The internationally acclaimed artist Danae Stratou has created a site-specific installation at the Minos Palace Resort in Crete, after being named the winner of the 2025 G&A Mamidakis Foundation Art Prize.
Her work, Virtuous Spiral, is composed of 113 large ceramic vessels arranged in a spiral. They were designed by the artist and handcrafted in Thrapsano, a Cretan village with a centuries-old pottery tradition. “The vessels transcend their utilitarian form, evoking the continuous movement of humanity through time and across the milestones of human history,” says the Foundation’s curatorial team. The work was inspired by the mysterious Phaistos Disc—a clay tablet found in Crete in 1908 which has unusual symbols arranged in a spiral pattern. No one has been able to decipher what they mean.
Danae Stratou Photo: Courtesy G&A Mamidakis Foundation
The Foundation says: “Danae Stratou’s proposal stood out among hundreds of Greek and international submissions for its originality, site-specificity and profound engagement with issues such as memory, human connection to the land, cultural identity, and the passage of time.”
Stratou has been creating large-scale installations and land art since the 1990s-—she represented Greece at the Venice Biennale in 1999, the first woman to do so. One of her best-known works is Desert Breath, created by the three-member D.A.ST. Arteam (Danae Stratou, Alexandra Stratou and Stella Konstantinidis), a 1997 land art installation which covers 100,000 square metres in the eastern Sahara near the Red Sea in Egypt.
The G&A Mamidakis Foundation Art Prize was established in 2019 and opened up to international artists in 2023. The winning artist is given a unique opportunity to create a new work that will remain on permanent display in Agios Nikolaos, Crete, becoming part of a significant cultural legacy and an important collection of contemporary art.
The shape of Danae Stratou’s Virtuous Spiral is inspired by the ancient Phaistos Disc, which was found in Crete. Photo: G&A Mamidakis Foundation & Loukianos Arnaoutakis
The G&A Mamidakis Foundation Art Collection is a collection of more than 70 artworks, most of which are on permanent display at the Sculpture Garden of Minos Beach Art Hotel and the Minos Palace Resort in Agios Nikolaos. Alongside major Greek artists like Rena Papaspyrou and Theodoros, the collection includes pieces by international artists including Lynda Benglis and Magdalena Abakanowicz. The foundation’s founder, hotelier and art patron Gina Mamidaki, has always believed that hospitality and culture are inextricably connected notions, rooted in the idea that art should be a living presence, something that breathes, provokes and adds meaningful value.
The art prize is the culmination of the Foundation’s 30-year efforts to “strengthen contemporary artistic leadership and innovation”. Other projects include a pioneering artist residency programme and a range of educational activities that support dialogue, learning and engagement with contemporary art. The Foundation is committed to a growing network of cultural practitioners, fostering collaboration, exchange and long-term relationships within the contemporary art ecosystem.
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