Last Updated on October 13, 2026
A fixture of New York’s cultural landscape, Waldorf Astoria New York, presents a new artist-in-residence partnership with award-winning multidisciplinary artist and storyteller Evi Photopoulos, taking place from through Saturday, November 7, 2026. Rooted in the artist’s signature themes of mythology, memory, nature, and transformation, the residency, titled A Living World, will turn the hotel into a living, breathing work of art, bringing museum-caliber installations and only-found-here artist experiences to the famed Waldorf Astoria New York for a month of unparalleled performances and sessions.
For the duration of the residency, Peacock Alley Corridor will serve as Photopoulos’s working studio, performance venue, and gallery, becoming the setting for a month of live performances, interactive masterclasses, and daily live painting sessions open to hotel guests and visitors alike.
“The first time I encountered Evi’s work I was stopped in my tracks, and I knew immediately that feeling belonged at Waldorf Astoria New York,” said Luigi Romaniello, managing director, Waldorf Astoria New York. “Evi doesn’t confine herself to a single medium, she moves between painting, film, music, and performance with complete fluency, and there is no stage in New York better suited to that kind of artistry than this hotel. Waldorf Astoria New York has always been more than a place to stay. It is a place where New York comes to be inspired, connected, and moved. This isn’t an artist exhibiting at our hotel, it’s Waldorf Astoria New York continuing a role we’ve played in this city for nearly a century, as a cultural institution and creative stage, and inviting Evi to create openly among our guests, residents, and neighbors is our way of sharing that spirit with the city itself.”
With a career spanning more than 200 exhibitions worldwide and works held in museum collections across the United States, Europe, and Asia, Photopoulos is an artist who defies a single medium. A painter, filmmaker, author, and lyricist – honored at the Cannes Film Festival Short Corner and awarded the New York Script Awards Grand Prix – she creates to bridge worlds: myth and modernity, the human and the environmental, the personal and the universal. That vision takes physical form in monumental canvases layered with oil, 24K gold, silver, and Swarovski crystals, alongside intricate ink works on paper. Beyond the studio, her practice extends to global social impact, from championing clean-water initiatives and education programs to speaking at the Global Summit of Women at the United Nations.
“The architecture and history of Waldorf Astoria New York carry a kind of mythology of their own, and a sense of place that has held its shape and character across generations,” said Photopoulos. “That resonates with the ideas at the center of this project. A Living World takes its shape from the image of a tree: its branches reaching toward light and visibility, while roots move silently through darkness, resistance, and growth. Presented within these historic walls, that structure becomes visible, allowing guests to encounter not only finished works but the process itself, as painting, performance, and memory form in real time. There is something fitting about this project coming to life inside a building that has witnessed so many stories of its own. It feels less like an exhibition and more like a conversation, granting permission for those who experience it to find their own growth and adaptation.”
Throughout her residency, Photopoulos will invite guests into her creative world through three distinct experiences. Twelve intimate sessions – three per week, held across two formats – offer guests a rare, up-close meeting with the artist. Additionally, daily live painting invites guests to watch her creative process unfold in real time.
- The Performance Series – Held each Tuesday from 5:00 to 5:45PM and Saturdays from 2:00 – 2:45PM in the Peacock Alley Corridor, The Performance Series is a theatrical presentation combining live painting, short films, music, and storytelling. Each session will feel personal, intimate, and inspired, with regularly rotating themes that captivate audiences and offer a rare, up-close interaction with the artist at work. This experience is complimentary, but reservations are required and can be made here.
- Masterclass Tea and Technique: Roots and Wings – Expanding the offering into an afternoon in the company of the artist, each Wednesday’s Roots and Wings Masterclass offers guests the rare opportunity to participate in an interactive, guided, and hands-on experience. Participants will be invited into Photopoulos’s living art studio at Waldorf Astoria New York where they can transform their memories, instincts, and personal experiences into an original work of art that they can take home with them. Following the masterclass, the group will enjoy Japanese-inspired afternoon tea presented by one of the hotel’s signature restaurants, Yoshoku, and offered in true Waldorf Astoria New York tradition that reimagines history and modern craft in equal measure. This is New York’s most personal invitation into the practice of a working artist, and offers the kind of access found only at the address where the city’s cultural life has always gathered. The Roots and Wings Masterclass will take place every Wednesday throughout the exhibition, from 12:00 to 2:30 PM. Tickets cost $345 per person and reservations can be made here.
- Daily Live Painting – Between 3:00 and 5:00 PM each day, guests can discover Photopoulos at work in the Peacock Alley Corridor, transformed into a living studio in full public view. Unscripted and open to all with no reservations required, these daily sessions offer a rare glimpse into the artist’s process as her canvases take shape, and the chance to connect, engage, and become inspired through time spent with the artist herself.
Anchoring the residency is a curated installation of 27 works displayed throughout the first floor, transforming the hotel’s most storied promenade into an evolving gallery. Spanning monumental canvases in oil and precious metals to delicate ink drawings, the installation invites guests into Photopoulos’ mythopoetic world with every passing step. The residency also extends into a limited-edition retail collaboration: Lilly Bee, a collection of silk scarves and pocket squares conceived by Photopoulos exclusively for Waldorf Astoria New York.
The partnership continues the momentum of the hotel’s celebrated return following the completion of an extensive multi-year restoration last year. Waldorf Astoria New York has quickly reclaimed its place as a pillar of New York’s cultural heartbeat, and with this residency, adds to the growing roster of programming and activations that have defined its return, carrying forward a role the hotel has held for nearly a century as the address where the city’s cultural life gathers, celebrates, and finds inspiration.
For more information, please visit https://www.
About Waldorf Astoria New York
Waldorf Astoria New York has been a fixture of New York City society for more than a century, earning its place as a beacon of sophistication and elegance in the cultural capital of the world. When the hotel opened in 1931, it had such grandeur that Hilton founder Conrad Hilton declared the property “The Greatest of Them All.”
Following complete transformation led by renowned architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with interior design by Pierre-Yves Rochon, the property retains the scale and beauty of the original Art Deco architecture reimagined with fresh contemporary furnishings that pay homage to the original Waldorf Astoria New York while ushering in a new era for the hotel and building upon Conrad Hilton’s vision. The 375-room hotel features some of Manhattan’s largest rooms and suites that embody the spirit of New York. Above the hotel sits 372 private residences, ranging from studios to four bedrooms, with interiors designed by Jean-Louis Deniot and access to 50,000-square-feet of amenities.
In addition, hotel guests, residents and visitors have access to a holistic wellness program, including a state-of-the-art fitness center along with Guerlain Wellness Spa spanning 22,000 square feet. Unmatched culinary offerings include Lex Yard, a standout signature restaurant helmed by acclaimed Chef Michael Anthony, the return of Peacock Alley in partnership with renowned Mixologist Jeff Bell and Yoshoku, a Japanese dining experience.
The property also features 43,000 square feet of modernized event space including a striking new opera-inspired Grand Ballroom set to be the crown jewel of New York City’s entertainment scene.
