Iconography 2.0 is a groundbreaking cultural project that aims to redefine the dialogue between traditional iconography methods, technological innovation, art, faith, and aesthetics.
The event culminates in an original visual art installation at the Holy Monastery of Our Lady of Akrotiriani and Saint John the Theologian in Toplou, Sitia, where light, image, and sound create a hybrid phygital setting that unfolds throughout the spaces of the Monastery and transforms the visitor’s experience into a multi-sensory journey between the past and present.
Byzantine music and the natural soundscapes of Crete engage in conversation with modern musical compositions and poetic texts, supporting the visual works that will be created as part of the three-day educational and artistic programme preceding the event. This polyphonic dialogue among sound, image, and speech allows for the co-existence of tradition and innovation, creating a new, vibrant space for cultural expression, where art becomes the language of faith, memory, aesthetics, and collectiveness.
The music theatre performance In-Between / Εν-Διαμέσως weaves Cretan music together with modern, diverse sounds and free dance. Primeval sounds of Crete are brought to life today, blending with sounds of contemporary Western European music and special effects soundscapes. Traditional musical instruments such as the souravli, mandoura, bagpipe, lyre, and lute are creatively combined with effects pedals and flutes, including the soprano, alto, Indian bansuri, and Chinese bawu. At the same time, in a space of free improvisation and experimentation, dance succeeds in harmonizing contrasts, bridging the past with the present.
This music and dance performance will highlight the coexistence of the old and the new, the traditional, the modern, and the groundbreaking. In an imposing space closely associated with our cultural heritage, the audience will engage with nature, history, tradition, and contemporary artistic creation.
“If only I could get out of this body and have a different one”.
The Reading of Transformations is a musical performance that explores the timelessness of destiny and its connection to both individual and collective choices. Through the stage narration of three myths by Ovid – Echo and Narcissus, Erysichthon, and Phaethon – in Theodoros Papangelis’ Greek translation, the eternal fluidity of earthly bodies comes to the foreground. An orchestral instrumental ensemble engages in dialogue with the narrators and a percussion ensemble, creating lively soundscapes and narrative timbres. Sometimes it accompanies storytelling, while at other times, it takes on a leading role, transforming sound into a carrier of action and meaning, thereby illuminating the dynamics of the collective body. Two vital questions emerge from this performance: Is destiny inevitable, or is it a result of our decisions? How do classical myths embody modern reality?
The common elements that will compose the core of the project is the relationship between disability and asylum, through their current dimensions, regarding the oppression experienced by refugees, the freedom of action given to them by societies, and their integration into the social web.
Taking into account social, economic, class, ethnic, psychological parameters and influences, we explore the spectrum and processes of integration and acceptance of these populations, through authentic narratives, and their role in the evolution of culture.
A redefinition of art, of the “different other”, of the refugee, of the disabled, of life itself, of the self, of emotions, of the relationship with one’s own body, mind and soul.
A performance that attempts to bring out the abrupt and violent process that turned Asia Minor refugees into infectious agents and a danger for the society. Asia Minor refugees were exiled, abandoned, or they died in quarantine hospitals that were set up in various regions of Greece.
The performance treats this historical phenomenon in a multifaceted way using contemporary scientific approaches: it explores – among other things – the power structures that cause it, its social and political considerations, and the concepts of morbidity/normality, “purge”, threshold, transition, and marginalisation as records of historical/social connotations…
The dramaturgical material is composed of real life testimonies and original fiction texts. The work is performed in an open space and at sea. It focuses on the body, its movement, the songs, sounds and voices of the actors, who blend with the audience from the beginning to create a community.
Supplicant and the ritual of Supplication (Hiketia) were unwritten laws of divine origin and their guardian was the king of 12 gods Zeus, the divine refugee who was rescued as an infant after his mother Rhea fled to the most sacred of Cretan caves, the Idaeon Andro.
In this emblematic place, in the heart of Psiloritis, through an artistic and scientific partnership, the timeless concept of Ikesia as a refugee and Plea is approached in the context of the 100th anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe. At an altitude of 1550 meters, a symbolic thematic cycle will be attempted from Smyrna waterfront to the foothills of Xenios Zeus, which will include two thematic contributions, a theatrical excerpt from Aeschylus’ tragedy Icetides and the musical-theatrical improvisation
Refugee (part of Metartum a Cultural – Augmented Reality Project). Finally, the event concludes with a musical performance by the band of the Cretan artist Vassilis Skoulas.
Philoxenia/Hospitality in ancient Greece was a sacred obligation and an unconditional right. Since then and until now, the phenomenon of forced mass displacement of populations is not unprecedented. However, in recent years the way we deal with this phenomenon is unprecedentedly harsh.
How things have changed over time in Greek society? What did the refugees experience on their way from Asia Minor to Greece and how did they cope? How were they received by the natives? How did the Greek government deal with them? And on the other hand, how are the refugees treated today by the Greek government and the Greek citizens?
A musical narrative theatrical performance inspired by the testimonies of refugees of then and now, in combination with ancient texts, literary texts, audio documents, physicality, poetry and live music.
The performance aims at capturing and presenting the osmosis of cultures that forever changed the city of Heraklion, focusing on the moment of arrival and reception for some, and on the moment of separation and abandonment for others, at an emblematic part of the port, a fortress that can be both a prison and a refuge.
Refugees of then and refugees of now, descendants of refugees and locals who received them, documents, press articles, literary excerpts, poems, personal testimonies and experiences come into light to tell audiences a story that connects peoples and cultures to this date.
A fourteen-member ensemble consisting of actors, musicians, and “specialists” will attempt to revisit historical events that shaped the city of Heraklion through the stories of its citizens.
“How people are alike! If we let them be free, they immediately come together and love each other.” Language. A bridge that reaches the heart of the interlocutor and creates at once a bond and a commitment… Eh, and there’s also food! Three generations. People from Asia Minor and Turks from Crete meet at a common ground, the table. They cook. They feel nostalgic.
“Nostalgia is an old thing you remember. History is an old thing you don’t remember. My parents named me Ozlem, which means “nostalgia”, for the sake of the motherland they are nostalgic for, and Pelagia for the sake of the sea that unites us…” What is a refugee? Identity? Motherland? What is common ground? Can such whispers be heard in the complexity of political decisions?
A work based on our memories and the narratives wrote down by Maria Tsirimonaki in her book Those Who Left, Those Who Came.
On the occasion of the centenary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, Mneme theatre company revisits the atmosphere of those days through Kosmas Politis’ emblematic PARODOS, a chapter interpolated in the middle of his novel “Stou Hadjifragkou” that introduces us to the greatest tragedy ever experienced by the Greek people since the birth of the Greek State.
Its literary value is unprecedented as it manages to capture our imagination, both metaphorically – by calling our attention to the value and beauty of the place – and literally – by transporting us to the centre of the tragedy that unfolded during the last days of August 1922 on the coast of Smyrna.
The production is accompanied by the original music of composer-pianist Dimitris Droumboyannis, performed live onstage by three musicians.