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The Municipal Art Gallery "L. Kanakakis" was founded in 1992. From the beginning it was housed in a Venetian building, in the heart of the old historical city of Rethymno, below the Fortetsa and the Archaeological Museum. In its Permanent Collection it has works by Lefteris Kanakaki (oils, drawings, watercolors) representatively covering the entire course of his work and works by contemporary Greek artists covering a wide range of contemporary Greek visual reality from 1950 to today.
In 1995, Rethymno joined the National Cultural Network of Cities with the establishment of the Center for Contemporary Visual Creation, which focused the Gallery's activities on contemporary art. The Center for Contemporary Visual Creation of Rethymno has developed strong activity in the field of periodical exhibitions of local, national and international interest in collaboration with many organizations in Greece and abroad. All events are accompanied by parallel events (lectures, educational programs, speeches, seminars, etc.). The exhibition activity of the K.S.ED.-Municipal Gallery "L. Kanakakis" is completed with the publication of catalogs and other forms of an educational or informative nature. At the same time, since 1995, under the responsibility of K.S.ED., art workshops have been operating.
KSED Rethymno during its operation has developed relations and collaborations with European state and private bodies and has participated in European cultural programs with considerable success. He has presented important exhibitions with Greek and foreign artists, his own productions or in collaboration with organizations such as the National Gallery of Athens, the Center Georges Pompidou in Paris, the British Council and has organized conferences.
At the same time, he has given special importance to educational programs with activities that extend beyond the Art Workshops, which operate in Rethymnon, within the framework of the Network of Art Workshops Program established by the Ministry of Education. It receives three to five schools every day, has established permanent, daily, guided tours and educational programs for elementary, middle school, high school children, but also for adults, as well as open art history lectures on a weekly basis.
The Center already has an important collection of works of art, which, apart from the main body of works by Lefteris Kanakaki, has been built up by donations from artists.
Source: Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete
www.rca.gr