The narrative installation “Eleusis + Revolution” was hosted
in the parking lot of the Old Oil Mill in Elefsina,
from 03 to 26th June, 2022,
as part of the 1821 bicentennial festivities of
2023 ELEVIS European Capital of Culture.
The installation invites us to reflect on the dialectics of History,
in the bleak context of its contemporary war circumstances in Ukraine.
The in situ art installation becomes the trace of the performance entitled “Free Besieged”
which was staged a year ago at the same location.
The verses of the poem composed by Dionysios Solomos and used in the performance
are fragmentarily represented as a deployed military unit, or a cemetery.
They both invite and dare us to visualise ourselves among the Missolonghians 200 years ago.
The hybrid exhibition “War Scene*” focuses on the relation between Eleusis
and the Revolution of 1821. Located inside a tent
symbolising the largest organised military camp of the Greeks led by Karaiskakis
on the same site, the narrative places emphasis on locality, while also
investigating the role of the West in the events.
The installation is mainly based on the work of local historians and collectors,
it features known as well as unrevealed evidence in a fragmentary manner
and poses questions as to the parameters shaping the outcome of military operations
historically, experimenting on sound and scale as narrative tools.
*The words “scene” and “tent” are synonyms in Greek.
PROJECT DATA
DESIGN – CONSTRUCTION:
2021 – 2022
COLLABORATORS:
Stefanos Kavallierakis, historian – scientific consultant
Despoina Faridou, architect
Vasilis Saltas, architect – technical management
Olga Brouma, set designer – artworks
Antonis Konstantopoulos, graphic design
Kostas Bokos, sound design
Delta Pi, production design and direction
SURFACE:
1.000m²