Launch year:
2014

Number of artworks:
Aquisitions and Commissioned artworks on environmental awareness

Status of collection:
International

Artistic domain:

PCAI stands for Polygreen Culture & Art Initiative, a non-profit organization, which primarily aims at raising environmental awareness through its unique, annual, art program. PCAI was founded by Athanasios Polychronopoulos, the CEO and founder of the Polygreen network of environmental companies, as a result of his genuine belief that art is the best tool to stimulate dialogue about critical environmental issues. Through its updated “culture and art” program PCAI acquires a more comprehensive cultural spectrum, keeping its foundational aim, values and operational guidelines fully unchanged, along with its commitment to raise environmental awareness through art, inspire, educate and ultimately be part of the change.

The transition from still to moving image art, with the latter emerging as the dominant expressive medium in the last decades, was the main reason behind PCAI’s decision to focus primarily -though not exclusively- on the dynamic medium of artistic films as the main means of achieving its goals. The organisation implements its objectives though three areas of activity: its mainly commissioned-based Art Collection, its Projects and its Support. PCAI has already commissioned a number of artists regarding its collection including Wu Tsang, Eva Kotatkova, Mika Rottenberg, Angelo Plessas and George Drivas amongst others and quite a few more commissions are on their way.

Since its foundation, PCAI has been collaborating with a number of established art organisations, festivals and institutions including the Venice Biennial, the Lahore Biennial, the Sharjah Biennial, the British Culture, the Onassis Foundation, the TBA21's Ocean Archive and so on. Fully aware of its social role, PCAI is also dedicated to organising and implementing educational programs on the environment and it has been awarded for its collection, programs and partnerships on many occasions. Kika Kyriakakou, PCAI’s Artistic Director, initiated in 2019 the organisation’s artist-in-residence programme focusing on the interaction between contemporary art and environmental consciousness. The artist residency selection committee, consisting of Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Galleries Artistic Director, Krist Gruijthuijsen, KW Institute for Contemporary Art Director, and the PCAI Directors, chose artists Rindon Johnson and Lito Kattou to participate in the residency programme taking place in 2020.

For more information related to PCAI contact info@pcai.gr, +30 2104060088, +30 6948500531

Commission program / Site-specific order(s) :

The PCAI Collection is based on special commissions and acquisitions of moving image and contemporary art. During commissions PCAI provides mid-career and emerging artists with the means and resources to create an artwork inspired by urgent environmental issues in their broader relation to current sociocultural, economic or philosophical concerns. The Collection invites artists to reflect on the concept of sustainability, waste and related processes in a free and innovative way; to create art that challenges the limits of previous views and representations; to imagine new forms and use radical tactics while addressing our changing world. A selection of works from the PCAI Collection is presented below.