ALEXIA ACHILLEOS
Email: alexia (dot) achilleos (at) gmail (dot) com
Web: alexiaachilleos.com
IG: @alexia.achilleos
Alexia Achilleos is a Finnish-Cypriot artist and researcher, with a background in fine art, archaeology and cultural studies. Her work explores the power dynamics shaping technology, with reference to history, culture and geopolitics. With a current focus on artificial intelligence (AI), Alexia examines its impact from a local perspective. Her work re-interprets dominant narratives and questions biases found within history and society, but also within AI technology itself, particularly challenging the idea of technology as universal and objective.
Alexia’s work has been presented at institutions and conferences such as Ars Electronica festival, Civic Creative Base Tokyo, Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), NeurIPS Workshop on Machine Learning for Creativity and Design, and World Intellectual Property Organisation. She is a PhD Fellow at CYENS Centre of Excellence, undertaking practice-based research on colonialism and AI, as well as a Research Associate at the Media Art & Design Research Lab (MADLab) at Cyprus University of Technology.
EDUCATION
Doctoral studies, Cyprus University of Technology, 2022 – ongoing
Grad Dip Archaeology, University College London, UK, 2014 – 2015
MA Cultural and Creative Industries, Kingʼs College London, UK, 2009 – 2010
BA (Hons) Fine Art, University of East London, UK, 2005 – 2009
MEMBERSHIPS
[Vice-president] NeMe, Cyprus
[Member] Artists’ Association MUU, Finland
[Member] M-Cult, Finland
RESEARCH
PhD Fellow – Research Associate, ITICA, CYENS – Centre of Excellence, Cyprus, 2022 – present
Research Associate, Media Art & Design Research Lab (MADLab), Cyprus University of Technology, 2020 – present
Research Associate, Museum Lab, CYENS – Centre of Excellence, Cyprus, 2021 – 2022
Research Associate, Semiotics and Visual Communication Lab, Cyprus University of Technology, 2021
PRESENTATIONS / LECTURES
[Forthcoming] [Conference presentation] The AI Colonialism Board Game: Play as a Critical Artistic Medium and Method for Collaborative Speculation, Alexia Achilleos. ISEA 2025, Seoul, Republic of Korea. May 2025
[Talk] Exploring AI, Colonialism, and Feminism through artist games, “Entangled Homes” by FIFTITU%, part of Ars Electronica Festival 2024, Linz, Austria, 2024
[Roundtable] “混沌に愛／遭い” (Love/Encounter in Chaos), Civic Creative Base Tokyo, Japan, June 2024
[Presentation] “Το AI στη σύγχρονη ζωή”, CYENS – Centre of Excellence, Nicosia, Cyprus, February 2024
[Lecture] Feminist AI lecture series #4, with Paola Ricaurte Quijano, University of the Arts Linz, November 2023
[Lecture] “Data and Postcolonial thinking and related artworks / AI and the arts” with Theopisti Stylianou Lambert), Critical Data module, University of the Arts Linz, November 2023
[Presentation]”Colonialism, data and AI: Re-examining the past, empowering for the future” European Culture & Creativity Days Bologna, Italy, October 2023
[Presentation] Poster Session, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria, September 2023
[Presentation] The Archive of Unnamed Workers, Glitch and Photography III: Metamorphosis and New Ecologies Symposium, Hasselblad Foundation, Gothenburg, Sweden, June 2023
[Conference presentation] “ΑΠΟαποικιοΠΟΙΗΣΗ: Decolonisation through poetry”, Many Worlds of AI: Intercultural Approaches to the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence conference, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at University of Cambridge, UK, April 2023
[Talk] “ΑΠΟαποικιοΠΟΙΗΣΗ: Decolonisation through linguistic creations”, Data for Care, NeMe, Cyprus, April 2023
[Talk] Book launch: ΑποαποικιοΠΟΙΗΣΗ: Γλωσσοπλάσματα που μηχανές τζ̆αι πλάσματα, Synergeio Cultural Space, Cyprus, February 2023
[Talk] Book launch: ΑποαποικιοΠΟΙΗΣΗ: Γλωσσοπλάσματα που μηχανές τζ̆αι πλάσματα, CYENS – Centre of Excellence, Nicosia, Cyprus, February 2023
[Talk] “ΑΠΟαποικιοΠΟΙΗΣΗ”, WIP 2022: Brave New Humanity, CYENS – Centre of Excellence, Nicosia, Cyprus, Nov 2022
[Talk] “GAN as a tool of postcolonial practice”, Forking Room 2022, Post Territory Ujeongguk, Seoul, Republic of Korea, June 2022
[Talk] “Cyprus as AI Saw It: Perpetuating Colonialism”, Data As Common Ground, CYENS, Cyprus, April 2022
[Conference presentation] “Cyprus as AI Saw It: Digital Colonialism and AttnGAN Text-to-Image Synthesis”, xCoAx 2021, Graz, Austria/online, July 2021
[Conference presentation] “Experience of collective ideation and proposal drafting online (MADLab experience)” ALT: Web as a Café, Ukrainian Institute, Ukraine/online, June 2021
[Conference presentation] “A Case of Decolonial AttnGAN Text-to-Image Synthesis”. New Materialist Informatics 2021: Computing and Worldmaking, University of Kassel, Germany/online March 2021
WORKSHOPS
Beyond (the sea and) uncanny valleys and American smiles, WIP Festival 2024, CYENS – Centre of Excellence, Nicosia, Cyprus, October 2024
Beyond (the sea and) uncanny valleys and American smiles, Lets Play! Angewandte Festival 2024, Vienna, Austria, June 2024
“The AI Colonialism board game: Exploring the impact of artificial intelligence on Cyprus through collaborative playing”, WIP 2023: Modes of Creation, CYENS – Centre of Excellence, Nicosia, Cyprus, October 2023
The Archive of Unnamed Workers, Glitch and Photography III: Metamorphosis and New Ecologies Hasselblad Foundation, Gothenburg, Sweden, June 2023
AI colonialism, Xarkis festival 2022, Cyprus, 2022
PUBLICATIONS
Alexia Achilleos. 2025. The AI Colonialism Board Game: Play as a Critical Artistic Medium and Method for Collaborative Speculation, Alexia Achilleos. In proceedings of ISEA 2025, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Stylianou-Lambert, Theopisti, and Alexia Achilleos. 2025. ‘Οι σκιές της Κυπριακής αρχαιολογίας’. In The Image in Archaeological and Museum Narratives. Edited by Fotis Ifantidis & Anastasia Chourmouziadi, University of the Aegean, Greece
Stylianou-Lambert, Theopisti, and Alexia Achilleos. 2024. ‘The Archive of Unnamed Workers: Examining the Legacy of Colonial-Era Photography in AI’. In The Routledge Companion to Global Photographies. Routledge, London
[editor] Alexia Achilleos, Armostis, Spyros and Sokratous, Eleftheria. 2022. ΑΠΟαποικιοΠΟΙΗΣΗ: Γλωσσοπλάσματα που μηχανές τζ̆αι πλάσματα. Ypogia Skini, Cyprus. ISBN 978-9925-7972-0-2
Marinos Koutsomichalis and Achilleos, Alexia. 2022. Reinventing the Colonial Gaze Employing AI: a Case Study. In proceedings of ISEA2022, Barcelona, Spain.
[contributor] Frankenstein Reanimated: Conversations with Artists in Dystopian Times, edited by Marc Garrett and Yiannis Colakides (Torque, 2022)
Marinos Koutsomichalis and Achilleos, Alexia. 2021. Cyprus as AI Saw It: Digital Colonialism and AttnGAN Text to Image Synthesis. In Proceedings of the 9th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X (xCoAx 21). Graz AT & Online.
Marinos Koutsomichalis and Achilleos, Alexia. 2021. A Case of De-colonialist AttnGAN Text to Image Synthesis. New Materialist Informatics 2021: Computing and Worldmaking. Kassel, DE & Online.
EXHIBITIONS / SCREENINGS / PERFORMANCES
[Forthcoming] Open Studio, Tokyo Arts and Space, Japan, 2025.
[Forthcoming] Kunsten at fejle / The Art of Failing 1: Bugs and Metamorphosis, Kunsthal Aarhus, Denmark, 2025.
The World Through AI, Jeu de Paume, Paris, France, 2025. Curated by Antonio Somaini, Ada Ackerman, Alexandre Gefen, Pia Viewing.
Bugs & Metamorphosis: Glitching Photography, Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2025. Curated by Louise Wolthers and Nina Mangalanayagam.
Other Intelligences, Other Natures, NeMe Arts Centre, Limassol, Cyprus, October 2024. Curated by Barbara Cueto and Bas Hendrikx.
AI & Art: Navigating New Creative Landscapes, NeMe Arts Centre, Limassol, Cyprus, June 2024
“混沌に愛／遭い” (Love/Encounter in Chaos), Civic Creative Base Tokyo, Japan, June 2024. Curated by Yukiko Shikata and Marinos Koutsomichalis
radical collectives, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria, September 2023. Curated by Manuela Naveau
ReReScaping, Spinnerei Archiv Massiv, Leipzig, Germany, 2023
Festival De Arte Emergente MUCHO + MAYO 2023, Cartagena, Spain, 2023
In the Sea of the Setting Sun: Contemporary Photographic Practices and the Archive, SPEL – State Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cyprus, 2022-2023. Curated by Elena Stylianou
ReScaping, Limassol Municipal Arts Centre, Cyprus, 2022
Canary in the Synthetisphere, Forking Room 2022, Ujeongguk, Seoul, South Korea, 2022
Arboreal Collective, NeMe, Limassol, Cyprus, 2022
ΑΠΟαποικιοΠΟΙΗΣΗ, Synergeio Cultural Space, Cyprus, 2022
+axi 2021, Synergeio Cultural Space, Cyprus, 2021
Tetramatyka 2021, Lviv, Ukraine, 2021
Computer vision gallery, Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) 2021, virtual, June 2021
One Day Express Lab, Dance House Lemesos, Cyprus, June 2021
Αν-follow, Synergeio Cultural Space, Cyprus, 2021
NeurIPS Creativity 2020, aiartonline.com, virtual, 2020
Ollphéist, Ormston House, Limerick, Ireland, 2020
50 Shorts vs. Covid-19, International Short Film Festival of Cyprus, 2020
WIPO: Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property, World Intellectual Property Organisation, virtual, 2020
Φύλα’ τες τσαέρες σου, να ‘σ̆εις τες μισές – The Phini Chair, Phini Cultural Centre, Cyprus, 2020
Children of Prometheus, NeMe, Limassol, Cyprus, 2019
Through Other Eyes, NeMe, Limassol, Cyprus, 2019
RESIDENCIES
Tokyo Art and Space, Japan, 2025
REVIEWS & PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEES
Society for American Archaeology, “Advances in Archaeological Practice” 2025
International Association of Photography and Theory, 7th International Conference of Photography & Theory (ICPT 2024) “Deathscapes: Histories of Photography And Contemporary Photographic Practices”
Philosophy of Photography special issue, “Expanded Visualities’ (2023)
GRANTS / AWARDS
Cultural Services, Deputy Ministry of Culture (Cyprus), €1800, 2022
Frame Contemporary Art Finland, €2000, 2022
“50 shorts vs. Covid-19”, Ministry of Education of Culture (Cyprus), €1000, 2020
Paulo Foundation (Finland), €1500, 2019
TAIKE (Finland), €3000, Apus Apus exhibition, 2017
CO-ORDINATION OF EU-FUNDED PROJECTS
[Lead] Toolkit of Care, COST Action CA21102, 2022 – 2026
[Lead] Mediterranean Young Talent (YOTA), EASME/COSME/2014/003
[Participating partner] WORTH Pilot Project, Ref No. 293/PP/ENT/CIP/13/B/N02C05, COSME
OTHER PROJECT CO-ORDINATION
Feminist AI lecture series, Critical Data at University of Art Linz, 2023 – present
TEACHING / MENTORING
Expert in Critical Perspectives in Generative AI, Upskilling Creatives through AI, Cyprus University of Technology, 2024 – 2025
Teaching Assistant, School of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology, Autumn 2024
Teaching Assistant, Curatorial Practices module, School of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology, Spring 2024
Programming Multimedia module, BA Multimedia & Graphic Arts, School of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology, 2022
Mentor, Critical Data, MA Interface Cultures at University for Art & Design Linz, Austria, 2021
A level/GCSE Art & Design, Private tutoring, 2018 – 2023
A level/IGCSE Art & Design, Pascal Private School, Limassol, Cyprus, 2019 – 2020
INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
University of the Arts London (UAL), UK. Projects Coordinator. 2015 – 2018
Barbican Centre, London, UK. Barbican International Enterprises Administrator. 2011 – 2014
Marc Quinn Studio, London, UK. Studio assistant. 2008 – 2009
Alexia Achilleos 