Vivi Touloumidi

Vivi Touloumidi is a contextual artist, researcher, and craftswoman currently serving as an Associate Professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp where she focuses on artistic research. Born in Greece in 1977, she holds an MFA from Konstfack University in Stockholm and completed her PhD in the Arts through the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (ARIA) in 2022. Her academic career includes teaching positions at multiple European institutions and extensive research in the intersection of art, cultural activism, and craft disciplines.

Her research interests focus on wearable and portable art as mediums for sociopolitical expression, particularly examining how body-related objects can position individuals within the public realm and carry messages of resistance and social change. Her doctoral research culminated in the artist book Pharmakos, Adornment as a Social Tool (2022), which investigates adornment as an agent to address social discomfort, repression, and marginalization. She co-organizes the METHOD/ART artistic research seminar series since 2020 and has delivered lectures at numerous international conferences including PARSE in Sweden.

Touloumidi's publications reveal a strong focus on the political dimensions of adornment, with recent works examining topics such as 'The World-Shifting Qualities of Adornment' (2023) and 'From identities to fulfil, towards conditions to live by' (2025). Her research consistently bridges historical analysis with contemporary social issues, particularly exploring how jewelry functions as a medium for social commentary and resistance.

• 11th Hanau City Goldsmith (2025)
• Friedrich Becker Preis nominee (2023, 2017, 2011)
• SCHMUCK_Herbert Hofmann Prize nominee (2017)
• ITAMI Award nominee (2017, 2011)
• Cominelli Foundation Award nominee (2014)

As an educator, Touloumidi has supervised numerous students through workshops and academic programs across Europe. She serves on juries for educational and field-based evaluations and has contributed to the development of artistic research methodologies through her co-curation of the METHOD/ART seminar series. Her work resides in major collections including The Marzee Collection (NL), Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim (DE), and Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum (GR). She maintains active studio practices in both Berlin and Antwerp while continuing to develop her research on the social agency of adornment.