phenomenon is an international program for contemporary art that takes place on the Aegean island of Anafi, Greece every other year, since 2015.

For its fifth edition, phenomenon will reflect on the ten years since its conception, exploring the notion of re-turning, not as in going back to a specific past, but as a performative practice that (re)configures reality. Beginning with the histories of Anafi —from antiquity and the Argonauts, through the interwar era and the exiles, to modern times and seasonal migration— phenomenon has aimed at broad explorations throughout its editions: seeking alternative ways of seeing, understanding how collective and personal histories are socially constructed, and looking for strategies through art to create a shared experience of collaboration and coexistence. After ten years, not only do these explorations retain their affective potential, but the need for their re-contextualization, re-thinking, and diffractively re-turning is vital.

Participating artists | Majd Abdel Hamid, Pauline Boudry/Renate Lorenz, CAConrad, Pierre Leguillon, Zoe Leonard, Valentina Magaletti, Iris Touliatou, Maria Toumazou, and Trevor Yeung.

phenomenon 5 consists of a residency program accompanied by a public program, featuring lectures, performances, video screenings, and other events, free and open to the public, as well as an art exhibition in various places across the island.

The project is supported by NEON through its annual Grants Scheme.