A whale washes up on a city beach and starts decomposing. The locals are indifferent, yet two of them, Pierre and Odile, decide to watch this death up close. Their lonely walk along a vast sandy coast climaxing with their encounter with the dead animal is a journey of realisation and search for man’s responsibility towards animals and nature.
In the production The Whale theatre pairs up with the visual setting and Nalyssa Green’s ambient music to bring Paul Gadenne’s most representative work and one of the first books to have touched upon the issue of ecology onto the stage. As the writer himself notes: “It is true that we are very little. Very weak. However, no matter how little and helpless we might be, we can do this. Even the littlest people can do this – a little effort with ourselves, every one of us.”
Michalis and Pantelis Kalogerakis’ performance Man Should Live Poetically is based on the work and reflection of poets of different generations and from different places. Music, songs, speech and images create a web of timeless stories about the diversity of nature and its influence on man’s psyche and evolution. After dominating the earth, the animals and eventually his own fellow-men, he is now faced with the consequences of his actions that threat the climate balance. The way man will handle climate crisis is today’s biggest challenge. The futility of existence should not be a cause of destruction and exploitation but a reason for offering, showing respect and realizing the perishability of things. Art illuminates the path through which we can change our perception and attitude towards nature.
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.
Studies have shown that cycling, as opposed to travelling by car, saves 150 grams of CO2/km and is, unquestionably, one of humanity’s greatest hopes for a future of zero carbon emissions. With this in mind, Tak Tak Do theatre company presents an original musical fairy tale with an adventurous plot for children, inspired by the only bicycle maker in Greece, Giorgos Vogiatzis.
In the production A Cyclist Changes the World, Diagoras uses a bicycle for his daily transportation. One day, he comes across the Mayor and the two of them bet that if Diagoras tours Europe on bicycle, the Mayor will build cycle paths! And this is how a journey full of adventures and unpredictable encounters begins! A musical fairy tale that unfolds as an enchanting tour across the characteristics and traditions of European cultures and at the same time as a reminder of the benefits of green commuting.
A performance drawing information from scientific and anthropological research and transforming it into a subversive visual, choreographic and musical concept. Bodies Floating Into the Land focuses on the protection of biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea and the effects of climate change on human and non-human organisms. Starting with invasive foreign species, such as lionfish, toadfish, purple jellyfish etc., which are transported through ballast tanks along with sea water used to maintain the ship’s stability, we ponder upon the vulnerability of all of the “sea creatures”. The work is informed by the place where it is held – here, the fierce god of the sea turns into a positive figure as a miracle doctor. The symbolic character of the cure conveys messages of hope for the future of the planet and consolation against ecological grief.
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.
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?”
Sokratis Sinopoulos and Vasilis Kostas, two highly regarded Greek musicians with international acclaim, collaborate to create a dynamic and original musical performance called Swirling in the Aegean. The performance explores the potential of combining two musical instruments that bear a historical significance in Greek music, the lyre and the lute. Inspired by Mediterranean traditions and using original compositions and interactive improvisations, they create modern musical landscapes in real time, offering a unique listening experience.
The duo is accompanied by impressive live drawing by Soloύp, who captures and complements the stories and places that inspired the musical compositions. With his sketches he creates and destroys a story of images in real time, in front of the eyes of the audience, portraying it simultaneously with the music and in contrast to it.
The final result captures the fertile clash of the new with the old, as well as the creative contrast, interaction, and eventually blend of different musical traditions and styles into a harmonized ensemble.
Odysseus, this mythical yet modern and complex figure, is above all, the symbol of enduring resilience. The one who constantly engages in conflicts, both internal and external, and consistently faces challenges that surpass their abilities.
In Odysseus’ Tarot we revisit Odyssey through the Marseille Tarot Cards. These cards explore the human condition, much like Myths, Poetry, and Music: by delving into the innermost layers of the self, the aspects shielded from time, place, logic, and certainties. Every “picking” of a Tarot Card gives the heroes of the Odyssey ambiguous “oracles”, hovering between morality and desire, logic and emotion. A cross-temporal dialogue between two cultures opens. On the one hand there is the Renaissance and Humanism with the Tarot Cards, and on the other, ancient Greek thought with the Odyssey – in their most playful, poetic, and archetypal form.
*The performance will open with the Experimental Stage of Milos. It will be based on an Odyssey-inspired original libretto by Pavlina Pamboudi, taught by Kalliroi Myriagou.
The artistic conflict among Romantic composers, with its significant social implications, is brought to the foreground through a unique piano recital by George-Emmanuel Lazaridis accompanied by a live performance featuring original movement by two dancers onstage: Theano Xydia and Natalia Bika.
The performance The War of the Romantics will take the audience on a journey across the mid-19th century, focusing on the clash between the aesthetics of Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt.
In this context, the programme will include two iconic pieces from the piano repertoire: Brahms’ Four Ballades and Liszt’s Sonata in B minor – two compositions that reflect two entirely different and possibly conflicting musical styles that were pivotal in shaping the future of music. The Bazeos tower, a 17th-century historical monument at the center of Naxos, will serve as the backdrop for a dialogue between music and body that will lead to their harmonious union.