The Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete, continuing its dialogue with questions of art and society, returns to the work of Nikos Alexiou with the retrospective exhibition The Fragile Traces of Symbols.

This exhibition seeks to present to the public selected excerpts from the full trajectory of this important artist.

Nikos Alexiou, born in 1960 in Rethymno, embodies the qualities of both a local and an international artist.

As noted by the exhibition’s curator, Maria Marangou:

… The fragile traces of his symbols are the Labyrinths, the Solar Rooms, the Monasteries, the Squares—anything that can be left to the internal code of the work, repeating itself through different media and expressions, like a brittle trace that inscribes without dominating.

It is the robust nature of fragility, driven by the craftsmanship of time and silence, the immaterial that carries memory.

Alexiou’s work is rooted in memory, from his childhood blanket to Mount Athos, where he lived for a long period. This memory is interwoven with hundreds of “rolls” on paper in a serial form, while his obsession with detail defines a play of innocence that conceals tragic dimensions.

His reeds and strings, or his papers, balance delicately, always at risk of breaking, of being destroyed by the slightest unskilled movement…

The works come from his sister Popi Alexiou, the Art Collection of Alpha Bank, the collection of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, and the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete.

Opening: Friday, May 8, 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete

Duration: May 9 to November 6, 2026