Rituals of Industrial Memory
Taking place from February to May 2026, the British Council and Onassis ONX deliver the Circular Cultures Design School (CCDS) for the third consecutive year, with a focused emphasis on materiality, industrial memory and place-based community engagement.
The Circular Cultures Design School aims to serve as a platform for peer learning, a collaborative workspace and a hub for creative minds to converge. With a primary focus on raising awareness of sustainable design and circularity, we will foster critical discussions and empower creative leaders and practitioners with enhanced skills and knowledge.
The 2026 edition explores pressing environmental challenges in Athens – with particular attention to the wider Rentis area – it focuses on issues such as air quality, waste and landfill, water and infrastructure, and the critical shortage of green spaces. These conditions provide a lens through which to examine the complex relationships between humans and their environments, raising questions around systems, control, identity, presence and industrial heritage.
The programme emphasises collaborative co-creation, enabling participants to explore industrial memory, urban ecology and the interplay between material, social and digital worlds, while encouraging speculative, future-oriented approaches.
Lead Artist – Hana Omori, Keiken
Hana Omori constructs immersive narrative ecosystems across games, installation, film, performance, sculpture, architecture and soft robotics. Grounded in sensory, embodied and lived experience, her work prototypes speculative futures through experiential systems.
Founded in 2015 by Tanya Cruz, Hana Omori and Isabel Ramos, Keiken is an artist collective that collaboratively builds and imagines speculative futures to test-drive new ways of existing. Their practice spans filmmaking, gaming, installation, XR, blockchain and performance. Keiken are recipients of the Chanel Next Prize and The Lumen Prize, and are artists in residence at Somerset House, London.
Recent and selected exhibitions include: Amos Rex, Helsinki (2024); 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; KANAL–Centre Pompidou, Brussels; Helsinki Biennial; HAU, Berlin (2023); CO Berlin; Wellcome Collection, London; ARKO Art Centre, Seoul; Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf; Plásmata, Onassis Stegi, Athens (2022); Thailand Biennale, Korat; HEK, Basel; 17th Venice Architecture Biennale; Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (2021); FACT, Liverpool; transmediale, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin (2020); ICA, London; Jerwood Arts, London (2019).
Programme stages
Stage 1: February 2026 – Masterclass and Field Research
The programme began with a site visit to Greece by the Lead Artist. During this visit, the Lead Designer delivered a masterclass centred on the theme of CCDS 2026 – materiality, transformation and industrial memory – and familiarised themselves with the Onassis Ready space and the wider Rentis–Elaionas area. The masterclass was addressed to previous CCDS participants (alumni 2024–25).
Stage 2: March to May 2026 – Prototyping (Virtual)
Participants are invited to submit individual project proposals, co-create a project, or engage in another collaborative development format. The structure of this phase – whether proposal-led, co-creative, or hybrid – is defined by the Lead Artist as part of their curatorial and pedagogical approach. (mentoring sessions)
Stage 3: May 2026 – Circular Cultures Design School 2026
CCDS 26 will welcome up to 20 new participants from relevant fields (designers, architects etc.) extending the programme beyond the alumni cohort and introducing new perspectives into the shared exploration of materiality, industrial memory, circularity and place-based transformation.
Circular Culture Design School 2026 participants will include artists, designers, architects, landscape and horticultural professionals, urbanists, urban planners and placemakers, sustainability experts and advisors, design studios, creative agencies and product design studios.
Curated by:
- Maria Papaioannou, Head of Arts, British Council Greece
- Prodromos Tsiavos, Head of Digital Policy and Development, Onassis Foundation
- Katia Stewart, Architecture, Design and Fashion Programme Manager, British Council
About Circular Cultures
Circular Cultures is part of the British Council global programme Making Matters, which aims to foster a global dialogue around the topic of circular design. The multi-disciplinary programme explores how principles of the circular economy can be a catalyst for creativity, collaboration and regenerative thinking within architecture, design and fashion practice. The programme aims to embed a more critical dialogue around design and circularity, develop the skills and knowledge of creative leaders, and create new EU-UK networks around circularity and making cultures.
In Greece, Circular Cultures is organised in collaboration with Onassis ONX and is an integral part of the broader collaboration between the British Council and the Onassis Foundation aimed at the development of an ongoing and action-oriented public space for ethical crafts, circular design, materials and fashion sustainability.
View previous editions of Circular Cultures.
Information
For further information, please contact Maria Papaioannou at Maria.Papaioannou@britishcouncil.gr.
The Circular Cultures Design School is co-produced with Onassis Foundation’s international digital arts programme Onassis ONX.