An international research, educational, and artistic workshop titled “A Study on the City of Aspropyrgos” is being held with the participation of personalities from Greece and abroad, organized by Emilia Bouriti in collaboration with the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Aspropyrgos, as part of the international AMOLI program and with the support and auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Sports. The workshop will take place online on Sunday, November 29, at 18:00, fully adapted to the conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year’s international workshop, which emphasizes interdisciplinarity, includes internationally renowned personalities such as Nicolas Bourriaud, David Blumenkrantz, Lars Ebert, Dr. Ioannis Drinis, Dr. Maria Tsigkou, among others. Participants come from diverse fields of activity and include artists, art historians, scientists, academics, educators, and researchers from four European countries (France, United States, Netherlands, and Greece).
However, it should be emphasized that this is not a meeting solely among experts, as the workshop also involves representatives of local communities, such as farmers and Arvanite residents of Aspropyrgos, as well as university students, aiming at exchanging knowledge, ideas, and opinions.
The collaboration of all these parties benefits the city of Aspropyrgos, which serves as a reference point for similar towns that transitioned from an agricultural to an industrial era and are now experiencing a post-industrial age marked by significant migratory flows. Cities like Aspropyrgos struggle to find their identity and pace within a changing reality and economy.
The goal of the workshop is to create an interdisciplinary framework to contribute knowledge, experiences, and techniques from an international perspective. This process of exchange aims to continue beyond the workshop and produce tangible outcomes regarding the role of art, culture, and the creative economy in the daily life of an agricultural, post-industrial, and multicultural city like Aspropyrgos.
The workshop will be conducted in Greek with English translation to allow participation from local communities and city residents in general.
Representatives from the fields of art, science, renewable energy, education, the creative economy, and local communities will participate in an effort to understand the dynamics of the 21st century.
Subject: “A Study on the City of Aspropyrgos”
Art | Rural Life | Renewable Energy | Multiculturalism
Invited Speakers:
Nicolas Bourriaud, Director of MO.CO (Montpellier Contemporain), author, curator.
Topic: Relational Aesthetics. France
David Blumenkrantz, Co-founder and Director of the “Center for Youth & Community,” and co-designer of “Youth & Community Development through Rites of Passage.”
Topic: The Challenge of Art in Science & Programs. United States.
Lars Ebert, Program Director H401, Amsterdam, Brussels, Athens.
Topic: Participation and Research. Europe and the Reevaluation of Arts in Society. Netherlands.
Dr. Ioannis Drinis, Researcher, Folklorist, Head of the Department of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage and Intercultural Issues’ at the Ministry of Culture & Sports.
Topic: Is the Rural Cultural Landscape Part of Our Cultural Heritage?
Katerina Ilia, Arvanite, farmer, resident of Aspropyrgos.
Topic: The Arvanite Culture and Rural Life in Aspropyrgos.
Dr. Maria Tsigkou, Assistant Professor of General Linguistics and Translation at the Department of Foreign Languages, Translation & Interpreting, Ionian University.
Topic: Arvanitika: Past, Present, and Future.
Maria Perifanou, Secretary of the Agricultural Association of Aspropyrgos, farmer, resident of Aspropyrgos.
Topic: The Survival of Rural Life in the Greek Reality.
Despina Boulogiorgou, Researcher, Laboratory of Renewable Energy and Environmental Protection, University of West Attica.
Topic: Energy Communities as a Source of Values for the Co-evolution of Rural Communities.
Emilia Bouriti, Visual Artist, Performance Artist, Director of the Syn+Ergasia Art Platform.
Topic: Participatory Art in the Rural Landscape and Communities of Aspropyrgos.
Moderated by Emilia Bouriti
Date: Sunday, November 29, 2020, at 18:00
Location: Online via Zoom
Attendance and participation in the online international workshop will take place via the Zoom platform, with live streaming on YouTube on the Emilia Bouriti channel and on the Syn+Ergasia Art Platform Facebook page Syn+ergasia.
Attendance at the workshop is completely free of charge.
In collaboration with the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Aspropyrgos and under the Auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
