Ammophila Vol.3: There Was Land Here Before is an exhibition that renegotiates the way in which we perceive and experience places and the dominant narratives projected onto them.
We are concerned with places, which we regard as our subsoil, rituals of coming together and coexisting, and stories that have shaped these relationships. The exhibition is inviting us to give new interpretations and stories to places that can be real or made up through our collective phantasies: phantasies of a non-existent land, a land that is different, a land that is differently inhabited.
A land that can shake us, a land in decomposition, a land in bloom, a land that trembles, a limitless land.
In Andreas Flourakis’ new work today’s young people are linked to the Smyrna Catastrophe of 1922 through the love for animals, love, gastronomy and family memories. Even the animations bring to the surface aspects of History that have gone unnoticed, like the rescue of Greeks by the Japanese ship Tokei Maru.
While the ships of allies were watching Smyrna being destroyed and Greeks being drowned off the coast of Ionia from a distance, the captain of Tokei Maru threw its cargo into the sea to make room for as many people as possible, in order to transfer them safe and sound to the port of Piraeus.
In Little Asia Tokei Maru’s strange journey is turned into a story of mystery and Japanese beauty.
Apotypoma negotiates the conceptual dimensions of being uprooted, accepted, and integrated, and by extension of the respect for diversity. How would our life be, if we accepted the experiences of the persons living next to us? Where is our fear of the Other, the Foreigner, based?
The fear of that which is different and unknown is the catalyst in a psychological process based on the principle of similarity. The ones who are like us belong to the same group, therefore they are harmless.
But it is this moment of danger, these meetings, that build one’s personality, there where one overcomes their fear, separate themselves from the group, and explore life through their senses. It is from these meetings that the authentic self emerges.
With small statements, we make a map of our soul. A list of memories, a list of the past. A collection of materials and images in a seemingly random order. A collage, an assembly of sentences that all begin with the phrase: I remember…
NOITI GRAMMI theatre group, with the promenade performance I Remember, proposes a dialogue between the Performing Arts and applied history, historical walks, the concept of a cultural promenade in the historical sites, and an experiential way of understanding the memory of every refugee in a world of turbulence and upheaval.
Two performers/guides attempt a tangible return to the past. They will lead a group of travellers on the routes of ancient topography, with the sound of voices being the supporter of collective memory. This tour will create sporadic and fleeting episodes of unexpected memories, in the form of a pre-recorded soundscape, which will be reproduced through the use of headphones.
Fotis Kontoglou’s book is a collection of stories published in 1962 and a nostalgic reference to the backdrop of the authors’ childhood, in early-20th-century Aivali, a small city hidden among the straits and coasts of the East.
After a careful consideration of these texts, we selected those parts that engage in a meaningful conversation with the mass flights of populations of the previous century and at the same time with the refugee and migrant crisis of today. We explore Kontoglou’s language and the path towards a deeper understanding and a more active participation in the “strange currents” created among people.
Aivali, My Homeland is a performance created by four performers who, through the stories of various protagonists of a wonderful collection of short stories, reveal these characters by placing them in a common time and place, while composing a strange, common story.
A beautiful aristocratic woman named Smyrna receives in her poor now home, somewhere in Kokkinia or Nea Ionia of the 1930s, six wandering musicians. Together they dig up and reshape precious moments from her turbulent life…
The Alcedo folk band, through the eyes and memories of a woman who’s also a city, Smyrna, compose a new and fresh musical performance and present their first Suite based on themes from the works of great Smyrnaean composers (Kalomiris, Konstantinidis and others) and other popular songwriters (Tountas, Peristeris, Papazoglou, Dragatsis-Ogdontakis and more).
The selection of songs by the above-mentioned songwriters as well as the original traditional songs from Smyrna featured in the performance are arranged by the Alcedo Folk Band.
A musical documentary – a farewell ceremony of people leaving their homelands to unknown destinations.
Kythera is a special place, whose modern history has been defined by migration and refugee flights. The performance is a compilation of stories, songs, photographs and other material from the island’s local population. It was on this material that the musical documentary – a “farewell” ceremony was based.
Kythera – Australia is a dirge-like original musical work centered around the human voice that offers the redemptive recollection of the relationship of people with their land, and the separation from it. A belated ceremony of relief and memory. A big timeworn Goodbye.
Internationally acclaimed performer Erini presents an original music-theatre performance inspired by Ilias Venezis’ emblematic literary work, The Land of Aeolia.
Actor Ektoras Gasparatos in the role of young Petros, performs excerpts from the book, conveying images and situations of that era. Erini, accompanied by a classical string quartet with the participation of the permanent Concertmaster of the Thessaloniki State Orchestra, Simos Papanas, enrich the novel with much-loved melodies from Asia Minor, arranged by Grammy Award Nominee Gonzalo Grau.
The performance conveys the happy life of the Greeks of Asia Minor before the Catastrophe, but also the tragedy of the uprooting that still lives in the hearts of contemporary Greeks.
Elli Papadimitriou’s Anatoli (East) is a theatrical composition in poetic format that tells the story of the Asia Minor Expedition and Catastrophe of 1918-1922: victories and disasters, causes and consequences, with man and his passions always on the spotlight. Death and uprooting, lust for life and the struggle, mostly of women, to settle down in their new homeland, the pain that goes hand in hand with the faith in life.
The refugees who imbued Greece with their culture.
Elli Papadimitirou, known for her work Koinos Logos, which was first performed at the Neos Kosmos Theatre in 1997, had worked for many decades on Anatoli that is now presented for the first time, in celebration of the author who identified her life and oeuvre with the fate of Asia Minor.
Evrotas attempts to make a poignant artistic commentary on man’s relationship with Nature and the necessity of protecting the natural environment over the generations. The flow of the action of the five performers – each of them of different age –, in tune with the natural daylight, invites audience members to focus on actions that sometimes take place close to them and other times far from them, so that they can change their perception through space and time. Audience members are asked to take a walk with stops at various spots, where they can change their field of view so as to better observe the landscape and identify the human interventions that alter it, realising in this way the ”stake” of co-existence. Manolis Manousakis’ original music takes the audience on a journey at times along the river and at times across the city. This alternation will raise questions. Evrotas’ goal is to raise awareness along with questions about the co-existence of man and Nature.