Για την Ελληνική εκδοχή

On October 17, 2026 from 18:00 to 22:00, ATOPOS cvc opens Who Owns the Blackest Black by Em Kei at its exhibition space in Piraeus, 41A Polydefkous Street. The exhibition is co-curated by ATOPOS cvc Artistic Director Vassilis Zidianakis and the artist. It forms part of Affective Archives and will run until November 21, 2026.

The artist explores the relationship between power, the control of information and the construction of reality through black as color, material, concept and a field of multiple cultural, historical and political readings. Drawing on a broad range of interpretations of black, Em Kei creates a “black archive”, a peculiar Wikipedia comprising a wide range of media, including books, videos, models, sound works and black ready-made objects, among others.

The archive includes recently declassified US government documents, including the JFK and Epstein files. It does not, however, attempt to offer a linear or comprehensive narrative. Instead, it operates as a system of connections in which seemingly unrelated historical events and occurrences coexist, prompting subjective associations and new readings. Here, black functions as color, shadow, politics, sound, system or illusion.

The selection, classification and accessibility of information thus become tools that shape the way we perceive and construct reality. Through her research-based approach, the artist creates a space in which the archive ceases to be a neutral repository of knowledge and becomes a field of negotiation: which data are preserved, which are excluded, who decides what is worth recording, and how do the information that surrounds us shape our perceptions?

Visitors are invited to move through this dense network of references and discover their own connections, contributing to archival art as a means of exploring alternative narratives. Once again, through its exhibition program, ATOPOS cvc seeks to shift the focus from the archive as a source to the archive as a subject. Who Owns the Blackest Black is accompanied by an extensive public program that invites architects, DJs, ceramicists, curators and other researchers to present their practices through different points of engagement with the black archive.

 Em Kei is an interdisciplinary visual artist working with objects, images, materials and historical data, creating works that connect the personal with the political and function as sites of social observation. She lives and works between Athens and the United Kingdom. She has participated in international exhibitions and artistic projects, while also working in graphic design and producing publications and visual materials for arts and cultural organisations.

Useful information:

Address: ATOPOS cvc, 41A Polydefkous Street, Piraeus
Opening: Saturday October 17, 2026, 18:00–22:00
Exhibition hours: Every Saturday from October 24 to November 21, 12:00–20:00. On Saturday October 31, the exhibition will open at 20:00 and by appointment.

Read below the October public program.  November’s program will be announced shortly.  

Public program October

Who Owns the Blackest Book (Part A)
Who Owns the Blackest Black, Em Kei
The Black Shelf, Tristan Bera
Saturday, October 24, 18:00-20:00
English

Em Kei will present the book Who Owns the Blackest Black, which forms the central core of the exhibition. It is an extensive collection of images and information gathered from books and the internet, all connected through the color black. Censored documents, artworks, photographs, book pages, newspaper clippings and published photographs of the interiors of Epstein’s residences come together to form a corpus that explores the mechanisms through which knowledge is constructed and perceived, altering the way a book is read.

Tristan Bera will present The Black Shelf, which revisits a research and collecting project centered on “black books”, initiated in 2012 and focusing on the literary, political, sexual and cinematic meanings of the term “black”. More than a decade later, the work returns as a collection that explores obsession and perpetual accumulation: When does a collection cease to produce knowledge and become a black hole? And how can one escape from it? Tristan Bera is a writer, critic and curator whose practice moves between visual art, independent research and social practice, with cinema functioning as an extension of his writing.

Who Owns the Blackest Beat
CERB and Choronzon
Saturday, October 31–Sunday, November 1, 20:00–02:00

ATOPOS cvc welcomes CERB and Choronzon (Lee Adams) for a themed party.
CERB will present his record collection through vinyl, publications and underground hip-hop tracks that have challenged censorship, exploring what is considered “forbidden” and how artists maintain their independence. A DJ and collector with a focus on hip-hop, electronic music and jazz, CERB has participated in self-organised parties and music events. For the past six years, he has hosted the Heavy Rotation radio show on Paranoise Radio, while also working in music production and experimenting with samplers and synthesisers.

Choronzon will present a set of underground Palestinian and Persian hip-hop, followed by grime, experimental dubstep, bass and electro. Lee Adams is a DJ and curator based between Athens and London. As Choronzon, he creates cinematic DJ sets combining bass, techno, dub, grime, hip-hop and experimental electronic music. He is a member of the Exist Festival collective and founder of Khemia Records and has collaborated with international radio stations and music platforms and participated in festivals, exhibitions and projects across Europe, North Africa and West Asia.