"The past always slips from our grasp. It leaves us only scattered things.
The link that connected them escapes us. Imagination only fills in the blanks."
-Poetics of music in the form of six lessons, Igor Stravski, 1942.
FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2019
10.00-13.00 Myths, legends, and truths | Ekatontapyliani Church Narration workshop for fifth-grade and sixth-grade primary school pupils, with the archaeologist-tour guide Ari Sichlimiris and the art historian Katerina Konstantinou. [in Greek] The Ekatontapyliani church is over 18 centuries old. The building has survived through the ages alongside the legends people narrate about it. Where is the hundredth gate? What’s the story of the bell tower? Where is the print left by Saint Theoktisti? Who was the pirate Nisyris? What happened to the master builder and his disciple? How did all those stories reach us? Which of all these are true? And which are fairy-tales? What stories do we have to tell about Ekatontapyliani? Come and let’s make our own fantastic story about the monument! 19:00-21:00 Tracing the Mavrogeni family Starting point Ekatontapiliani’s square A game of discovering Parikia through the material and immaterial traces of the great family of Mavrogeni | In collaboration with Avgi Kalogianni. Pick up the riddles and begin. Solve the riddles, ask the locals, follow the experts of Parikia, track all locations throughout the city and collect all ten collective cards of the 2nd Paros Festival. 20:00-21:00 Anthropologists@Work | Varoucha Mansion *See appendix 20:00-21:00 Irini Varoucha: A cosmopolitan archaeologist from Paros | Municipal Art Space “Dimitrakopoulos” Lecture by Despoina Evgenidou (Honorary Director of the Numismatic Museum) on the life and work of Irini Varoucha-Christodoulopoulou She travelled a lot, she studied abroad and she worked for the Numismatic Museum in Athens. She confronted the turbulence of the 20th century in Greece and served archaeology through the years of WWII. We owe to her the preservation of the numismatic collection of the Museum and its re-exhibition in the National Archaeological Museum when peace was finally restored in Greece. 21:00-23:00 Marinos Kontaras: The corsair of the Aegean | YRIA Workshop. Loop screening of the movie directed by G. Tzavellas (1948) *See appendix 21:00 George Kontrafouris trio | Frankish monastery Giorgos Kontrafouris - piano Vasilis Koutsonanos - bass Vasilis Podaras - drums Giorgos Kontrafouris, a leading jazz musician in Greece, travels to Paros to present his forthcoming album, as well as previous compositions from his discography. The jazz piano trio includes two of the most active musicians in the greek jazz scene, Vasilis Koutsonanos and Vasilis Podaras. The George Kontrafouris Trio invites the public of Paros Festival in the Frankish monastery, an abandoned monastery in the heart of Parikia, trying to make the neglected monument a living space for the community. 22:00 Dodecanese and music of the Aegean | Agios Konstantinos Traditional music concert with Manolis Kottoros - violin, Martha Mavroidi - lafta, voice, Apostolos Karpontinis - lute, Stella Valasi - santuri Focusing on the Dodecanese traditional music, the virtuoso violinist Manolis Kottoros, side-to-side with prominent musicians, takes us on a trip to the cultural and musical networks of the Aegean. In a night full of the island’s particular ambience, the Manolis Kottoros orchestra will immerse the audience in the experience of the Dodecanese soundscape. SATURDAY, JULY 13, 2019 10:00 - 11:30 Guided tour with the guide Avgi Kalogianni and Kyriaki Haralampous (Koula Diplou) Meeting point Diplos Grocery store, Agora of Parikia [in Greek]. This is a different guided tour. Participants will have the chance to listen to the professional tour guide Avgi Kalogianni along with a member of the local community. Koula “Diplos” -as she is known among the locals- will be narrating her own lived memories of the old town of Parikia. 11:30-12:30 Guided tour in Parikia | Meeting point Ekatontapyliani Square. With the guide Georgia Papadopoulou [in english] 10: 00-12: 00 Landscape Painting Workshop | Kato Gialos For children from 1 to 3 years old and their attendants [limited vacancies]. The everyday view of Parikia becomes the canvas for this workshop. Children and parents are invited to experiment creatively using finger paints and imagination, with a view of one of the best known landscapes of Paros. Dress comfortably. Wear clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty and come to play! Let’s discover the surrounding environment through an imaginative activity! 18:30-19:30 Walk around the Medieval Parikia | Meeting point Towel of Parikia Castle With the archaeologist Konstantinos Roussos The medieval Parikia remains largely unknown to the public and it is gradually being revealed to the scholars. Let’s walk together in the labyrinthian settlement and discover how the modern city was formed over centuries of habitation. With main stops at the Castle and the Ekatontapiliani church, this walk promises an insightful journey through space and time. 19:30-20:00 Walk with music | From Ekatontapyliani Square to the KAPI in the seafront. A musical walk through the old town, to reach the Community Centre for Elders (KAPI) on the beach of Parikia. A "patinada" with local musicians leading to a "veggera" (ball) . . . 20:00 Veggera | KAPI of the Municipality of Paros A typical veggera (visit) in the KAPI kafenion with the local musicians: Manolis Delendas - violin, Fanouris Petropoulos - lute, Antonia Nika - vocals The building that today houses KAPI (the Community Centre for Elders) was donated by Nicholas Mavrogenis in 1782 to the community of Paros. As the patron dictated in his donation, the building should not change in use. It should always remain a cafe. Older Parians remember it as the "the Grand Cafe" or "the Communal," frequented by the "lords" of the island and their ladies. Since then, the society of Paros has changed a lot... Today the cafe of Mavrogenis is a lively meeting place for elderly locals. This "Veggera" - visit in today's KAPI by Paros Festival, aspires to actively involve its members in the social life as well as the Festival. Veggera (f) greek. Salon; a late evening visit and gathering in a home or outdoors for amusement and getting together, where drinks, pastries and food are offered. Soirée. [etym. > Italian. veggheria <post.lat. vigulare <vigul / vigil "vigilant, watchman"] 20:00 - 21:00 Anthropologists @ Work | KAPI *See appendix 21:00-23:00 Marinos Kontaras: The corsair of the Aegean | YRIA Workshop Loop screening of the movie directed by G. Tzavellas (1948) *See appendix 22:30 Hohlakas | Courtyard of the Ekatontapyliani | Concert by the contrabassist Giorgos Ventouris with Yannis Papadopoulos - piano, Stratis Psaradellis - lyre, Leonidas Sarantopoulos - flute, Martha Mavroidi – Saz, lafta, Dimitris Klonis - drums, Vangelis Karipis - percussion Hohlakas project has many references to George Ventouris' birthplace in Paros. It is a unique collaboration of talented musicians from diverse music fields. Contemporary musical dialects blend with Eastern Mediterranean music through virtuoso improvisations in instruments of different traditions. 23:45 Film Screening "Across her body" | Frankish monastery directed by Zacharias Mavroidis (2018) | 84 ' Every year, on July 31st, Mrs. Irene and the rest remaining “fifteeners” return to the obsolete Monastery of the Accession, on Therasia, the little known sister-island of cosmopolitan Santorini. For two weeks, they pray for eternal rest of their beloved ones, while preparing the church for the day of the Accession. In between, they recall the past gazing at the tourist traffic across the volcanic bay. “Across her body” documents the fading tradition of “Fifteen’ correlating three bodies: the sacred body of the Virgin Mary, the deserted body of the once upon a time fertile Therasia and the aging female bodies of the fifteeners. SUNDAY, JULY 14, 2019 10:00-12:00 Reading Paros’ history through the coins of the Archaeological Museum | Archaeological Museum of Paros Apostolos Papadimitriou, archaeologist, Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades Emmanouil Psarros, archaeologist, Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades. The Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades exhibits a series of selected coins at the Archaeological Museum of Paros. These coins were either collected and delivered by individuals to the Ephorate or found in excavations. They are dated from the Archaic period to the Ottoman times. Through the classification and typology of these coins, one can read the most important events in the History of Paros. *The guided tour will be held both in Greek and English. 18:30 “All the twelve islands” | Apothiki Gallery 20’ Performance Stratis Psaradellis - lyra, Dionysia Papouli - singing Stratis Psaradellis and Dionysia Papouli interpret a song written in the Cretan dialect by an unknown author dated back in the 17th century. Τhe poet narrates the pillage of Parikia in Paros in the 19th of May of the 1668 by the grand admiral of the Ottoman navy, Kapudan Pasha Kaplan Mustafa. This interpretation is based on the reconstitution of secular post-byzantine music by Giorgos Hatzimichelakis. 19:00-20:00 Possible futures for the archipelago. The case of Paros | Municipal Library «Giannis Gkikas » How do children imagine Paros in the distant or near future? An evening reading of the results of the homonymous workshop that took place in the context of Paros Festival by the artist Kyriaki Goni and the students of the Visual Arts Workshop of the Municipality of Paros. 20:00 - 21:00 Anthropologists@Work | Crispis Mansion *See appendix 21:00-23:00 Marinos Kontaras: The corsair of the Aegean | YRIA Workshop. Loop screening of the movie directed by G. Tzavellas (1948). *See appendix 20:00-22:00 City made of music Wander around Parikia, follow the sounds of several music events that pop up here and there, giving life to every corner of the city. Jazz trio Leonidas Sarantopoulos - flute, Dimitris Klonis - drums, Yannis Papadopoulos - piano. The trio will play original compositions from the discography of the three musicians. Selected tracks from the albums "Paflax" by L. Sarantopoulos (flute), ''Next Step'' by Yiannis Papadopoulos (piano) and ''101'' by Dimitris Klonis (drums) are adjusted to create a new synthesis. Traditional duet Stratis Psaradellis - lyre, Vangelis Karipis - percussion. From the Aegean to Constantinople, the lyra-percussion fuse takes us to a different space-time where the rhythm of percussion and the melody of the lyre interweave in an interesting improvisation to interpret folk and scholarly music. SaxNbass Christos Kyriazis - saxophone, Pantelis Petrou- bass. A saxophone and a bass bring music of the world in the Agora of Parikia. 22:30 Matoula Zamani | Parikia seafront On the last night of the Paros Festival we meet at the beach of Parikia to dance, sing, have fun, and enjoy a carefree summer with Matoula Zamani. Matoula Zamani travels with her orchestra to the Paros Festival to share "new songs, stories of erotic resentment, of summer laziness, of provincial enlightenment, of the mating of labor and romance, of traditional dark-japan pride, of poems from Metaxochori and other hedonisms of this time's goodness..." COLLECTING STORIES, TELLING HISTORIES | Exhibition dedicated to the people's stories Curated by Katerina Konstantinou, Natasa Biza The exhibition Collecting Stories, Telling Histories examines the ways in which the local community of Paros has been documenting its past and narrating its stories. Briefs of local history, archives, collections of objects and photographs, museums, biographies of eminent citizens and their residencies; these are elements of the past that constitute the history of a place and affect how a community relates to its past. How fragmented is our knowledge of the past? Which are the stories we never tell? Do we all have a say in how history is written? History is traditionally tangled with evident data and tangible objects (photographs, archival documents, monuments, paintings, engravings, various objects, etc.). Everything that we can’t see or touch finds its way into history via archives of oral stories. The 2nd Paros Festival exhibition Collecting Stories, Telling Histories is built on two pillars: materiality and orality. In this way, the exhibition tries to track the past through narrations of people that lived it, memories that are transferred from one generation to another, via stories, legends and myths, but also through archival documents and objects that were preserved by the community for the foundation of its museum. Five artists critically comment on the work of history, while they are themselves involved in its writing through stories, narrations, photographs and objects. Rania Bellou visually transforms the personal diary of P. Stais. His personal desires, dreams and loves are intertwined with much larger historical processes, as the collective memory of the Asia Minor catastrophe and the feeling of post-war Athens. Within only two hours of video recording Panagiotis Kalkavouras mixes his short video-essays capturing everyday instances of the real world of the island. A series of photographic portraits made by the renowned photographer Platon in Paros during the decade of 1990 was incidentally found in the storage of his childhood friend Efthimis Kidoneos in Parikia. All individuals Platon captured become the subjects of the stories narrated within the exhibition. Kyriaki Goni turns the interest towards the future. Aegeandatahaeven.com is a self-managed network of data, which reminds us that the past is always constructed in the present and has an important impact in the future. Maria Tzanakou revisits ordinary speech - the core theme of this exhibition- to extract words that condense collective memories of the past. I. Memory boxes | Municipal Art Space “Dimitrakopoulos" These boxes are veritable personal collections. Miscellaneous objects? Not at all! These objects narrate the life of their owners, the life of their collectors, or maybe just a period of their lives. Each object of these medleys is kept in order to remind someone of something -but primarily they serve to preserve memories for their collector. This part of the exhibition Collecting Stories, Telling Histories is based on the documentation of the objects of the “Folklore Collection” of the Municipality of Paros, which was formed in the past in order to create a museum for Paros. The “Folklore collection” keeps all the things that the local community chooses to remember, in order to commemorate its past and to plan its future. It functions as a collective “memory box” in which everyone contributes whatever they consider important in order to recall one or many stories. II. The luxury of history | Apothiki Gallery How is history made? Is it made of big events and important people or smaller narratives and anecdotes? Does all past fit into history? The second part of the exhibition Collecting Stories, Telling Histories, critically comments on the concept of history through a series of different approaches to the past of Paros III. “Φ” | Holland Tunnel Gallery The third part of this year's Paros Festival exhibition unravels Fevronia’s life from Paros to Egypt and back to Paros. Through her life story, we read 20th-century history. Beginning with the narrative of her son, Michalis Kyriazanos, born on June 24 1918, and continuing with conversations with her descendants, and in looking at photographs and objects that she passed on to her loved ones, this exhibition aims to reconstruct her personal and family history. Large-scale events, like the Balkan wars and the Asia Minor catastrophe, are woven into Fevronia’s life story. This micro-history becomes a tile in the great mosaic of twentieth-century history. |
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OPEN SPACES
Cripsis Mansion
The grandiose neoclassical mansion next to the Three Hierarchs church in the Agora of Parikia, is a unique building that preserves elements of Paros and Greece's modern history. Through objects, artworks, furniture and archival documents, visitors can travel in time to the Paros of the 19th and early 20th century. Many important members of the local community belong to the legendary Crispis family, like Nicholas K. Crispis, member of the parliament (1850-1923) and Michalis Crispis, president of Parikia (1896-1981).
The Crispis Mansion opens for the second time to the public in the context of the Paros Festival, aiming to present the family history, local history, as well as national history and the relationship of Paros island with mainland Greece.
Kantiotis’ Barber Shop
The barber shop owned by Mr. Yiannis Kantiotis, closed back in 2000; since then it is being preserved by members of the family exactly the way it was. Apart from John's memory, the barber shop keeps alive the remembrance of a bygone era for the central market of Parikia and consequently for the whole island. It was a time when the main street of Parikia was the Market (Agora). All sorts of shops responded to everyday needs of people of Parikia and its surroundings (Exochés).
Varoucha Mansion
The Varoucha mansion on Eleousa street, starting from Taxiarchis, is a typical example of island architecture within the old city. Its interior speaks - even today - about the cosmopolitan air of a different era. In this house, in 1896, the well-known archaeologist - numismatist Irene Varoucha - Christodoulopoulou was born. Although she left Paros at the age of 9, she kept returning to this mansion during summer, until the end of her life in 1979. There, she used to welcome friends and colleagues. Many still remember the gramophone parties and the music that Irene Varoucha loved.
Vlahou-Psaltaki House
The neoclassical house in the entrance of the Agora of Parikia will welcome the public of Paros Festival for the first time in order to honor the Balkan War hero Georgios Gravaris (1876-1913).
Georgios Gravaris was born in 1876 in this house that was owned by his mother Katigko Dimitrakopoulou. He studied in the Hellenic Army Academy. Ηe moved to Paris for postgraduate studies (1900-1905). He returned to Greece to teach Engineering Physics in the Army Academy. In 1908 he married Flora Crispi. Soon after their marriage they had to kids. Five years later, when the Balkan Wars started, he quit his position in the Academy to join the army.
In the summer of 1913 while the war raged, he was defended the hill 1450 located in Boulgarian territory for the sake of the 3rd Army Division. It was the 15th of July, 1913, that Georgio Gravaris died while fighting for Greece. Few days later the Treaty of Bucharest ended the second Balkan War.
Azaris House
Azaris house, a typical city dwelling of Parikia was bought by two Netherlander sisters, Pauleen and Heleen Lethen, who preserved as it was. These two women came to Paros in the beginnings of 1960, a period in which tourism appeared. Tourism as a social phenomenon gradually developed until it attained the characteristics it has nowadays. The natural beauty of the island was not the only facet that its very first visitors, like Pauleen and Heleen, recognised. The fact that during the 60s and 70s the local society was still characterised by its pre-tourism way of living, was also an asset for the island’s guests.
YRIA Porcelain Workshop
The YRIA porcelain workshop is a real place of creativity, located in the centre of Parikia. The public of the second Paros Festival has the chance to observe the staff of YRIA workshop, preparing their new project titled “Ν.Π. 19/ Niologio (ship’s register) of Paros 2019”. This innovative endeavor looks at the Aegean seamanship as an element of a wider identity of the Archipelagos and is the result of a cooperation between YRIA porcelain workshop and the visual artist Christianna Ikonomou.
Churches
Saint Konstantinos, Taxiarchis, Saint Ioannis Theologos, Saint Aikaterini, Three Hierarchs, Panagia Septembriani, Saint Athanasios, Church of the Representation of the Virgin, Holy Trinity Church.
APPENDIX
*Anthropologists@Work | Collecting oral stories.
Anthropologists at work, in collaboration with the Laboratory of Anthropological Research, of the Social Anthropology Department at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. Grigoris Gkougkousis, Giorgis Manoudakis, Costas Bourlis.
Do you have any reminiscence that you would like to turn into history? Do you know anything about Paros that you would like to share?
Three anthropologists will be writing down stories and memories of Paros Festival visitors in order to enrich the island’s Oral History Archive. Personal and family stories, memories and recollections of other times, tales, myths, legends or truths, travel impressions, these are all important elements that compose the identity of the island. All visitors are welcome in this table of testimony recording. If you own any photographs or objects accompanying your story, please remember to bring it with you. We will take a picture of it, record it and return it to you.
*Marinos Kontaras: Corsair of the Aegean Sea | YRIA porcelain workshop
Screening in loop | Friday, Saturday & Sunday 21:00-23:00
Corsair of the Aegean sea is a movie based on Argiris Eftaliotis’ short story “Marinos Kontaras” directed by George Tzavelas. Filmed in 1948 at Parikia, it is probably the first post-war film footage of island’s capital town, Parikia. Today’s bad condition of the film is due to the several transcriptions in different backup mediums. However, Vaggelis Kontes, in his oral evidence proves that memories created during the filming are still vibrant. He says, with a slight local accent “... I still remember Katrakis going up the stairs, pretending he is blind. He knocks on the door and says to the girl inside : “Let me in my beautiful brunette” and I remember her answer too “How are you supposed to know my hair colour since you are a blind man?” “We, the blind ones, see all women as brunettes”.
The digitized movie was retrieved from the Cycladic Audiovisual Archives-Giannis Tritsimpidas for the needs of Paros Festival.
*Possible futures at the archipelago. The case of Paros.
Workshop for the students of the Visual Art Workshop on the Municipality of Paros with the artist Kyriaki Goni
Wednesday 10 & Thursday 11 of July | 10:00-13:00 | Municipal Library «Giannis Gkikas »
The workshop has as a starting point the research and the art work of Kyriaki Goni regarding the Aegean sea, the history and the future of the networks of the area, the management of the digital memory and the infrastructure of the archipelago, as they have been depicted by the multimodal establishments The Aegean Datahaven and Networks of Trust, a sample of which will be presented in the festival.
How was the island in the past? How is it in the present?
We collect material about the people, the natural environment, the customs, the legends, the history, the buildings and monuments, the arts and craftsmanship, the connection with the other islands of Cyclades and the wider Aegean. How all of these will help us imagine our island in the future? Though research and imagination we create stories, utopic or dystopic, about the possible futures of the island having as components technology, artificial intelligence, climate change, internet and digital subjectivity.
How do we vision the future in the peculiar topography of an island? A topography that at the same time includes both isolation and connectivity. The stories that will be created from the workshop will be presented at an evening reading, while they will be hosted in the digital junction that is part of the work of Networks of Trust.
RESEARCH
Paros Festival second edition is based on the public history research program "Histories and stories of Paros "conducted in Paros from August 2018 to June 2019. Our research aimed at documenting stories of people of Paros and develop an oral history archive of oral history of the island. Within the scope of the research we properly documented the Historic Collection of Parikia in an effort to facilitate the establishment of a Museum for the people of Paros.
INFORMATION
Little cinemas
Look for the “Little cinemas” of the Paros Festival all around the town of Parikia. These constructions draw from the small plastic toys that could be found in the 15th of August festival in Paros. Look through these cinemas to see how certain place in Parikia changed.
Access to the Castle of Parikia
During Paros Festival, wheelchairs and strollers can access the settlement of the Castle of Parikia through specially designed ramps.
Museums of Parikia
Archaeological Museum of Paros | open: Wednesday - Monday 8:00-15:30
Byzantine Museum of Paros | will remain open for Paros Festival: Friday and Saturday 9:00-15:00 & 18:00-21:00, Sunday 10:00-15:00 & 18:00-21:00
School Life Museum | will remain open for Paros Festival: Friday 19:00-23:00
Medical Museum G. Patelis | will remain open for Paros Festival: Friday-Saturday-Sunday 19:00-23:00
Contributors
Research Coordination: Katerina Konstantinou, art historian-curator
Exhibition curators: Katerina Konstantinou, Natasa Biza
Research team: Giannis Vagias, Dimitra Vichou-Ragkousi, Chrysoula Dendrinou, Aggeliki Evripioti, Avgi Kalogianni, Giorgos Kastanias, Thodoris Bizas, Natasa Biza, Marouso Biza, Konstantinos Ragkousis, Stefanow Ragkousis, Dimitris Sifnaios, Evthalia Spanou
Collaborating anthropologists: Grigoris Gkougkousis, Giorgis Manoudakis, Kostas Bourlis
Oral History archive curator: Dora Kechagia, theatrologist-curator
Artists: Kyriaki Goni, Panagiotis Kalkavouras, Rania Bellou, Platon, Maria Tzanakou
Academic Collaborators: Aris Anagnostopoulos, historian-anthropologist (Heritage Management Organization), Eleana Yalouri, Assistant Professor of Social Anthropologist (Department of Social Anthropologist, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences), Esther Solomon, Assistant Professor Museology (School of Fine Arts, University of Ioannina, Lena Stefanou, archaeologist-museologist (Hellenic Open University, Heritage Management Organization).
Collaborating Local Institutions
Association of Friends of the Traditional Settlement, Cultural Association Archilochos, Cycladic Audiovisual Archives.
Collaborating Academic Institution:
Laboratory of Anthropological Research (Panteion University of Political and Social Sciences), Heritage Management Organization, University of Ioannina, Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades
Cripsis Mansion
The grandiose neoclassical mansion next to the Three Hierarchs church in the Agora of Parikia, is a unique building that preserves elements of Paros and Greece's modern history. Through objects, artworks, furniture and archival documents, visitors can travel in time to the Paros of the 19th and early 20th century. Many important members of the local community belong to the legendary Crispis family, like Nicholas K. Crispis, member of the parliament (1850-1923) and Michalis Crispis, president of Parikia (1896-1981).
The Crispis Mansion opens for the second time to the public in the context of the Paros Festival, aiming to present the family history, local history, as well as national history and the relationship of Paros island with mainland Greece.
Kantiotis’ Barber Shop
The barber shop owned by Mr. Yiannis Kantiotis, closed back in 2000; since then it is being preserved by members of the family exactly the way it was. Apart from John's memory, the barber shop keeps alive the remembrance of a bygone era for the central market of Parikia and consequently for the whole island. It was a time when the main street of Parikia was the Market (Agora). All sorts of shops responded to everyday needs of people of Parikia and its surroundings (Exochés).
Varoucha Mansion
The Varoucha mansion on Eleousa street, starting from Taxiarchis, is a typical example of island architecture within the old city. Its interior speaks - even today - about the cosmopolitan air of a different era. In this house, in 1896, the well-known archaeologist - numismatist Irene Varoucha - Christodoulopoulou was born. Although she left Paros at the age of 9, she kept returning to this mansion during summer, until the end of her life in 1979. There, she used to welcome friends and colleagues. Many still remember the gramophone parties and the music that Irene Varoucha loved.
Vlahou-Psaltaki House
The neoclassical house in the entrance of the Agora of Parikia will welcome the public of Paros Festival for the first time in order to honor the Balkan War hero Georgios Gravaris (1876-1913).
Georgios Gravaris was born in 1876 in this house that was owned by his mother Katigko Dimitrakopoulou. He studied in the Hellenic Army Academy. Ηe moved to Paris for postgraduate studies (1900-1905). He returned to Greece to teach Engineering Physics in the Army Academy. In 1908 he married Flora Crispi. Soon after their marriage they had to kids. Five years later, when the Balkan Wars started, he quit his position in the Academy to join the army.
In the summer of 1913 while the war raged, he was defended the hill 1450 located in Boulgarian territory for the sake of the 3rd Army Division. It was the 15th of July, 1913, that Georgio Gravaris died while fighting for Greece. Few days later the Treaty of Bucharest ended the second Balkan War.
Azaris House
Azaris house, a typical city dwelling of Parikia was bought by two Netherlander sisters, Pauleen and Heleen Lethen, who preserved as it was. These two women came to Paros in the beginnings of 1960, a period in which tourism appeared. Tourism as a social phenomenon gradually developed until it attained the characteristics it has nowadays. The natural beauty of the island was not the only facet that its very first visitors, like Pauleen and Heleen, recognised. The fact that during the 60s and 70s the local society was still characterised by its pre-tourism way of living, was also an asset for the island’s guests.
YRIA Porcelain Workshop
The YRIA porcelain workshop is a real place of creativity, located in the centre of Parikia. The public of the second Paros Festival has the chance to observe the staff of YRIA workshop, preparing their new project titled “Ν.Π. 19/ Niologio (ship’s register) of Paros 2019”. This innovative endeavor looks at the Aegean seamanship as an element of a wider identity of the Archipelagos and is the result of a cooperation between YRIA porcelain workshop and the visual artist Christianna Ikonomou.
Churches
Saint Konstantinos, Taxiarchis, Saint Ioannis Theologos, Saint Aikaterini, Three Hierarchs, Panagia Septembriani, Saint Athanasios, Church of the Representation of the Virgin, Holy Trinity Church.
APPENDIX
*Anthropologists@Work | Collecting oral stories.
Anthropologists at work, in collaboration with the Laboratory of Anthropological Research, of the Social Anthropology Department at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. Grigoris Gkougkousis, Giorgis Manoudakis, Costas Bourlis.
Do you have any reminiscence that you would like to turn into history? Do you know anything about Paros that you would like to share?
Three anthropologists will be writing down stories and memories of Paros Festival visitors in order to enrich the island’s Oral History Archive. Personal and family stories, memories and recollections of other times, tales, myths, legends or truths, travel impressions, these are all important elements that compose the identity of the island. All visitors are welcome in this table of testimony recording. If you own any photographs or objects accompanying your story, please remember to bring it with you. We will take a picture of it, record it and return it to you.
*Marinos Kontaras: Corsair of the Aegean Sea | YRIA porcelain workshop
Screening in loop | Friday, Saturday & Sunday 21:00-23:00
Corsair of the Aegean sea is a movie based on Argiris Eftaliotis’ short story “Marinos Kontaras” directed by George Tzavelas. Filmed in 1948 at Parikia, it is probably the first post-war film footage of island’s capital town, Parikia. Today’s bad condition of the film is due to the several transcriptions in different backup mediums. However, Vaggelis Kontes, in his oral evidence proves that memories created during the filming are still vibrant. He says, with a slight local accent “... I still remember Katrakis going up the stairs, pretending he is blind. He knocks on the door and says to the girl inside : “Let me in my beautiful brunette” and I remember her answer too “How are you supposed to know my hair colour since you are a blind man?” “We, the blind ones, see all women as brunettes”.
The digitized movie was retrieved from the Cycladic Audiovisual Archives-Giannis Tritsimpidas for the needs of Paros Festival.
*Possible futures at the archipelago. The case of Paros.
Workshop for the students of the Visual Art Workshop on the Municipality of Paros with the artist Kyriaki Goni
Wednesday 10 & Thursday 11 of July | 10:00-13:00 | Municipal Library «Giannis Gkikas »
The workshop has as a starting point the research and the art work of Kyriaki Goni regarding the Aegean sea, the history and the future of the networks of the area, the management of the digital memory and the infrastructure of the archipelago, as they have been depicted by the multimodal establishments The Aegean Datahaven and Networks of Trust, a sample of which will be presented in the festival.
How was the island in the past? How is it in the present?
We collect material about the people, the natural environment, the customs, the legends, the history, the buildings and monuments, the arts and craftsmanship, the connection with the other islands of Cyclades and the wider Aegean. How all of these will help us imagine our island in the future? Though research and imagination we create stories, utopic or dystopic, about the possible futures of the island having as components technology, artificial intelligence, climate change, internet and digital subjectivity.
How do we vision the future in the peculiar topography of an island? A topography that at the same time includes both isolation and connectivity. The stories that will be created from the workshop will be presented at an evening reading, while they will be hosted in the digital junction that is part of the work of Networks of Trust.
RESEARCH
Paros Festival second edition is based on the public history research program "Histories and stories of Paros "conducted in Paros from August 2018 to June 2019. Our research aimed at documenting stories of people of Paros and develop an oral history archive of oral history of the island. Within the scope of the research we properly documented the Historic Collection of Parikia in an effort to facilitate the establishment of a Museum for the people of Paros.
INFORMATION
Little cinemas
Look for the “Little cinemas” of the Paros Festival all around the town of Parikia. These constructions draw from the small plastic toys that could be found in the 15th of August festival in Paros. Look through these cinemas to see how certain place in Parikia changed.
Access to the Castle of Parikia
During Paros Festival, wheelchairs and strollers can access the settlement of the Castle of Parikia through specially designed ramps.
Museums of Parikia
Archaeological Museum of Paros | open: Wednesday - Monday 8:00-15:30
Byzantine Museum of Paros | will remain open for Paros Festival: Friday and Saturday 9:00-15:00 & 18:00-21:00, Sunday 10:00-15:00 & 18:00-21:00
School Life Museum | will remain open for Paros Festival: Friday 19:00-23:00
Medical Museum G. Patelis | will remain open for Paros Festival: Friday-Saturday-Sunday 19:00-23:00
Contributors
Research Coordination: Katerina Konstantinou, art historian-curator
Exhibition curators: Katerina Konstantinou, Natasa Biza
Research team: Giannis Vagias, Dimitra Vichou-Ragkousi, Chrysoula Dendrinou, Aggeliki Evripioti, Avgi Kalogianni, Giorgos Kastanias, Thodoris Bizas, Natasa Biza, Marouso Biza, Konstantinos Ragkousis, Stefanow Ragkousis, Dimitris Sifnaios, Evthalia Spanou
Collaborating anthropologists: Grigoris Gkougkousis, Giorgis Manoudakis, Kostas Bourlis
Oral History archive curator: Dora Kechagia, theatrologist-curator
Artists: Kyriaki Goni, Panagiotis Kalkavouras, Rania Bellou, Platon, Maria Tzanakou
Academic Collaborators: Aris Anagnostopoulos, historian-anthropologist (Heritage Management Organization), Eleana Yalouri, Assistant Professor of Social Anthropologist (Department of Social Anthropologist, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences), Esther Solomon, Assistant Professor Museology (School of Fine Arts, University of Ioannina, Lena Stefanou, archaeologist-museologist (Hellenic Open University, Heritage Management Organization).
Collaborating Local Institutions
Association of Friends of the Traditional Settlement, Cultural Association Archilochos, Cycladic Audiovisual Archives.
Collaborating Academic Institution:
Laboratory of Anthropological Research (Panteion University of Political and Social Sciences), Heritage Management Organization, University of Ioannina, Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades