotakis
Head Public Relations & Culture
Sophia Handaka
Curators
Mary Vergos
Nora - Ioanna Hatzopoulou
Exhibition Design
Paul Thanopoulos
Video Production
AbFab Productions
Technical Support Graphic Design
Plan B Pindaros Charisiadis
Digital Prints Conservation of toys
Apolyto Creative Spot Benaki Museum Conservation
Photography of toys Exhibition photographer
Leonidas Kourgiantakis Ilias Georgouleas
Ioanna Moraiti
Communication
Nicoletta Menti
Press Office
Athina Isaia