National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, is proud to announce the inauguration of its ambitious new flagship exhibition Why Look at Animals? A Case for the Rights of Non-Human Lives which officially opens on 15 May 2025 and runs until 7 January 2026.
Unlike exhibitions that simply explore the role or representation of animals in art history, Why Look at Animals? A Case for the Rights of Non-Human Lives breaks new ground as the first major exhibition to offer a profound ethical and philosophical exploration of humanity’s complex and fraught relationship with animals — potentially the largest group exhibition on this subject ever presented.
Curated by ΕΜΣΤ’s artistic director, Katerina Gregos, and extending across four floors of the museum, the exhibition draws inspiration from John Berger’s seminal 1980 essay of the same name, reflecting on how animals have been marginalised in human societies and the moral imperative of rethinking our relationship with them.
Works by over 60 artists will place the spotlight on the lives, rights, welfare and sentience of animals, while addressing urgent ecological and ethical questions surrounding the human-animal relationship and exploring themes such as animal intelligence, speciesism, ecological interconnectedness, animal exploitation and the human-animal divide in the context of modernity.
ΕΜΣΤ’s artistic director and exhibition curator, Katerina Gregos notes:
“This exhibition raises the urgent issue of the necessity of defending non-human life. It aims to engender a discussion about the systemic injustices that animals suffer at the hands of humans while also acknowledging animals as not separate from – but integral to – our biosphere and ecosystems. Climate change, pollution, industrial ‘factory’ farming, war, destruction of natural habitats, experiments on animals, neglect of domestic animals all have a dramatic impact on animals and their habitats. Speciesism – our idea that humans are superior to all other living creatures and have greater rights – has justified the widespread, violent exploitation, even as advances in animal studies reveal that animal intelligence and capacities are often superior to our own. If we seriously want to engage with climate justice and environmental protection, animals form an integral part of the dialogue. It is an ethical imperative to re-examine our relationship with those non-human beings with whom we co-habit the earth, to imagine new forms of inter-species coexistence, and to acknowledge animal intelligence as different but not lesser than our own.”
Why Look at Animals? A Case for the Rights of Non-Human Lives features work by over 60 artists from across the globe, including:
Ang Siew Ching (Singapore), Art Orienté Objet (Marion Laval-Jeantet & Benoit Mangin, France), Xavi Bou (Spain), Sammy Baloji (Democratic Republic of Congo), Elisabetta Benassi (Italy), Kasper Bosmans (Belgium), Nabil Boutros (Egypt), David Brooks (USA), Sue Coe (UK/US), Marcus Coates (UK), Chen Xinhao (China), David Claerbout (Belgium), Denicolai & Provoost (Italy/Belgium), Mark Dion (USA), Igor Grubic (Croatia), Alexandros Georgiou (Greece), Laura Gustafsson & Terike Haapoja (Finland), Joseph Havel (USA), Lynn Hershman Leeson (USA), Annika Kahrs (Germany), Menelaos Karamaghiolis (Greece), Anne Marie Maes (Belgium), Britta Marakatt-Labba (Sweden), Wesley Meuris (Belgium), Angelos Merges (Greece), Paris Petrides (Greece), Tiziana Pers (Italy), Janis Rafa (Greece), Minna Rainio & Mark Roberts (Finland), Marta Roberti (Italy), Lin May Saeed (Iraq/Germany), Mostafa Saifi Rahmouni (Morocco), Panos Sklavenitis (Greece), Jonas Staal (Netherlands), Daniel Steegmann Mangrané (Spain), Oussama Tabti (Algeria), Emma Talbot (UK), Nikos Tranos (Greece), Maria Tsagkari (Greece), Dimitris Tsoumplekas (Greece), Maarten Vanden Eynde (Belgium), Kostis Velonis (Greece) and Driant Zeneli (Albania).
The exhibition design is by FLUX Office (Thansis Demiris, Eva Manidaki and Dimitris Zampopoulos).
While Why Look at Animals? A Case for the Rights of Non-Human Lives serves as the programme’s centrepiece, a number of solo exhibitions, projects, public installations, screenings and public events broaden its scope, fostering a museum-wide dialogue on moral, ecological, and ethical questions surrounding animal rights and justice.
An overview of the programme:
Sonic Room
A guest-curated project by Joanna Zielinska, chief curator at M HKA, Antwerp, immerses visitors in the remarkable languages and sounds of animals – birdsong, whale calls, primate sounds, and even the hum of laughing rats, alongside bee dances and inaudible frequencies through the work of sound artists and scientists – in a specially designed environment inside the exhibition.
Octopus, the EMΣΤ magazine, Issue II
The second issue of Octopus, the thematic, bilingual, art criticism and theory journal published by EMΣT, will also be dedicated to non-human lives. The guest editor is the writer and curator Filipa Ramos, one of the key figures in the study of the cross-section between art and ecology. Octopus will complement Why Look at Animals? A Case for the Rights of Non-Human Lives and will have an anthropological, narrative, poetic orientation with original texts by prominent Greek and international writers. In addition, Octopus Garden, the experimental, archival section of the magazine, will host autonomous sound, visual and textual works related to non-human life. The issue will be published at the end of June.
Sammy Baloji: Echoes of History, Shadows of Progress | Until 2 November 2025
A powerful exhibition of installations, video works, and photography exploring the colonial legacies and continued exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kasper Bosmans: The Fuzzy Gaze | Until 15 February 2026
A vibrant 30-metre installation that investigates shifting animal-human relationships, blending regional folklore and heraldic references with playful artistic narratives.
Janis Rafa: We betrayed the horses | Until 5 October 2025
An installation and new film works explore themes of betrayal, control, and intimacy between humans and horses, reflecting on exploitation and non-consensual relationships.
Emma Talbot: Human/Nature | Until 15 February 2026
A monumental painted silk installation and animation film examine human-nature entanglements, offering imaginative alternatives through the eyes of non-human beings.
Why Look at Animals? A Case for the Rights of Non-Human Lives is accompanied by an illustrated and bilingual (English–Greek) catalogue designed by Schema. The exhibition opens on 15 May 2025 and runs until 7 January 2026.
ΕΜΣΤ Athens is one of the only national art institutions in the world to allow pets. Pets and their owners are welcome to visit the museum, including the exhibitions.
Press release from ΕΜΣΤ Athens
Image: Kasper Bosmans. 9 Sisters (with 12 Legends: Vair Lotion [Soot, Moat; Fight, Fiancé; Bait; Mum, Cut]). 2020. Instruction mural, wall paint and pencil, variable dimensions. Image courtesy of the artist and Museum De Pont
