Opening: Thursday 29 January 2026, 19:00
Erotic scenes from adult films, which today may appear more or less culturally faded. Individual faces, which today may appear more or less sad or happy. Harsh snapshots of cold executions of men and women, young and old, for minor differences or gender issues. All these are connected through the gaze of Pete Marifoglou, an extraordinarily sensitive receiver of human presence, in the exhibition under the title “Pete Marifoglou. The Warhol years XXX” presented in MOMUS-Museum of Contemporary Art, in Thessaloniki, from 29 January until 12 April 2026.
After seven decades in New York and European territories, having worked in photography, direction, and film production, having written poetry, music, and theater, and having showcased his work in photography exhibitions in France, Greece, the Netherlands, and Germany, Pete Marifoglou returns to his hometown, Thessaloniki, to inaugurate the Case Studio at MOMUS-Museum of Contemporary Art for 2026.
The solo exhibition at the Case Studio gallery in MOMUS-Museum of Contemporary Art presents for the first time in Greece his largely unpublished work, where he captures photographic views of particular pockets of New York’s social margins during the 1960s-1970s.
Marifoglou, a young student and later graduate of the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York, worked, among other things, on the low-budget film production sets for adult films produced by Andy Warhol’s legendary Factory production company. The mass production of low-budget pornographic films was one of Warhol’s ventures, as he experimented with raw cinematic ideas, radically diverging from mainstream cinema.
He focuses on analog black-and-white photography. At the same time, however, he focuses on the people, on the faces beyond their roles in the films. He knows their personal stories. His photographs, documents of both the films and the harsh social and cultural reality of New York, reveal the sensitivity of his artistic gaze, without pretension or shine.
Curated by: Thouli Misirloglou, Artistic Director of MOMus-Museum of Contemporary Art
Assistant Curator: Katerina Syroglou
Pete Marifoglou (Panagiotis Marifoglou) was born in 1944 in Thessaloniki. His family emigrated to the United States and settled in New York in 1950. Marifoglou lived in Manhattan and graduated from the Art and Design High School, with a major in Architecture.
In the early 1970s, Marifoglou began studying Film Directing and Screenwriting at the School of Visual Arts, under the guidance of Professor Jud Yalkut, a pioneering creator of experimental films. At the same university, he took photography courses with renowned photographers such as Duane Michals, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Diane Arbus. At the same time, he attended lectures by major figures in the arts and public life, such as Muhammad Ali, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Nam June Paik, Jonas Mekas, Stan Vanderbeek, James Stanley Brakhage, Gregory Markopoulos, Elias Kazan, and Alfred Hitchcock. He continued his studies at the private university NYU, where he took courses in Film History and Anthropology.
Alongside photography, Marifoglou worked on creating short films, where he took on the roles of screenwriter, director, composer, and actor. He co-starred with the legendary underground film star Taylor Mead and also worked as a cinematographer on The Art Student, a production of Andy Warhol and directed by Alfonso Ciancarelli.
*Part of the exhibition contains material that may not be suitable for minors.
