{"id":6726,"date":"2026-05-21T14:53:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T11:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/?p=6726"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:53:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T11:53:00","slug":"anna-kaffetsi-passed-away-the-emst-bids-farewell-to-its-founding-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/?p=6726","title":{"rendered":"Anna Kaffetsi passed away – The EMST bids farewell to its founding director"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anna Kaffetsi<\/b>, art historian and curator, founding and first director of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), has died<\/a> at the age of 71.<\/p>\n

The EMST bid farewell “with deep sadness”<\/b>to Anna Kaffetsi, who “was the decisive personality behind the creation of the National Museum of Contemporary Art.<\/b> She took over its direction in 2000<\/b> and organised it from scratch, building step by step its collection, its physiognomy and its institutional identity. At a time when there was not yet a national institution of contemporary art in Greece, she devoted herself completely to its constitution, with unremitting faith in the need for such a museum.<\/p>\n

With her work and perseverance, she laid the foundations for an institution<\/b> that changed the landscape of contemporary art<\/b> in the country. She supported artists, highlighted new directions and shaped a space open to experimentation and international encounter. <\/p>\n

In 2014 he stepped down as director of the EMST. <\/b><\/p>\n

Her contribution to contemporary Greek art, to the development of contemporary art institutions in Greece has been a fundamental and lasting reference point. The EMST expresses its sincere condolences to her family and to all those who worked with her,” the museum concluded in its statement.<\/p>\n

Lina Mendoni’s statement<\/h3>\n

Informed of the death of Anna Kafetsi,<\/b> the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni <\/b>made the following statement:<\/p>\n

I was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of Anna Kaefetsi, who left an indelible mark on the contemporary art scene with her presence and her tireless activity. Throughout her career, Anna Kaffetsi combined, to the utmost degree, her profound knowledge of her subject with her dedication to Art, possessing distinctive managerial and administrative skills. Anna Kaffetsi was rightly identified with the first institution of contemporary art, the National Museum of Contemporary Art. She was its founding director, but essentially, she shaped it almost from scratch, gradually building up its collections, crafting its physiognomy, with constant work, insight and extroversion. Even after her retirement from the EMST, Anna Kaffetsi remained extremely active and restless. <\/p>\n

She was at her most mature and still had much<\/b> to give. I will always keep in my memory our long, fruitful and consistently fruitful collaboration during my tenures as Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture<\/b>. A collaboration that was extremely valuable, as Anna Kaffetsi was a person who shared untold knowledge and emotions.<\/p>\n

To her family, friends and colleagues, I extend my sincere condolences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 Anna Kafetsi, art historian and curator, founding and first director of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, has died at the age of 71…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greece"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}