About

Onassis ONX is an accelerator for a global community of member artists who create immersive XR and AI works. This hybrid experimentation, production and exhibition space is located in the Olympic Tower in Midtown Manhattan and was founded in 2020 in partnership between the Onassis Foundation and NEW INC. Onassis ONX now exists as a project of Onassis Culture, working in partnership with organizations in New York, including New York University’s Tandon School, Games for Change, NEW INC, Rhizome, and Pioneer Works, as well as with global institutions such as IDFA, CPH:DOX, DiMoDA, and others. Offering development funding, state-of-the-art facilities, advocacy, and community for an international community of artists from a broad range of disciplines, Onassis ONX has become an influential hub and manifestation of the dynamism of a new global interdisciplinary artistic ecosystem. 

ONX members can be found from New York to Athens, in Los Angeles, Paris, London, Istanbul, Lisbon and Louisville. They have developed and presented works around the world, including SXSW, The Venice International Film Festival, ArsElectronica, Plásmata exhibitions in Athens and Ioannina, Tribeca Festival, Mutek, and BAM’s Next Wave Festival. Membership is open-ended and by application here. We are genre agnostic – but promote collaboration, intersection and interdisciplinarity - seeking out and enabling new technological possibilities. Artists extending our reality, not simply in extended reality. 

Onassis ONX also acts as an active bridge between NYC and Athens in the area of digital and XR practice, working closely with different elements of Onassis Culture - Onassis AiR, Onassis Digital and Innovation, and Onassis Stegi. While our focus is on supporting the work of member artists from Athens, New York and beyond, we offer thought leadership through humanities events, exchange, artist development and education. Our program calendar each year includes multiple showcase platforms in collaboration with our partners in New York, presentations of international and local work, talks and performances.

Partners

Onassis USA

Founded in 2000, Onassis USA was the first international affiliate of the Onassis Foundation. It is dedicated to culture, community, and education, with projects that can effectively inspire social change and justice across borders. By collaborating with Onassis Stegi in Athens and educational and cultural institutions throughout the Americas, Onassis USA presents theatrical and dance productions, art exhibits, conversations, lectures, and other initiatives, triggering discussions about democratic values, human rights, civil rights, and the ever-changing realities facing today’s citizens on a global scale. For more information, visit onassisusa.org.

Onassis Foundation

The mission of the Onassis Foundation, founded by Aristotle Onassis in 1975, will always be human-centric; to create the conditions, explore the ideas, and spark the discussions that lead to a better society.

The Foundation works to promote the rich contributions of contemporary Greek culture throughout the world. The Onassis Foundation's work is based in Athens but spans the globe, focusing on culture, healthcare, and education. It has awarded more than 7,500 scholarships to young people worldwide since the late '70s and presents countless cultural events each year. By building the Onassis National Transplant Center (completing in 2024), following the Onassis Cardiac Center in Athens, it creates the conditions to provide health to all, offering the Greek society a hospital for the transplant of solid organs, as well as a center for research and innovation in the field of organ transplantation.

In the US, the Onassis Foundation offers generous support for and curation of cultural programming across various art forms and creative endeavors. Onassis USA, based in New York, includes ONX Studio, festivals such as 2023’s Archive of Desire - a festival inspired by CP Cavafy and the podcast Live from Mount Olympus.

Through Onassis AiR, a program built on the continuous support of artistic research and practice, aiming to foster a space where the artists set the conditions themselves for the development of their work, the Onassis Foundation supports the existing partnerships and members of its broader ecosystem with the local and international artistic community.

And when it comes to culture, it's not just art; it's a way of living. At Onassis Culture, with the Onassis Stegi as its hub, the Foundation encourages the talent and energy of local and international artists to thrive and starts conversations that aim to shake and shape society. Onassis Stegi is a center of global contemporary culture that, through a series of initiatives and works, promotes dialogue about democracy, social and environmental justice, racial and gender equality, and LGBTQIA+ rights.

The Digital and Innovation programs of the Onassis Foundation seek to create an outward-looking program in the field of digital arts, while supporting artists in developing original works on immersive storytelling with the use of Extended Reality technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI). This support aims to enable artists to produce artistic, social, and economic value, ensure the sustainability of their practice, secure their autonomy, and maximize the impact of their work. Through Plásmata, a series of public space events, the Onassis Foundation creates a world-class digital art program, emphasizing the diversity of identity, connecting the local with the global, and exploring the climate crisis and its consequences.

Movement Radio is Onassis Stegi's international web radio, thus a cultural platform that focuses on new music productions, speaking through sounds and ideas, tracing current political and critical thought, and crossing an imaginary archipelago for the bolstering of dialog that goes beyond borders and dates.The Onassis YouTube Channel is constantly evolving and growing bigger by adding new productions, digital concerts, documentaries, online discussions, and unique content, bringing our common digital future into focus.

Quotes

“Onassis ONX is an evolution of what we have learned and experienced at NEW INC. In New York City, bespoke space for artists who are working in extended reality is scarce. The Onassis Foundation had the vision to bridge this gap, and their commissioning expertise will be invaluable as we explore new avenues for these hybrid digital and physical experiences.”

— Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director of the New Museum

“At the heart of the Onassis Foundation, we are committed to artistic vision and how creators make us see things anew. More than ever, the way forward is through collaboration and ONX Studio is a manifestation of that belief,”

— Afroditi Panagiotakou, Director of Culture, Onassis Foundation

“Onassis USA is thrilled to continue elevating artists who are fostering new ways to tell important stories. New Museum has been a pioneer in developing platforms for new art and new ideas, and we have found a kindred spirit in NEW INC.”

— Karen Brooks Hopkins, Senior Advisor, Onassis USA

“One of the thrilling things around NEW INC is that extended reality has organically become a huge area of focus for the members. Extended reality is an area that’s growing by leaps and bounds but there are no bespoke spaces in New York for artists working in it."

— Karen Wong, Cofounder and Chief Creative Officer, Guilty By Association, in Architect's Newspaper

“Onassis Foundation has been an incredible partner and together we are building an extended reality community that is international, talented, diverse and value-centric. As a space for wild, artistic experimentation supported by a global community of expert advisors and a purpose-built XR production studio, Onassis ONX isn’t like anything else out there.”

— Stephanie Pereira, Former Director, NEW INC