“Ariadne’s Secret Thread” and its role in Nikos Kazantzakis’ spiritual journey is the theme of the art exhibition hosted at the Cultural Hall of the Municipal Art Gallery of Heraklion (8 Chrysostomou Street), from Friday, June 6 to Friday, June 13, 2025, with free admission.

The opening will take place on Friday, June 6 at 7:00 PM at the venue. “Persistent Art” is a project producing unmediated exhibitions, inspired, curated and founded by painter Chrysa Barzoka in 2018, at the Bensousan Han – an old Jewish inn on Edessis Street. With the collective of Persistent Art, many forms of art have been presented in galleries, Biennales, international exhibitions, public spaces, institutions, and museums in Greece and abroad.

About the Exhibition

The connection between Minoan Ariadne and Nikos Kazantzakis is primarily symbolic, drawing on the myth and the archetypes of his birthplace, Crete. The myth of Ariadne, the labyrinth, and the thread is deeply rooted in the Minoan tradition and stands as a central archetype running through Kazantzakis' work and thought.

He is seen, through an analysis of his inspiration, to hold one end of the “red thread” of his ancestral roots, walking through the labyrinth of his ideas in search of God and mankind. Ariadne, as a symbolic figure, is the one who holds the other end of the thread—offering guidance and protection during the writer’s spiritual journey.

Ariadne thus becomes not only a mythological character but a symbol of creative memory, Cretan identity, and the endless search for meaning in the maze of existence.

Painter Chrysa Barzoka shares:

“With the belief that Art must intervene in critical times, and with our need as artists to express what many leave unsaid, we present Persistent Art—a series of unmediated group exhibitions. These are short yet intense exhibitions, sometimes lasting just a single day, other times longer when circumstances require.

In these exhibitions, carefully selected artists—bonded by shared ideals and joined through Art—co-exhibit, realizing a dream powered entirely by our own shared efforts.

With no external commitments and with the absolute, non-negotiable freedom that true Art demands, in defiance of entrenched interests. A tenacious Art. Our own Art.”

Participating Artists

Katerina Vlachou, Yiannis Adamopoulos, Marianna Patinioti, Ntina Bakaniari, Argyris Kaltsios, Mariela Alepopoulou, Glykeria Kalfa, Iphigenia Papageorgiou, Theo Laspidis, Konstantinos Gogalis, Fani Papageorgiou, Maria Steiakaki, Maria Kaftaki, Manos Ioannidis, Yiannis Kaminis, Kirsikka Soustiel, Despina Nikolidaki, A23-NECTAR, Vasilis Karkatselis, Stavroula Andreou, Thanos Kosyvas, Triantafyllos Vaitsis, Chrysa Barzoka.

Opening Hours

Monday to Friday: 10:00 – 14:00 & 18:00 – 21:00
Closed on weekends and public holidays.