Ποιειν Και Πραττειν - create and do

Newsletter August - September 2015

Play of Shadows on a wall in Spetses - August 2015                                   @HF

 

Editorial

In memory of Plato's cave analogy, the play of shadows on the wall has always something puzzling about it. The future is not exactly what one has imagined, likewise projections into what is coming next can be guided more by fear of far worse things to come than what has been experienced in Greece since 2008/2009. Time as measure is not something which trickles down like droplets of water upon a thirsty ground which has bitten hard into dust due to the dryness of the summer. The richness of the colours is mainly due to brown turning into rusty like colours with a similarity to iron being cast for long in the sun. Like the wailing ships at anchor reminding of wales longing for the depth of the sea, all is about brinkmanship and guidance through political and personal uncertainties. Health issues aside, there are the constant financial worries. Some are destined to succumb to this fear, others still find courage and motivation to make the most out of a crisis. Naturally only few are adept enough to know how the varolization works and where are the hinges to make money out of them if glitches occur. That is the business of the engineer who replaces in Greece mainly the architect when supervising construction. Some can still buy an apartment, renovate it within one month and find a foreign client coming to Athens for a spell of time, so as to earn money from someone with a steady source of income. All the rest are exposed to precarious business conditions imposed now by the third Memorandum of Understanding.

Hatto Fischer

Athens 19.8.2015

European capitals of culture

 

European Capitals of Culture

Current ECoCs

Mons 2015

Pilsen 2015

Riga 2014

"Culture is that undeniable and irresistible force, which is able to direct changes into a positive stream, turning fear into a challenge and a venturous joy, and uncertainty – into trust in the creative spirit." - key slogan of Riga for that decisive year.

For official information: http://riga2014.org/en/

Umeå 2014

Official website: http://www.umea2014.se/inenglish

Umea will also host the next conference of the University Network come October 2014.

Future ECoCs

San Sebastian 2016 and Wroclaw 2016

Aarhus 2017 and Paphos 2017

Valletta 2018

 

and Leeuwarden 2018 in Holland

Matera 2019 in Italy.

The city will join the previous Italian cities which were European Capitals of Culture: Florenz 1986, Bologna 2000 and Genoa 2004.

Plovdiv 2019 in Bulgaria.

2020 Ireland and Croatia

2021 Greece and Rumania

Candidate cities

 

Note: the deadline for handing in the bid by Greek candidate cities is no longer Oct. 23, but has been extended by two months.

Learning out of previous experiences - what is deemed to be a success story?

How candidate cities learn out of previous experiences made by other ECoC cities, this can be studied onhand of what these cities identify as factors which have contributed to making this project into a success stories. Largely the cultural impact is described in non cultural terms, see

 

Europe connected through the arts and cultures

When thinking about how Europe is connected through culture, it became a practical question as to what contributions European Capitals of Culture have made so far to bringing about a 'cultural synthesis' capable of energizing artists to do outstanding works of art. To trace possible links and follow-ups between past, present and future ECoCs, there has been started a research project to examine the various linkages within given and still better to be formulate categories of the arts.

See archive of European Capitals of Culture 

http://ecoc.poieinkaiprattein.org/european-capital-of-culture/

 

Poetry

 

   
                                         

THE OLIVE TREE

 

The olive tree

stands above my yard.

Ages fuse

to perplex the wide trunk.

Crafted by pain fissures

sculptured in peace curves

make a precious piece of Art

echoing the pulse of eternal life..

Sacred and silent

stands in the middle of my dreams

guards my steps to the river

calls me back in danger

always there

like a huge hug.

Η ΕΛΙΑ

 

Πάνω απ' την αυλή του σπιτιού μου 

στέκεται η ελιά.

Αιώνες συντήκονται 

να περιπλέξουν τον πλατύ κορμό.

Χαρακιές που σκάλισε ο πόνος

έλικες που σμιλεύτηκαν σε καιρό ειρήνης

αρμολογούν μονάκριβη Τέχνη

που αντηχεί το σφυγμό αιώνιας ζωής.

Kαθαγιασμένη και σιωπηλή

στέκει καταμεσίς στα όνειρά μου

φρουρεί τα βήματά μου στον ποταμό

με καλεί κοντά της σε ώρα κινδύνου

βρίσκεται πάντοτε εκεί για μένα

θεόρατη, ανοιχτή αγκαλιά. 

 

ΠΗΝΕΛΟΠΗ ΝΤΟΥΝΤΟΥΛΑΚΗ

 For her remarks about the olive tree and tress in general, see

Kids' Guernica - Guernica Youth - Activities in 2015

Kids' Guernica – Guernica Youth meeting in Wroclaw, May 13 – 16, 2015 to prepare exhibition in Walbryzch for June 2016.

1 - 6 Sept. Exhibition in Olympia in conjunction with the Symposium 'A need for a constructive dialogue and the Olympic Truce'.

In Tripoli, Lebanon youth along with three children painted a mural with the significant title: To remember we need to forget. The mural was painted in commeration of the bombings of two mosques in Tripoli 2013. They developed a very rich symbolic language out of a strong longing for peace.

Kids' Guernica - Guernica Youth action took place in the local community of Zabbar / Malta 2014 under the guidance of Gertrude Spiteri and Paul Dalli together with Hatto Fischer .

Gerold Schuman in Ecouen initiated an action in "parc naturel duVexin" in March/April 2015 with the murals painted in commeration of the First World War. See Mémoire(s) de la Grande Guerre 2015

Alexandra Zanne completed her documentary film of the mural action 'Seeds of Peace' or in French Graines de paix 2014 done with children battling with their bodies due to epileptic attacks. See https://vimeo.com/114130300

The artist Sonia Goggisberg and Ariana Rocha, director of ONG taking care of 270 kids per day, have started together in August 2015 a Kids' Guernica - Guernica Youth action in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They will start painting on the canvas in October 2015.

The first mural painted in Togo, Africa in 2015 came about thanks to the initiative of Christa Klenbub-Dunkl and Rainer Rene Mueller.

Bericht von Christa Kleinbub-Dunkl und Rainer-René Mueller

The Togo Report by Christa Kleinbub-Dunkl and Rainer-René Mueller

 

Summer in Greece

 More imagines can be found under

                                          Summer in Greece

Old Epidavros - near the sunken city

 Girls playing cards

                     

How lovely are these summer days when everything else seems to be forgotten: the daily bus drive to school, the cold winter months, the need to pay taxes up front!

    

     View from Spetses over to the main coastline

 
            
     
            Heading out from Piraeus to Paros
 
              
 
                Beach in Paros
 
 
 
     
    
      Just enjoying freedom underneath tree spending shade
 
 
 
 
 Father playing ball with his son on the beach on Paros 
 
All the photos were taken by Hatto Fischer in Spetses, Epidavros and Paros
 
 

Greece before elections on September 20th, 2015

            The Third Memorandum of Understanding and the trading in of an old political uncertainty with a new one.    

The question constantly posed, but likewise denied is the prospect of Greece being forced to leave the Eurozone with all the unknown consequences. While Schäuble has proposed a temporary exit, the rebels in the Syriza party, now under the leadership of Lafazanis, wish to exit rather than face the tough measures agreed upon under the Third Memoranum of Understanding. Again political dialogue seems impossible as Tsipras is cast into the silouette of a traitor.

 

Tsipras fighting shadows of the past

The term 'traitor' reflects the totalitarian language in the making and propels hatred against the one branded as traitor (Jean Pierre Faye). Brendan Kennelly in 'Judas' states children are taught from day one at school to hate the traitor, hence the most difficult thing is "to unlearn learned hatred." Many more questions need to be posed about the Radical Left and their contradiction between political purity and absolute denial of the need to compromise.

See furthermore Tsipras, Syriza and the Radical Left

Another alternative is a simple prescription also found on the wall in the streets of Athens.

                        

A demand for beer and weed by those who see no way out. Or else what has been described as

The lost generation of the Memorandum

 

 

Conferences 2015


Next museum conference:
http://www.museumnext.com/museum-conference-call-papers/

14 May Poetry Workshop in Wroclaw: "Bridge of Redemption / Vineyard / Valley of Vine Trees"

15 - 16 May Meeting of Kids' Guernica - Guernica Youth in Wroclaw

16 - 18 June Symposium "Reading Architecture," organized by McGill University. Place: Benaki Museum, Vas. Sofias in Athens. Abstracts are due by Jan. 15th.
http://www.readingarchitecture.org/

18 - 20 June Mons Meeting of Les Rencontres about "Virtual Culture, Real Responsibilities: Which concrete applications today?" or "Does Europe have still a cultural ambition."
Les Rencontres European Association of cities and regions for Cultureinfo@lesrencontres.eu 165, Boulevard de la Liberté 59000 Lille - France +33 (0)3 20 85 14 15 www.lesrencontres.eu

22 - 23 June 30th anniversary of European Capitals of Culture and coordinated by Spyros Mercouris - see Athens Meeting 2015

1 - 6 September "The need for a constructive dialogue between people and cultures and the Olympic Idea" in Ancient Olympia and a Kids' Guernica - Guernica Youth exhibition

6 September - reception at the Cycladic Museum, Athens and presentation of Kids' Guernica - Guernica Youth

2-3 October Think tank of Les Rencontres in Milan on theme "What does a Network of European Cities and Regions for Culture mean today?"

18 - 21 October
7th World Summit on Arts and Culture
IFACCA and Arts Council in Valletta, Malta

22 - 23 October
Mapping Culture II: Debating Cultural Spaces and Places  

2nd Annual Valletta 2018 Foundation International Conference on Cultural Relations in Europe and the Mediterranean
in Valletta, Malta


 

Publications by POIEIN KAI PRATTEIN 
Catalogue "Imperishable Water", 2012 with Haroula Hadjinicilou, Anna Arvanitaki, Hatto Fischer (ed.), Athens ISBN 978-618-80160-0-2
Hatto Fischer: The poem 'Destiny still flows' by Katerina Anghelaki Rooke - this concerns a discussion of the poem which inspired the action on Rhodes last year
"Nation and Identity" by Kreisau-Initiative, with introduction by Hatto Fischer is crucial for answering the question whether or not Patriotism is an alternative to Nationalism. Youth met first in Kreisau, Poland and were inspired by this example set by the Kreisau Circle which went into resistance against Hitler on the basis of a non discriminatory approach for the day after Hitler fell.
Article by Anna Arvanitaki and Haroula Hadjinicolaou, "Action on Rhodes" in Journal "Nissides" (small islands). Rhodos, Vol. 9, 2012
The poem "strong images" by Hatto Fischer was published on August 18, 2015. See http://labloga.blogspot.com/search?q=hatto+fischer.
Poiein kai Prattein is member of the Mediterranean Directory organized by the 
René Seydoux Foundation
http://www.fondation-seydoux.org/repertoire_presentation.htm
Mediterranean Directory

Cultural Calendar for 2015

"Depression Era - photos of Greek crisis" - http://www.depressionera.gr/

photo exhibition at Benaki http://www.benaki.gr/index.asp?lang=en&id=202020001&sid=1519

TEMPUS RITUALIS - exhibition about the Greek crisis by Christine Nippe and Dorothee Bienert in the Gallery at 'Körnerpark', Schierkerstreet 8, 12051 Berlin until 25.01.2015    http://tempusritualis.weebly.com/

21 March Day of Poetry http://www.un.org/en/events/poetryday/

 
Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) 2015 begins in the evening of Wednesday, April 15 and ends in the evening of Thursday, April 16
 
"THE BRIDGE as atonement to peace" Poetry Workshop by Hatto Fischer together with Kamila Kaminska in Wroclaw May 14 - 16

 

21 - 27 September 2nd Athens World Poetry Festival to be held in Athens

Oct. 23 Deadline for submission of bid book by candidate cities in Greece for the ECoC title in 2021 has been extended by two months.

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