Akis Kokkinos is an independent curator, lecturer and commissioner, living between London and Chios. He is also founding director of DEO projects, an alter-institution in Chios, supporting transnational dialogue and the existing cultural infrastructure on the island. Over the last ten years, Akis has worked for major cultural institutions in the UK and Greece, private collections, as well as independent projects. He studied the MA Curating contemporary art at the Royal College of Art (2018-2020), fully funded by a double NEON scholarship, the Schilizzi Foundation, and the RCA continuation fund. In 2021, Akis was awarded the Develop Your Creative Practice by Arts Council England and participated in the Young Curators Residency Programme at the Fundaciòn Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Madrid. In 2022, he curated the group intergenerational show Doomed Companions, Unsubstantial shades at the Hellenic Residence in London; commissioned and produced by NEON. The exhibition presented 18 artworks of Greek- speaking migrant contemporary artists including some historically-significant pieces from the D. Daskalopoulos Collection Gift. His projects have been featured in international media and platforms including Frieze magazine, Artforum, Damn Magazine, Art Basel Stories, ESTADÃO, El Pais newspaper, among others. Akis’ curatorial practice is focused on ways to disrupt the ‘objective’ and institutional by introducing or supporting other less appreciated and recognised forms of knowledge. Through multidisciplinary discourses, eco-feminist, non-western approaches, and other non- rational thoughts and philosophies, his practice focuses on the less spoken, invisible or liminal. He has been awarded the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship by ARTWORKS (2022).