Anna Dermitzaki

Anna Dermitzaki graduated from our MA Fine Art degree in 2021. Since then, she has worked across the arts and charity sectors and now works within the curatorial art team at the Eden Project, Cornwall.

Tell us about your role at the Eden Project – what do you do for them?

90% of my time, I am based in the Core building - from the outside it looks like a sunflower. At the core of the building, on the inside of the ground level there is a giant sculpture by Peter Randall-Page called Seed. It’s based on the Fibonacci Sequence, made from Cornish granite, and an impressive sculpture to experience in person. The architecture itself is incredibly unconventional for any white cube style curation, that is what makes it fun and unique to the location. I really enjoy working around the complexities and impact of location, aesthetics, narrative, content, viewer experience and engagement on curating. What makes an exhibition compelling and world-class?

Every day is different and, as my role is exceptionally varied, one week I may be installing a new exhibition and the next compiling figures in Excel. The fun of it is that I get to work across site with all departments, and the role allows me to continuously grow and expand on my experience and knowledge. Whether I am welcoming visitors in the gallery, liaising with artists, producing public engagement events, condition reporting and maintaining artworks, supporting the Art Curators with exhibitions, loans and the art collections. The list does go on.  A big chunk of my role is looking after the gallery and with this includes managing a team of gallery invigilators, many who are voluntary and helps us achieve the Eden Project’s cultural mission.  

I must admit that I really enjoy the back of house admin, such as compiling and updating databases, research, attending meetings and actioning minutes, maintaining partnerships, collating data, insights and evaluations. All which are vital to the running of the programme. As a visitor attraction and educational charity, the basis of the project, is demonstrating and inspiring positive action for the planet.

What projects are you currently working on, both at work and outside it?

I joined the Eden Project in 2022, and since then have worked on various temporary exhibitions, with artists such as Cornelia Parker, Jonathan Baldock, Ai Weiwei, Ingela Ihrman, Serge Attukwei Clottey and many more. As I write this, we are coming to the last few months of our current art exhibition, THE FUTURE (Sixes and Sevens). Commissioned by the Hayward Gallery for their 2023 Dear Earth exhibition, it gives children a platform for adults to listen and act. It is their future in our hands. How can we help or heal our planet?

Personally, I find art helps me to compartmentalise complex theories and not only be hopeful but actively respond through creative thinking and problem solving. Through November 2024, we hosted well attended (free) banner making workshops that explored what it meant to be an Art Activist. Our interconnectedness with nature, why having a voice matters. Creativity does matter and can help us emotively impact all to make the change. Whether it is as small as not littering, or reducing food waste, or talking about it and being the advocate for positive change nature needs.

Outside of work, I am a Trustee for the Arts University Plymouth Charitable Trust, where I am part of a wonderful group of Trustees that work on enabling access to and development within creative learning. A free way you can support us is by adding the Easy Fundraising to your browser when shopping online.  Up until earlier this year, I was also part of the Tate St Ives Collective Producers, I had the opportunity to be part of the Collective events, studio visits, research days and all whilst meeting local and like-minded creatives.

Although, I get very little time and haven’t got the space in Cornwall to create large scale installations, I am actively informing my practice as an artist through private commissions through my website, www.annadermitzaki.com. My latest venture involves developing my curatorial profile, community and collaborating through Studio Dermitzaki on instagram. I am working with the Edot team to launch in the very near future (date yet to be set). I think being proactive (not just in your nine to five) really helps in the creative industry. Being curious, seeking opportunities for ongoing development, reflecting on what is important to your values and being conscious of environmental impact.

Is there any one thing that inspired you to get involved with fine art in the first place?

I was always ‘arty’ and my parents always encouraged me to be creative, through arts and crafts, baking, gardening and fundamentally playing. I remember my dad telling me, I could be anything, study anything, but with this I need to have good grades as this would give me a wider pool of options to choose from.  He wasn’t wrong! They encouraged and enabled me to follow the path I was drawn to.

I went to a comprehensive secondary school, and as the fresh foreign kid in a school – there were lots to learn. Culture was an important - I think I was in year nine, picking my GCSE subjects - I had not actively heard of the term ‘Fine Art’. In English, this was not within my vocabulary, and I remember talking to my teacher. They could see my potential, and that is the encouragement you need, I was lucky enough to have teachers that guided me through my prospective education plan. I always saw myself going to university, somewhere I knew I would thrive.

I remember being with my family, it was 2012 and the Olympics were going on, and Yayoi Kusama had just released her collaboration with Louis Vuitton. She’d created these bags with polka dots, but also, she had fully immersed art into the stores. I was captivated by the immersive experience and how art is part of life, outside of the gallery context. The immersive experience, the impact it had on me and what it made me feel and think then and now (twelve years on). I think that’s where my interest grew for immersive art.

What’s the most valuable thing you took away from your education?

Putting aside the experience and the knowledge that you gain, my biggest takeaway has been my network, whether that's lecturers, visiting artists, my peers – I’m still good friends with a lot of them – or alumni. It opens a lot of doors, whether that might be for your career, or personal life. I personally value university and higher education so it might be me being a bit biased, but it does enable you to have all these opportunities to flourish within whichever field you choose to go into.

My time on my master’s year allowed me to experiment, trial new ways of working, discuss discourse with academics and students, refining what my next step would be professionally. My education gave me the tools I needed to choose what I would like to make of my career and life.

Which aspects of the MA Fine Art most helped your career development, and why?

It was on the MA course that I realised how much I enjoyed curation, and how this influences not only the artwork and exhibition but how you interpret it as the viewer. The Course Leader, Dr Veronique Chance, played a big part in my career development, seeking opportunities for all her students - such as curating our own exhibition and exhibiting (outside of the course modules).  

My fellow coursemates all came from various backgrounds. Some were like me (straight from an undergrad), but most had experience working. I was able to learn a lot from them, and that's when I realised I really wanted to be part of the curation, so I started to seek out curating and exhibition posts.

What piece of advice would you give to your younger self?

The best advice I could give to my younger self, or anyone really, is do not rush. Take things as they are. Take your time. It's okay to make mistakes. And write it all down. Any experience, whether that's an internship or voluntary placement, write how you think it went, what you did, as a professional journal to reflect on.

It is not a race. After my MA, I thought that I was going to go straight onto a PhD. That's always kind of been my aspiration, that I still want to refine my research, but that’s not how it happened, and that’s ok. Earlier this year I was awarded the Eden Project employee Development Fund, and am currently completing a short, credited course with Harvard University. There are always opportunities and education can be ongoing. It doesn’t stop because you are no longer in ‘full-time education’. If you are a planner like me, see it as an opportunity and learning experience, when your plans take a different route.

What was your favourite thing about studying in Cambridge, and what did you learn about the city that you didn’t know before?

Perhaps because I partially grew up in Cambridgeshire and my family live in Cambridge, I knew that financially I would need to live at home for my MA and the course at ARU had an excellent course framework and would push me academically, creatively and professionally.  I vividly remember attending the course Open Day, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.  I was impressed by the course, facilities and foremost the staff, specifically Dr Veronique Chance who I instantly saw was very passionate about the course and students. It was the best decision I made.

I became more involved in curation and aware of Cambridge’s art and culture scene. Everyone knows about the Fitzwilliam Museum and Kettle’s Yard. This was the time I explored The Women's Art Collection, Heong Gallery, Wysing Arts Centre and many newer or pop-up galleries or art spaces. Opportunities to see curators in conversations with artists. Some are paid, some are free. It is a thriving city, for the creative industries, and not just art. It's music, theatre – it’s great, and opens your eyes up more to the city. I think the vast opportunities and great transport links means you are always connected.