Anna Papathanasiou is a Greek- Canadian interdisciplinary artist. With roots in the fine arts and music she has created a unique language through video, performance, installation and sculpture works.
A founding member and leading singer in the grunge band Puta Volcano Anna has studied Classical Piano and musical theory at the Athenaeum Maria Callas Conservatory, she has graduated from the Sports and Physical Education University [DUTH], holds a Bachelor and an MFA at the Athens School of Fine Arts [ASFA] in Visual Arts and performance.
Her works have been exhibited and performed in the U.S, Japan, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Greece and Canada and as a musician, she has toured in Europe and has performed alongside artists such as The Black Keys, The Black Angels, Fu Manchu and Alice in Chains.
She presented her live piece “EAT” in New York, during the “The Time Bomb Gala” as a resident artist (Southampton, NY) at the Watermill Center under the direction of Robert Wilson. She has performed the piece “Empathetic Body” at the Architectural Biennale of Venezia, the #SKG Bridges Festival and the Kaunas Biennial. Completed her residency in La Serre Arts Vivants at Ecole Nationale De Theatre held at Monument National in Montreal, Canada. Co-created and performed the three hours long site-specific performance “Outland” presented at Rooms, held by Kappatos gallery. Performed at the “Some Sort of Now” project, a travelling documentation that took part at cities of France, Spain and Andorra showcasing the brutalist architecture of Ricardo Bofill. Her video-performance “Christmas Tree” was exhibited at the Art Props, Kunst- Interventionen in Mannheim, Germany while she has also presented her works in the form of video, performance or public interventions in Japan, Digital Biennale, Electric Nights, Palais de Paris, Tokyo, “Infantry Square” Greece, Athens Biennale, Omonoia, and “Whispering in a room of Screamers”, Acropolis at the Bottom. She worked as an artistic collaborator at the production of “Elenit” by Euripides Laskaridis presented at Stegi, Onassis foundation in 2019 and is a founding and active member of F.T.I.J.s group and Das Ist Genau collective.

The prevalent theme throughout my work is the connection with the sense of the "self", on both a personal level and in terms of social interaction and its place in social structures. By inventing imaginary personas/characters, mainly genderless, I use kitch and occult artistic codes in an effort to raise questions about the topics of sociocultural and sexual identity. I am interested in the research of the stereotypical leaders' image/ profile and the behavioural patterns through which it manages to get detached from the masses, leaving a mark on the society. I would like to conduct a thorough investigation on the subject of self perceived image and narcissism, as they are rapidly gaining ground, while we race towards an increasingly dystopic cyberpunk version of the modern world. That in turn impedes our connection to tradition and the spriritual environment.

2020
-“Sun’s Height”, performance, concept, idea, choreography and props creation, Dimotiki Agora Kypselis, Athens, Greece
-“Savra”, performance, Track and field, Backspace, Athens, Greece
2019
-“Passage” by Maria Louizou, performance and set design at the Tabula Rasa Benefit Gala, held by the Watermill Center, curated by Ivan Cheng and Noah Khoshbin, New York, US
-“Einstein’s cross”, installation, video, mixed media, curated by Maria Maneta, MFA, ASFA, Athens, Greece
- “March at the beat of your own drum”, Empathetic Body, vol.III, production and performance, Kaunas Biennale, F.T.I.J.s group, curated by Neringa Stoškutė, Daniel Milnes, Lydia Pribisova, Alessandra Troncone, Elisabeth Del Prete & Lewis Biggs, Kaunas Lithuania
- “Baths of a future Paradise”, Empathetic Body, vol.II, production and performance, Funded by the Ministry of Culture, Nea Genia Foundation, Thessaloniki Concert Hall, SKG Bridges uprising arts and culture festival, Bei Hammam, F.T.I.J.s group, Thessaloniki, Greece
-“Outland”, performance, Performance Rooms held by Kappatos Gallery, curated by Maria Xypopoulou, Athens, Greece
2018
- “Eyes of wonder”, Empathetic Body vol.I, performance, Architectural Biennale of Venice, La Biennale di Venezia, Swamp Pavillion, F.T.I.J.s group, curated by Giedre Sileikyte, Venice, Italy
-“Christmas Tree”, video performance, installation, Art Props held by Zeitraumexit, curated by Dimitra Tsiaouskoglou, Mannheim, Germany
-“Some Sort of Now”, photography for Ricardo Bofill, performing with buildings, collaboration with Laura Brichta, Barcelona, Calpe, Reus, Spain, Le Boulou, France, Andora, exhibited in Kulturzentrum Englische Kirche, Frankfurt, Germany
-“Eat”, performance, at the Time Bomb Summer Benefit Gala, reprised at “Discover Watermill day”, held by the Watermill Center, curated by Ivan Cheng and Noah Khoshbin, New York, US
-“Acropolis at the bottom”, group exhibition, Nikos Kessanlis Hall, ASFA, curated by Katerina Nikou, funded by NEON, Athens, Greece
-“Angel-heads”,video performance, M.F.A. Open studios exhibition, Athens School of Fine Arts
-“Eye for an eye”, performance, Syntagma Square, G.A.P. in collaboration with ASFA, Athens, Greece
2017
-“Nto ta pret kotsidet” , performance & installation, the Platforms Project, Tart gallery Zurich, curation Artemis Potamianou, Athens, Greece
2016
-“Infantry square”, public intervention- performance, Acts of Engagement workshop, Athens Biennale AB5TO6 Omonoia, Bagkeion hotel, curation Poka Yio
-“I against I”, performance, portraits, concept, curation & performance, photography by Yiorgos Kaplanidis, published at the Athenians, publishing curation Nikos Papadopoulos
-“From Cocteau to Picasso”, theatrical play, performance & co-direction, at B&M Theocharakis Foundation
2015
-“The fading light of the sun”, acting, documentary, direction Galaxy Spanos, at the Onasis cultural center, S.G.T.
-“Electric Nights”, exhibition, video performance, curated by Federic Weigel, at Beton7 cultural center and Palais de Pari Tokyo,Tokyo video art Biennale, Japan
-“N,AI”, video-performance projection, book presentation and workshop, by Dimosthenis Agrafiotis, at Beton7
2014
-“Body of work”, group exhibition, installation, video and performance, curation C.A.SA, at BoozE Cooperartiva collective art space
-“Radio future”, voice over and performance, animation short film, direction Nanotek, at Onasis cultural center, S.G.T.
2013
-“If dusk tangled with dawn”, cassia project, installation, performance, concept Anna Wigeland and Peter Balov, curation Nicole Dedousi, Kinitiras
2011
-“Twisted Hurricane”, performance, stop motion video, direction Daphne Samaras
1999
-“In black and white”, classical piano performance, recording, supervisor Efi Agrafioti, National broadcast radio and television of Greece, ERT