Although science and technology are highly visual enterprises, historians of science and technology, tend to stick to their texts and archival sources. Instead, I got interested in museum studies and the visual representation of her scholarly work. Together with Greek-Austrian architect Spiros Flevaris I worked on a traveling exhibition about tobacco in Greece, which was presented in five museums throughout the country. Being under the Auspices of H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic Dr. Karolos Papoulias, the exhibition was last hosted at the prestigious Benaki Museum in Athens the summer of 2014.

The exhibition «ΚΑΠΝΟΣ | TOBACCO» [1] views oriental tobacco from a variety of historical perspectives and presents it as a multifaceted commercial product. From the needles used in the stringing of the leaves, the spiking process in the villages, the ‘tonga’ process for bundling tobacco leaves and the wooden chests used in commercial processing, to the imposing tobacco warehouses of northern Greece and the intricately made cigarette cases and packs in Athens and Thessaloniki, the exhibition presents the history of tobacco and, through it, an important part of the history of Greece. 

The exhibition illuminates the different aspects of tobacco through rare objects from collections abroad, records from Greek archive holdings and photographic material from private and public collections.

Exhibition curator: Spiros Flevaris

Historical  advisor: Maria Rentetzi 
English text: Spyros Petrounakos