DESIGN OF THE PERIPHERY.
Tributaries within film and photography at the intersection of critical discourse

Founded by Katerina Papanikolopoulos in 2021, the non-profit Athens Design Forum (ADF) advocates for overlooked and generative design histories interwoven with global labor and migration patterns. Papanikolopoulos’ curatorial programming prioritizes photography and film as integral, critical methodologies to decipher design’s social role.

The mediums of film and photography are foregrounded as spaces for re-inscription, extending into the founding of our editorial featuring collaborations with Museo Casa Mollino, Luna Paiva, Yannis Drakoulidis, Francisco Canton, Javier Aravena Costa, and more.

The Skin of River Po, Carlo Mollino (With Fulvio Ferrari, Andrés Altamirano)

 

2021-26 Overview

  • Athens Design Forum’s inaugural programming in September 2021 shaped 12 events in 7 Athenian neighborhoods – broadening the international recognition of contemporary Athens through a cultural narrative axis. The core event introduced the marble constructions of artist Theodore Psychoyos and positioned novel discourse on artist Alekos Fassianos’ architectural and design contributions. Shortly thereafter, ADF launched international collaborations at Milan Design Week with ROUTE-IN by Tbilisi-based Rooms Studio and acted as a cultural partner of Collectible Fair, introducing the first retrospective of Palestinian designer Dima Srouji in Brussels, Belgium.

    Over forty critical features, screenings, and exhibitions have since included collaborations with Museo Casa Mollino in Turin through The Skin of River Po, as well as the inaugural editorial feature of Archivo Gráfico™ in Venezuela. With a central focus on ADF’s ongoing film methodology, the work of Xhanfise Keko, Juan Pablo González, Marta Rodríguez & Jorge Silva, Izza Genini, and Hicham Gardaf is foregrounded as a conduit for spatial and social discourse across geographies.

    On the occasion of the non-profit’s fourth anniversary in September 2025, Athens Design Forum announced the creation of Soil Epigraph, a private collection of anonymous photographs (1890-1980) foraged to exist in counterpoint to monolithic visual representations of Greece.

    As featured in e-flux, Architectural Digest, Wallpaper*, DOMUS, and more.

Editorial Axis

Partners

INTERNATIONAL
Archivo Gráfico™ (Venezuela), Dropcity Center for Architecture and Design (Milan), Fundación CINE Documental (Bogotá), Albanian National Film Archive (Tirana), Fotohane Darkroom (Turkey), Yugantar Collective (India), OHRA Productions (Marrakesh / Paris), DOPO? Cultural Space (Milan), Artists Support (London), Shasha Movies (Global), Cinema Parentesi × BASE Cultural Center (Milan), The Design Release (New York / London), Les Ateliers Courbet (New York City), 5VIE Design Week (Milan), COLLECTIBLE (Brussels).

REGIONAL
Alekos Fassianos Estate, Hot Wheels Gallery, The Danish Institute–Athens, Carwan Gallery, The Benaki Museum, The Vorres Museum, The Cervantes Institute–Athens, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), Kostas Lambridis, Workshop Dionisis Sotovikis, City of Athens — “Culture Is Athens,” Molonglo, Perianth Hotel, BIOS, Panas Group.

Founder Profile

Athens Design Forum and Soil Epigraph are core projects led by the creative studio of Papanikolopoulos, MÁTI GREY. With a former training in dance and performance, Papanikolopoulos studied the intersection of Art History & Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2025-26, she prepares to be an MA candidate at the Architectural Association (History and Critical Thinking in Architecture). Prior to this, Papanikolopoulos builds on engagements with Blum & Poe, Autre Magazine, Assortment Agency, and The Hammer Museum.

 

The→Mirror

  • Marta Rodríguez and Jorge Silva are regarded as the pioneers of documentary cinema in Latin America. Their first joint film, Chircales, is set in Tunjuelito, Southern Bogotá, Colombia, and chronicles the Castañeda family’s journey as brick producers over a five-year period. Chircales exposes ‘the human reality that is denied,’ prompting the audience to re-examine the humanist parameters and implications of derelict supply chains for building materials.

    Screened by Athens Design Forum at BASE Milano.

  • As the camera becomes an inscription of sight, the stage of framing and those depicted requires a delineation of spirit, solidifying a reveal of intention from the latent image. This becomes the alchemy of the darkroom; a value-system of image creation where nothing is certain until the effect of appearance becomes visible. The rays of a cityscape oscillate in the moving hands of a child’s navigation, and the territory’s angular face is fragmented, perceptible in parts – a fragrant re-establishment of identity. Within a stone building of pronounced arches, just above a silver filigree workshop, Fotohane Darkroom in Mardin, Turkey, was built by Syrian photographer Serbest Salih and Turkish-born Amar Kılıç, providing the infrastructure for a communal darkroom and photographic workshop for the region’s local and displaced children.

  • For Milan Design Week 2025, Athens Design Forum presented a screening of Tomka dhe shokët e tij (Tomka and His Friends) by director Xhanfise Keko (Albania, 1929–2007), hosted by Dropcity Center for Architecture and Design.

    On the banks and in the whirlpools of Osum River, arteries of retaliation coalesce and forge, forming the legacy of Tomka and His Friends by Albanian Director Xhanfise Keko. With a pressing score by Aleksandër Lalo, the narrative is woven with fervor and a claim to nationhood that surpasses merely the cinematographic. The senses are foremost a symbol of youth and resistance expressed through four best friends: Tomka, Çelo, Vaska, and Gëzim.

 
 

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