Thanos

Thanos Vassilakis was born into the center of the international avant-garde. The son of kinetic sculptor Takis and artist Liliane Lijin, his foundational education took place not in traditional classrooms, but inside the studios and galleries that shaped contemporary art. Growing up immersed in the physical mechanics of creation, he served as a serious, hands-on assistant in his parents' studios. This worldview was further refined within the household of his de facto godfather, Alexander Iolas, and by growing up alongside Renos Xippas. Married to the artist Lydia Venieri, his life has remained intrinsically tethered to the art world. Rebelling against his father’s wish that he become an art dealer, Thanos found himself by accident in the addictive world of computer programming. His early career became a masterclass in eclectic problem-solving: collaborating on pioneering machine learning frameworks, coding for Atari, developing real-time operating systems for military helicopters, and working on the Apple Newton. Over the past four decades, he has built everything from foundational web infrastructure and best-selling mobile apps to the New York Stock Exchange’s first internet-based production system. He currently serves as a Distinguished Engineer at the Royal Bank of Canada, where he leads technology groups focused on modernizing legacy enterprise systems. For the Mykonos Biennale, Thanos offers a rare synthesis of these two worlds. He pairs a native, lifelong understanding of how artists and the art world operate with the structural and strategic vision of a technologist.