Thursday, 18 December 2025, 12:00
Visual artist Dimitris Theocharis is awarded this year's Inspire Prize, as part of the Inspire Project 2025 by the MOMus-Museum of Contemporary Art, for the artist's participation in the art residency held at the Niels Bohr Institute in the University of Copenhagen in 2024. The prize ceremony will take place on Thursday, 18 December 2025, at 12:00, at MOMus-Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki (TIF-Helexpo premises), during which the artist will present his work in an open discussion with the public.
Dimitris Theocharis' nomination was selected as it precisely met the production conditions set out in the Inspire Prize, as well as the fact that both his participation in the Arts and Science Residency and his body of work highlight an artist who is consistently and methodically focused on the complex and critical issues of our time, while his critical dialogue with scientific issues was particularly appreciated.
During his three-month stay at the Niels Bohr Institute, Dimitris Theocharis had the opportunity to learn firsthand about the scientific work carried out there, to learn more about methods for detecting gravitational waves, black holes and their special characteristics, the role of gravity near large mass bodies, and much more. The work Resonance (2024), which he created as part of the residency program, is on permanent display in the Institute's historic building.
The Niels Bohr Institute is one of the world's oldest and most important research centers in the field of theoretical and experimental physics. It was founded in 1921 by the pioneering physicist Niels Bohr, whose work laid the foundations of quantum mechanics. The Art and Science Residency was organised and carried out in collaboration with the theoretical physicists of the Strong Group research team, which focuses on the study of gravity, black holes, and gravitational waves.
The Inspire Prize, which comes with a cash reward of €3,000, is given out every year to a visual artist, regardless of age or nationality, for work that has already been produced during a workshop or residency around the world and is distinguished for its conception, originality, thoughtfulness, and relevance to the space in which it has been presented and with which it potentially interacts.
The Inspire Project is co-funded by the European Union (NSRF - Central Macedonia Programme).
Artist’s Bio
Dimitris Theocharis (born 1987) is an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works between Greece and Belgium. He studied Mathematics and Fine Arts at Greek institutions and completed his master's degree (MFA) at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam (2020). Working with a variety of media, Theocharis explores how forms migrate between art, nature, and science. His work focuses on creating conceptual and material connections between processes, patterns, and forms that originate from different time scales and spheres, revealing the world as a network of interdependent systems. His practice consists of creating encounters between biological morphologies, chemical processes, human and non-human behaviors, mathematical objects, astronomical phenomena, and others. His works have been presented in various venues, museums, and galleries in Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and elsewhere.
Inspire Prize 2025 Nomination Evaluation Committee
Areti Leopoulou, Art Historian – Curator, MOMus, Deputy Artistic Director, MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography
Thodoris Markoglou, Art Historian – Curator, MOMus
Katerina Siroglou, Art Historian – Curator, MOMus
Caption
Resonance, 2024
Coated glass sphere, aluminum profile, wood, acrylic paint, microcomputer, sensors, speaker, cables, electronics.
125 x 35 x 35 cm.
Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark