Giant Red Neon Words Invite Athens to Listen to Its Own Heartbeat

14:52 7/11/2026 - Πηγή: iEfimerida

British artist Tim Etchells has lit up a third Onassis Foundation building in Athens with giant red neon phrases.

His new installation, set on both ends of the Onassis

Ready arts complex, reads "The Sound of Your Heartbeat" and "The Sound of Your Breathing."

The work, "Heartbeat / Breathing" (2026), was created for the converted industrial building in the city's Rentis district.

Visible from far away, the two phrases speak to each other while each keeps its own meaning, and they invite viewers to notice two of the body's most basic rhythms.

"For me, there is something tender in this recognition," Mr. Etchells said. "The large, monumental presence of neon points to the most vulnerable signs of life that people give off." He said the work celebrates "our presence as embodied human beings, individually and collectively."

It joins his best-known Athens piece, "All we have is words, All we have is worlds," which glows across the facade of the Onassis Stegi cultural center.

The building carries no other sign bearing its name.

"Each time, we are addressing the city, Athens," said Afroditi Panagiotakou, the foundation's artistic director. "We are speaking of its breath, of its heart." Mrs. Panagiotakou praised the artist's ability to condense emotion into a few words, "without forced lyricism."

Mr. Etchells also designed the neon facade and logo of Six Rings, the foundation's new fashion and culture space on Patission Street, which opened this week.

His three installations now link three Onassis buildings across the city.

By Katerina Poulopoulou

Διαβάστε περισσότερα στο iefimerida.gr

British artist Tim Etchells has lit up a third Onassis Foundation building in Athens with giant red neon phrases.

His new installation, set on both ends of the Onassis Ready arts complex, reads "The Sound of Your Heartbeat" and "The Sound of Your Breathing."

The work, "Heartbeat / Breathing" (2026), was created for the converted industrial building in the city's Rentis district.

Visible from far away, the two phrases speak to each other while each keeps its own meaning, and they invite viewers to notice two of the body's most basic rhythms.

"For me, there is something tender in this recognition," Mr. Etchells said. "The large, monumental presence of neon points to the most vulnerable signs of life that people give off." He said the work celebrates "our presence as embodied human beings, individually and collectively."

It joins his best-known Athens piece, "All we have is words, All we have is worlds," which glows across the facade of the Onassis Stegi cultural center.

The building carries no other sign bearing its name.

"Each time, we are addressing the city, Athens," said Afroditi Panagiotakou, the foundation's artistic director. "We are speaking of its breath, of its heart." Mrs. Panagiotakou praised the artist's ability to condense emotion into a few words, "without forced lyricism."

Mr. Etchells also designed the neon facade and logo of Six Rings, the foundation's new fashion and culture space on Patission Street, which opened this week.

His three installations now link three Onassis buildings across the city.

By Katerina Poulopoulou

Διαβάστε περισσότερα στο iefimerida.gr

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Giant Red Neon Words Invite Athens, Listen,Its Own Heartbeat