Dimitris Daskalopoulos OBE is a collector of contemporary art, the custodian of the D.Daskalopoulos Collection, Greece, and the founder of the NEON organization. He is a member of the board of trustees and vice president of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Chairman of the Collections Council and the A & M (Art & Museum) Committee of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and a member of the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. He is also active in the Tate International Council and in the past, in the Leadership Council of the New Museum, and a founding partner of Whitechapel Gallery’s Future Fund.
The D.Daskalopoulos Collection founded in 2010 the post of The Daskalopoulos Curator, International Art at Tate, to focus on contemporary and emerging international art, specifically from non-western regions, central to Tate’s commitment to broadening the geographical scope of its collection. The D.Daskalopoulos Collection continued to fund this post, renamed The Daskalopoulos Senior Curator, International Art (Africa, Asia & Middle East), which was held by Clara Kim. In 2013, Cildo Meireles’ Babel (2001) was purchased jointly by Tate (with the assistance of the Latin American Acquisitions Committee) and the D.Daskalopoulos Collection, as a promised gift to Tate.
As a founding partner of the Whitechapel’s Future Fund (2011), his funding enabled the Whitechapel Gallery to realize 3 projects over 4 years: a permanent post, The Daskalopoulos Director of Education & Public Programmes, which was held by Dr. Richard Martin, who ran the Gallery’s programme of learning with talks, events, courses, schools, family and community programmes; a new initiative, the NEON Curatorial Award; and a cultural programme between Athens and London, the NEON Curatorial Exchange.
Dimitris Daskalopoulos is also a supporter of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. In 2015, the D.Daskalopoulos Collection created and funded a new post, originally The Daskalopoulos Curator of Engagement, renamed the Daskalopoulos Digital Producer and held by Lucy Armitage.
At the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Dimitris Daskalopoulos has contributed to a discretionary curators’ fund for acquisitions, which he established as a gift to the Foundation. He has also been active in the support of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (SRGF) acquisitions program through his membership of the International Director’s Council. In 2003, Mr. Daskalopoulos and the International Director’s Council jointly acquired Matthew Barney’s sculpture, Chrysler Imperial (2002), which after 17 years of co-ownership was gifted in its entirety to the museum in 2020.
In 2017, the D.Daskalopoulos Collection created and funded a curatorial post at the museum, Daskalopoulos Curator, Contemporary Art. The position has been created in perpetuity, and is currently held by Guggenheim curator, Katherine Brinson.
Over the years he has contributed funds to facilitate exhibitions and acquisitions at major public art institutions worldwide, including Tate, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, MCA Chicago, the New Museum, Carnegie International, Venice Biennale the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Greece and the Athens Biennale.
In 2022, it was announced that a major body of important contemporary artworks from the D.Daskalopoulos Collection was donated to 4 museums (EMST, TATE and jointly to Guggenheim and MCA Chicago), in 3 countries over 2 continents to create a pioneering network of collaborations and synergies.
His contribution to the arts has been recognized on numerous occasions: he is the recipient of the 2014 Leo Award by Independent Curators International; he was honored by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation at the 2018 Guggenheim International Gala for his innovative philanthropy in the arts; in 2022 the Whitechapel Gallery inaugurated the D.Daskalopoulos Gallery; and he was made an honorary fellow of Goldsmiths, University of London in 2023. That year, he was appointed an honorary officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of his services to the arts and philanthropy.
Kutluğ Ataman
Küba, 2004
40 channel video installation with sound, 40 used chairs, 40 tables, 40 television sets
Dimensions variable
Installation View Portals, Hellenic Parliament + NEON at the former Public Tobacco Factory, Photograph © Natalia Tsoukala
Courtesy NEON