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Most of our participants change jobs, move, or make new commitments to loved ones after their Odysseys
Experiences
Odyssey Works 25th Anniversary Odyssey
Call for Participants
Zakynthos, Greece — June 11–13, 2026
In 2026, Odyssey Works celebrates its 25th anniversary. To honour a quarter-century of crafting profound, personalised, site-specific experiences around the world, we are returning to the waters that inspired our very name: the Ionian Sea.
The story of Odysseus — navigating trials, transformations, and ultimately homecoming — has been at the heart of our practice since the beginning. Next year, the journey continues on the island of Zakynthos, a neighbour to legendary Ithaca among the Ionian Islands.
One carefully selected Participant will receive a highly personalised, immersive experience designed exclusively for them. Surrounded by crystal-clear waters and dramatic Ionian landscapes, the Participant will embark on a journey informed by their own history, values, curiosities, and dreams — crafted by a diverse ensemble of artists, designers, and collaborators.
If your application is selected, your entire Odyssey in Greece is completely free. Your only financial responsibility is to get yourself to Zakynthos.
Please return your application to admin@odysseyworks.org.
ARE YOU THE ONE WE'RE LOOKING FOR?
We're seeking someone with:
A spirit of curiosity and reflection
A willingness to engage closely with others
An openness to transformation
Availability to travel to Zakynthos, Greece
Availability on June 11–13, 2026
21 years or older
No previous experience, skills, or artistic background are required.
PRACTICAL DETAILS
- Applications are open now through December 15, 2025
- If selected, you must travel to Zakynthos at your own expense
- Once you arrive, we will provide:
- Accommodation
- Nourishment
- All activities, experiences, and materials
Your responsisbility is simply to reach the island — and to show up fully
Each Odyssey Begins with a Life
We study our participants for months—reading what they read, walking where they walk, listening to what stirs them. Then we build from that research a transformative experience that speaks to the core of their being.
“I thought it was coincidence. But then everything became meaningful.”—Laura Espino
How Is an Odyssey Created?
Step One —
DEEP RESEARCH
We spend months studying the participant’s life—with their consent—interviewing loved ones, reading what they read, listening to their favorite music, walking their neighborhoods.
Step Two —
IMMERSION
A team of artists comes together to ask, "What do we wish for this person?" We begin to design an experience that might include: chance encounters, surprise letters, enigmatic gifts, shared meals, and intimate moments that ripple with deeper meaning.
Step Three —
THE ODYSSEY
A durational experience unfolds—pulling the participant through a designed spiral of symbolic moments, storytelling, and space. It’s as real as life itself. And often, changes it.
THE APPLICATION
Our application is substantial and typically takes several hours to complete. Start early, be thoughtful, and take your time — your answers help shape the experience we create.
We genuinely treasure the opportunity to read the stories, hopes, and imaginings that applicants share with us.
WHY THE IONIAN ISLANDS?
Just as Odysseus once sailed these waters on his path home from Troy, our selected Participant will move through a landscape steeped in myth: cliffs and coves, ancient olive groves, and shifting horizons — a fitting setting for personal journeying.
This Odyssey is part of our 25-year celebration, looking back to our origins while charting a new course.
Frequently Asked Questions
An Odyssey is a highly personalised, immersive experience created by Odyssey Works for one selected individual. We have been crafting these experiences for individuals for 25 years. Each Odyssey is crafted in response to the participant’s life, interests, challenges, dreams, and values. It may involve elements of performance, encounters, installations, journeys. Every Odyssey is different shaped to the individual participant.
2026 marks Odyssey Works’ 25th anniversary. To honour the origins of our name — inspired by Odysseus’s long journey home across the Ionian Sea — we are returning to these mythic waters. Zakynthos, a neighbour to Ithaca, offers a rich landscape of sea, cliffs, olive groves, and hidden stories.
No. Although Greek mythology has always informed our ethos, this is the first Odyssey that will take place in Greece. Previous Odysseys have taken place in Mexico, across the United States, Portugal and France.
Anyone aged 21 or older. We welcome applications of all backgrounds and walks of life. No artistic experience or specific skill set is required.
One. Each Odyssey is designed exclusively for a single participant.
June 11–13, 2026. We ask applicants to ensure they are fully available for these dates.
December 15, 2025.
Most applicants need several hours. We encourage you to start early, answer thoughtfully, and return to your answers over time.
Accommodation is provided on Zakynthos. Details are shared with the selected participant prior to arrival.
While you will likely encounter others during your Odyssey, the experience centers entirely around you — your narrative, reflections, and responses. There may be times where you are alone and other moments when you’re in company.
Activities are tailored to the selected participant. We ask about physical considerations within the application and design accordingly. Safety, comfort, and consent are prioritised.
Yes. We endeavour to make each Odyssey accessible wherever possible. Please share any accessibility needs, mobility considerations, sensory sensitivities, or medical limitations in your application. We design with care and can adapt activities to ensure you feel supported.
It may contain elements of all three — and more. An Odyssey is best understood as a deeply personal work of art you inhabit. It cannot be reduced to a single category.
Much of the Odyssey unfolds in the moment, but your safety, well-being, and consent remain central throughout.
If you are chosen as the participant, we may ask for a list of 10–12 friends and family to contact. We would interview them about you to better get to know you.
Closer to the event, the selected participant will receive a packing list. Nothing required will be unreasonable or costly.
All application information is read only by the Odyssey Works team and used solely for the creation of the Odyssey. We do not share personal data with third parties. All submissions are stored securely and kept confidential.
We ask participants to refrain from publicly announcing their selection or documenting the experience in real time. Afterwards, thoughtful reflection and conversation are welcome. We simply request discretion regarding sensitive details and collaborators’ privacy.
Sadly at this time, we don’t accept applications on behalf of others to ensure that we have their full consent.
All applications are read with care and kept confidential. Even if you are not selected, we consider your submission a meaningful contribution to our community. The application form asks whether you’d like to be considered as a Master Class Fellow (those who make the Odyssey) if you’re not selected as the Participant.
A multidisciplinary international team of artists, designers, curators, producers, and collaborators. This team comes together for a week-long Master Class in Experience Design which culminates in the creation and execution of the Odyssey. We try to assemble a cohort whose skills align with the selected participant’s story.
Absolutely. Previous applicants are welcome to apply again.
Please reach out to us via sophie@odysseyworks.org or admin@odysseyworks.org. We’re happy to help.
JOIN US
Applications close December 15, 2025.
Begin your journey today — and perhaps become the protagonist of our next Odyssey.
Explore Past Odysseys
Here are a few of the lives we've entered—each Odyssey is as unique as the person it was made for.
Pilgrimage
From Brooklyn to a sacred park in Virginia, Ayden’s Odyssey unfolded as a transformative pilgrimage—woven with choreography, talismans, and the power of personal rebirth.
The Narrative Spiral
Through sound, story, and strangers, Laura’s Odyssey spiraled inward—until all that remained was resonance. What followed was a return to self, forever changed by what she heard.
The Map Is Not The Territory
What began with a Borges book and a man in a goat mask became a wild hunt across New York—and a fiery, joyful rite of passage that pulled Carl from his mind into his body, and into a new life.
When I Left The House It Was Still Dark
A mysterious children’s book. A secret room. A flight to the Canadian prairie. Rick Moody’s summer was overtaken by art, blurring life and performance until the line disappeared completely.
The Dariad
From farmers market to museum, Dare’s Odyssey unfolded through fire, faces, and frames—transforming the familiar into the surreal, and turning quiet attentiveness into a powerful act of connection.
The Woven Life
In the mango groves of Baja, Suldano wove yarn, memories, and dreams into a new vision of self—blurring the real and the possible in a fabric of transformation.
The First Chapter
In a world where stories were currency, Josh journeyed through waterfalls, farm stands, and a writers’ commune—rediscovering creativity, community, and his own long-lost First Chapter.
The Book of Separation
A remote, poetic journey for two—The Book of Separation invites you and a loved one into a custom-built story of connection, distance, and what it takes to find your way back to each other.
The Road to Taz
In Lisbon and beyond, Jude followed signs only the searching can see—tattoos, songs, strangers, and stories—on a quest for TAZ, a fleeting world where chosen identity and imagined community come to life.
