The six heads at San Giorgio dei Greci, presented alongside the 2024 Venice Biennale by the Embassy of Greece and the Hellenic Institute.

A traveling exhibition by George Petrides · 2022–2027

Hellenic Heads
Legacy and Renewal

Six portraits. Four generations of one family. A personal journey through 2,500 years of Greek history.

On view in Berlin until 8 January 2027 · Visits by appointment

6Heads
8Cities
2,500Years of history
Explore the six headsPlan a visit

The six heads

Choose a portrait to meet its model, explore its historical setting, and see how the sculpture was made.

History, carried in faces

George Petrides connects six periods of Greek history with people closest to him: his mother, father, wife, grandmother, himself, and his daughter. Each head brings a historical era into the present through a familiar face.

The works begin in clay. Digital sculpting and 3D printing allow the forms to grow; the artist then returns to the surface by hand, applying metals and patinas. The marks, fractures, and textures are part of each portrait’s story.

The making of the Hellenic Heads

The making of the Hellenic HeadsWatch on YouTube

The documentary follows the exhibition’s development, from research and clay modeling to finished portraits.

Films retain their original audio. Where YouTube supplies captions, use the CC control. The text on this page introduces the sculpture and its historical setting.

The films

Eight cities · 2022–2027

From Washington to Berlin, the exhibition has brought family stories and Greek history to audiences in eight cities.

  1. 01

    Washington, D.C.

    Embassy of Greece

    2022 · Past exhibition

  2. 02

    Southampton, New York

    The Muses

    2022 · Past exhibition

  3. 03

    Brookline, Massachusetts

    Maliotis Cultural Center · Boston area

    2022 · Past exhibition

  4. 04

    Chicago

    National Hellenic Museum

    2023–2024 · Past exhibition

  5. 05

    Venice

    San Giorgio dei Greci

    2024 · Past exhibition

  6. 06

    Istanbul

    Sismanoglio Megaro · Consulate General of Greece

    2025 · Past exhibition

  7. 07

    Paris

    Embassy of Greece

    2026 · Past exhibition

  8. 08

    Berlin

    Embassy of Greece

    2026 · Berlin · on view

The exhibition opened at the Embassy of Greece in Berlin on 9 September 2026 and continues until 8 January 2027.

Berlin · on view

Exhibition dates

9 September 2026 – 8 January 2027

Embassy of Greece, Hiroshimastraße 11–15, 10785 Berlin. Visits are by prior appointment. Contact the studio to confirm access and arrange your visit.

Email the studioGuided tour in German (video)

The exhibition catalog

Explore the ideas behind the six heads: family memory, sculptural traditions, and the passage from clay to digital form. The complete illustrated publication and its essays are available in English.

Download the original catalog (English PDF) · 7.4 MBRead the catalog essays (English)

The original PDF is an archival edition. Current tour information and the updated public-work record appear on this website and at petrides.art.

Additional essays, clearly identified as AI-generated texts, remain available in the web catalog.

The current selection of public works, with locations, materials, and project status, is at petrides.art.

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Venice · 2024

The six heads at San Giorgio dei Greci, presented alongside the 2024 Venice Biennale by the Embassy of Greece and the Hellenic Institute.

Selected press

Selected exhibition reviews and features, followed by the full coverage archive in the original publication languages.

The artist

George Petrides

Born in Athens in 1964, George Petrides works between Athens and New York. His sculpture connects personal memory with history, using both traditional modeling and contemporary fabrication.

His permanent public sculpture program includes 40 works, installed or in progress: 15 outdoor and 25 indoor, across seven sectors and eight countries.

He studied Classics at Harvard College (B.A., 1985) and earned an M.B.A. and M.A. at Stanford University (1993). After more than 20 years of part-time art study alongside a career in finance, he turned to sculpture full-time in 2017. He received a Certificate in Sculpture from the New York Studio School in 2022, with further study at the Art Students League of New York and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.

His next touring exhibition, Sulālat al-Mustaqbal, is planned for 2027–2030.

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