High culture meets hedonism in Hydra

As the ferry from Athens approaches Hydra, it crosses the Saronic Gulf that separates the island from the Peloponnese and sails along the coast leading to the port. Before entering the amphitheater-shaped harbor, the view from the left side of the boat offers a glimpse of a monumental bronze sun, its rays twisting in the wind.

Apollo windmillThe work by artist Jeff Koons is situated in the place where you might expect a lighthouse. It was placed there in 2022, as part of its specific installation in the island’s former slaughterhouse, and was donated by Koons and collector Dakis Joannou to the island, and is now a permanent installation. Although we are far from Apollo’s sacred island, Delos, and its hedonistic neighbour Mykonos, the Hydra sun is a monument to the special decadence of its regulars: contemporary art.

The ferry docks amid a chaotic movement of superyachts, day-trip cruisers, sailboats, water taxis and smaller local ferries, each bringing a steady daily supply of visitors from May to November.

In his poem YdraThe great Greek poet, Nobel laureate and Hydra lover George Seferis wrote: “What were you looking for? Why don’t you come? What were you looking for?” Each island attracts seekers of some kind, be it sun, parties, cocktails, culture or solitude. Those who come to Hydra are also looking for Leonard Cohen, Melina Mercouri, Henry Miller, Sophia Loren, Jeff Koonspost-Art Basel parties, concerts at the Old Carpet Factory, Hydra school projects, The Hydra Book ClubBut anyone seeking solitude should abstain: this is a social island and has been for nearly 100 years.

In the 1930s, painter Nikos Hadjikyriakos Ghikas began inviting Greek and international artists and writers to his family home on the hillside above the village of Kamini. Although the house burned down in a tragic fire, the ruins remain, as do the stories of its illustrious visitors: Patrick and Joan Leigh Fermor, Henry Miller, John Craxton, George Seferis and Lawrence Durrell. Hydra’s artistic and literary legacy, now approaching one hundred years old, began with this group of friends, expanded to include friends of friends and has continued thus to the present.

The current lively scene is built on this foundation. There is an authenticity to the relationship with contemporary art and literature that is surprisingly unique. Today, the “friends” who gather here include fewer beatniks and more collectors, art dealers and art stars. Yet the camaraderie endures.

Hydra is without equal. Sometimes called “the Rock,” it is a dramatic mountainous strip rising fiercely from the Saronic Gulf, with one side facing the Peloponnese and the other out to the endless sea. Hydra’s port and town – and most people – live looking out to the Peloponnese, a view that provides a sense of security, as the mountains in front and behind us seem to embrace rather than threaten us. The lack of cars adds a gentle authenticity to the town, whose residents (and visitors) happily walk rather than drive. The coastal path meanders along the cliff edge over coves where the crystal-clear aquamarine sea drops not far from shore into aquamarine depths. To the east, Hydra’s jagged mountain ridge gives way to a gentle slope punctuated by fuchsia bougainvillea and dark cypress trees. To the west, the sea stretches out to the islands of Dokos and Spetses, and the mountains fade into a gradient blurred by the heat haze.

The “other side” of the island is the complete opposite. Violently beautiful, dizzying, difficult to access, arid and with an even more discouraging and disorienting view towards a limitless horizon. The terrain is treeless, windswept, sun-scorched, mystical.

The bustling port is the hub of activity. It is also where, after a morning swim, I have my daily dose of pistachio ice cream with my friend, the artist and curator Dimitrios Antonitsis, and his dogs. Antonitsis came to Hydra as a teenager. To preserve this tradition, he began using this “holiday” time to curate an increasingly radical group exhibition of contemporary artists at different stages of their careers, both local and international, at the municipal school. Hydra School Projects Antonitsis is now 25 years old. “I was looking for the simple life,” says Antonitsis. “It all started with my desire to be and spend time with my artist friends. I love them.” [that kind of] “I spent so many holidays that I turned it into a job.”

For this year’s anniversary, Antonitsis will present the show Strong womentitle taken from François Ozon’s film. Antonitsis has commissioned, like Ozon’s authorial cast, eight female artists: an exceptional collection of jewellery by Leonora Carrington, the films of Chiara Clemente, a triple video installation by Tschabalala I Supported by Eva Presenhuber Gallery, a performance by DJ Avantika and works by Mary Hatzinikoli, Maro Michalakakos, Valentina Palazzari and Priya Kishore, the exhibition will take place at Hydra’s open-air cinema and secondary school.

Stephan Colloredo-Mansfeld grew up in Hydra and has transformed his family home into a recording studio and artist residency: the Old carpet factoryThe house sits halfway up the steep hill behind the harbour, and its windows – the largest on the island – offer a panoramic view. The studio’s rare, vintage analogue recording equipment has made it a legend in the music industry.

Formerly a factory (hence the name), this year marks 100 years since the Soutzoglou family began making carpets here; to honour this shared history, Colloredo-Mansfeld and the residency’s co-founder, curator Ekaterina Juskowski, will present an exhibition. The deformation of timeThe works of Helen Marden and Antonitsis intertwine, figuratively but also, in this case, literally, the past with the present. The Soutzoglou family will present an archive carpet created in the house 100 years ago. Marden, in collaboration with the carpet weavers, experiments with the carpet as a medium for the first time in her career. Antonitsis will show a series of her “abacus-loom” works.

I am the island’s bookseller. I too arrived on a ferry many years ago, not knowing what I was looking for. Over time, through my research, I deepened my love for Hydra and its people. I now present written works by authors from the island past and present, including visual or performing artists who live and work here today. With my partner, Filip Niedenthal, we also publish Hydra’s literary magazine, Hydra Book Club Diary.

He Hydra Book Club It’s on the top floor of the Hydra Historical Archive, a stately stone building on the edge of the harbour. It has become, over the past three years, a home for locals and visitors seeking literature and a chance to meet other artists, writers and neighbours. (Some come each year seeking directions to Leonard Cohen’s house which, for the record, I do not share.) Many, more determined, come in search of my collection of rare editions. This was the case with Gilbert Halaby, painter, poet and, it turns out, book collector. Halaby’s distilled visual vocabulary of colours and blocky houses resonates like carefully chosen words in verse. In October he will have his first exhibition on the island, called The first harvestin the museum.

Our table at the port is expanding. We are moving to the Pirate bara Hydra institution, swapping pistachio ice cream for glasses of tsipouro. Just as dusk bathes the city in a momentary end-of-day glow, we see a bold, unmissable graphic UFO glide into the harbour. Art collector Dakis Joannou has arrived. Guiltywhose exterior was designed by Jeff Koons.

“Boat” and “yacht” seem like reductive words to describe this floating work of art. Joannou is not coming alone either; this year he is bringing the American visual artist George Condo. Every summer since 2009, his DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art has installed a specific installation or a collective exhibition in the former slaughterhouse on the island. This year Condo will occupy the space with his show The Madman and the Lonely OneThe annual opening celebration, which takes place immediately after Art Basel in June, is lavish and crowded. It is as festive as the other religious and historical celebrations that mark the island’s calendar.

This is Hydra: a little crazy, never lonely. Introverts stay away.