Event Category: Visual Arts / Performance

2291

An interdisciplinary project by Bill Balaskas, which attempts a poetic reading of the anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe (1922). It revolves around a new large-scale neon installation consisting of the phrases “THERE IS NO SEA WITHOUT A LAND” and “THERE IS NO LAND WITHOUT A SEA”.

The project proposes a more contemplative or – even – optimistic approach to historical trauma, and is accompanied by a bilingual publication, two workshops, a dedicated website, and an international conference co-organized by Kingston University, London.

Through the project, 2291 becomes an imaginary date that refers not only to the universal and timeless nature of refugee disasters, but also to the hope that they will disappear sooner rather than later.

GAIA

“And yet, the Earth moves!” said Galileo in 1610 and humanity had to come to terms with the idea that the Earth does move. In 2023, however, we must accept that the Earth trembles and reacts against human interventions.

At the crossroads of art and technology, visual and musical performance, GAIA produces a different narration about the Earth and the way we should be inhabiting it. Inspired by the rich theoretical work of Bruno Latour and Frédérique Aït-Touati, this new – visual and stage – narration about the Earth is both about man and non-human factors, without however putting aside the human element – as is often proposed by the meta-human discourse. Yes, we do experience a destruction. But that can be reversed. We need to produce a new world creation, by renewing our representations of the terrestrial, biotic and abiotic world.

In memoriam

A music/visual work of art/game in the form of an Aeolic sound installation is coming to the beautiful Chora of Amorgos. A farewell song about a world that is being lost. The shells of the windmills still stand there imposingly, the wind keeps blowing, yet what man visits is only a memory. A life left behind. Clay objects and constructions scattered across the windmill hill create musical sounds and phrases powered by the wind. Every single moment the sound changes and transforms the place and time. A walking experience of sound, a sound photography, an invitation to let ourselves go into the voice of the wind; to play once again with it; to immerse ourselves in reverie.

Aquatic Echoes

A quadrophonic sound installation that will be presented for the first time in Greece. A collaboration between visual artists Giorgos Moraitis and Latent Community that is actually a sound research on the Mediterranean aquatic eco-systems and the way they are harmed by human intervention. The goal of the work is to magnify the non-perceivable sound imprints that disturb the climatic and ecological balance in Greece and the Mediterranean. The archaeological site of the Dark Dungeon in the imposing Castle of Chios is turned into an immersive environment, where sound and image invite us to recompose a sustainable future, through the fragments of a collapsing era.

The installation will be accompanied by experiential workshops for children and teenagers (26-28/7) aimed at raising awareness on issues of ecology and environmental protection.

The Aquatic Echoes research has been conducted with the support of Onassis AiR.

Fall

An open air sound installation by Dimitris Georgakopoulos and Coti K., a sculpture that serves as an Aeolic harp. The work’s title has been inspired by the myth of Icarus. The two elements of the myth that gave rise to the work’s concept are arrogance and fall.

The installation consists of two rectangular six-metre-long and three-metre-high surfaces, made of one hundred three-metre-long wooden boards arranged horizontally and parallelly, a short distance apart from each other. These surfaces converge to each other, leaving only a narrow passing between them. The air entering them gets compressed and comes out forcefully through a row of strings about two metres long, producing an eerie yet enchanting sound.

The work deliberately chooses not to use modern technology and to be based on its relationship with nature, raising the question about the extent to which man can create works without harming the environment.

Oh, tranquility! Penetrating the very rock, A cicada’s voice

The cultural organisation Polygreen Culture & Art Initiative (PCAI) presents an original two-day long programme of visual arts events and performances in Delphi that has been inspired by Dimitris Pikionis’ environmental concerns, as expressed through his architectural and artistic oeuvre, as well as his essays, such as Gaias Atimosis (1954) and Emotional Topography (1935). The events will take place at the former Pikionis’ Pavilion, now known as “π”, in Delphi, the recently restored monument of modern architecture designed by the leading Greek architect and his son, Petros Pikionis, in the late 1950s.

The visual and performance art events commissioned from PCAI as part of the programme are new interpretations of the prominent creator’s prolific work, in which modernity and respect for nature often cross paths with folk tradition and Japanese architecture. Acclaimed visual artists, poets, soloists and performers take part in the programme, inspired by the history of the architectural monument – a landmark in the area – and the natural landscape of Delphi, with the goal of bringing out crucial environmental issues and raising philosophical and social considerations about environmental protection issues, art and architecture.

*The programme’s title is the English rendition of a haiku poem by Matsuo Bashō (1689), translated by academician and Japanese scholar Helen Craig McCullough (Classical Japanese Prose. An Anthology, 1990, p. 539).

Seascape in a Garden

At the magical archaeological site of Delos, Greek visual artist Katerina Karatzaferi draws inspiration from the Japanese tradition of Komomaki and Greek textile art, while Egyptian composer and musician Ahmed Saleh imagines contemporary Alexandria being sunk under the rising sea surface to meet its Hellenistic ancestor.

The two artists collaborate for the first time on a visual/sound installation and performance based upon different cultural narratives about the threats to the natural environment and its protection. The Japanese and Greek traditions converse and, through the sculpture installation of the first and the personal sound memories of the second, begins a special dialogue with archaeology, historical memory, nature and myth, as captured at the historical and symbolic site of Delos.

The Nightmare of Persephone

A special two-day event by Kairos Politismou on the island of Tinos, including a visual arts exhibition in the Holy Monastery of the Sacred Heart at Exomvourgo and experiential workshops for children in the Tinos Book Workshop at the Chora of Tinos. The exhibition titled The Nightmare of Persephone – named after Nikos Gatsos and Manos Hadjidakis’ song of the same title – features 22 modern Greek visual artists (many of whom have a close relationship with the island) and their works made especially for it. Sculpture and photography installations as well as performance art events will also be presented in the Monastery’s courtyard.

The experiential workshops titled How are children’s books made and what are the consequences for our environment? explore book as an object. A creative venture through which children will be called upon to answer questions such as: “Have we realised that for every book printed, a tree has been cut down?”

Otherlands

ATOPOS cvc presents Otherlands a site specific exhibition at the archaeological space of
Heraion, Perachora, in the framework of the program of 2024 of the Ministry of Culture
“All of Greece, One Culture”. Otherlands serve as a space of critical encounter with
the Other; sculptures by Petros Moris and sonic fiction by Jeph Vanger and Savina Yannatou
intertwine, in a resonance of everything that exists and has existed in the land, human and
non-human bodies, archaeological remains and geological materials.

Exploring lost stories and connections of pre-archaic history and mythology while maintaining a
direct connection to the subterranean, Otherlands is an interrogation of otherness in deep
time, as a structural component of conflict at both the social and intercultural levels. Deep time
is kept by the drift of the tectonic plates and fossil traces of stone-eating animals in the
limestone columns of the archaeological space. Within deep time we are able to reimagine
historical and contemporary conflicts as we give in to slower processes of making and
unmaking.

The River / Voicing Water

The exhibition explores the concept of conflict through water’s transformative power. Highlighting the dynamics of its unifying function, it connects two cities, Thessaloniki and Rome, while inviting visitors to an experience that includes all senses.

The River, a grand-scale mosaic by Christina Nakou, is presented within a soundscape. The installation draws inspiration from the Roman mosaic floors in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. Through this traditional art form, it attempts to demonstrate handcrafting as an experience of lived-out time, sound as the vibrant imprint of the process, as well as the importance of touch in our connection with the natural world and other people.

The exhibition opens with two performances by Anna Pangalou, titled Voicing Water, which explore the mythology of water, giving voice to the present moment. The mythological narratives about fountains are connected to hydraulic technology, its role in creating musical instruments, and the natural flow of water.