Few image-makers have challenged the ideals of beauty and control as relentlessly as Juergen Teller. Over several decades, the German-born photographer has dismantled the gloss of fashion photography through an unmistakable visual language—unguarded, confrontational, and fiercely human. His lens turns glamour into something tactile and flawed, exposing the tension between artifice and authenticity that defines contemporary culture.
This autumn, Teller unveils “you are invited,” his most ambitious exhibition to date and the first major show at Onassis Ready, a newly launched cultural venue in Athens. Installed inside a vastly renovated 3,700-square-meter industrial space, reimagined by 6a Architects, the show traces three decades of radical image-making. It moves from his early experiments in 1990s London to more recent bodies of work, gathering portraits of figures such as Pope Francis, Iggy Pop, Kate Moss, and Alex Consani alongside unseen photographs, domestic vignettes, and quiet still lifes.
At the center of the exhibition lies Teller’s evolving relationship with intimacy. His recent collaborations with his wife, artist Dovile Drizyte, have produced photographs that blur the boundaries between the personal and the performative, inviting viewers to witness ordinary moments charged with vulnerability and humor. Through this introspective turn, Teller transforms photography into an act of self-examination and emotional honesty.
According to Afroditi Panagiotakou, Artistic Director of the Onassis Foundation, the exhibition offers “a meeting point between the emotional and the political, where fragility becomes a source of strength.” In this sense, “you are invited” is not merely a retrospective—it is an invitation to feel, to question what images reveal, and to confront the humanity behind their making.
The exhibition opens at Onassis Ready (Stratis Tsirka 2, Agios Ioannis Rentis, Greece), marking both a milestone in Teller’s ongoing journey and a bold beginning for one of Athens’s most promising new art spaces.
