ΠΑΡΑΔΕΙΣΟΙ / H(E)AVENS

H(E)AVENS – A four-day festival on the role of private foundations in the field of culture ≡ Athens, 7-10 December 2023

In recent years, the increased involvement of private entities with the visual and performing arts sectors as well as with academia has caused a major reconfiguration of the Greek cultural landscape. But what do we refer to when we talk about “private cultural foundations”? What are their common features and what are their organisational, legal or aesthetic differences? How do their cultural activities intersect with interventions in the urban landscape? Is there really a “tax haven” and a network of “off-shore” companies behind every major institution? At which political and economic juncture did these foundations rise to prominence in Greece? What kind of gains do they envision through their funding of challenging and sometimes unprofitable art and research projects? How may one interpret their interest in live and ephemeral art forms, performing and queer arts? What kind of communication strategies do they develop when they appropriate concepts shaped within social struggles?

What are the current pursuits of cultural foundations — the initial philanthropic aims of their founders notwithstanding? None of the answers usually provided to this question — i.e., to replace the state in some of its essential functions; to inaugurate a more efficient relation between the private and the public sector; to demonstrate in practice, in an era of sweeping privatisations, the supremacy of private initiative; to embody a kind of neo-liberalism with a human face — seem to exhaust this complex phenomenon.

Their functioning raises important questions regarding accountability and transparency. The development of vertical relations which are not based on the exercise of rights coming from below but on a practice of favouritism operated from above gives rise to a situation of patronage, ultimately resulting in some artists being consistently favoured and some others being just as consistently excluded from the selection process. Furthermore, as the latter process is led by decision makers only accountable to their employers, the hegemonic position the private cultural foundations have acquired in recent years is very rarely challenged in the public discourse, and usually from individuals outside the artistic community.

Hence the impetus behind this open call: through a hybrid festival held in an informal setting, we would like to bring together people from the fields of art, research, activism, urban planning, architecture and investigative journalism to bridge the gap in public discourse regarding the role of the private cultural foundations acting in Greece and to start developing the critical tools which we are presently lacking in order to address the aforementioned questions.

As Arundhati Roy writes in her essay Capitalism: A Ghost Story: “Perhaps it’s time for us to take back the night.”

Events at ΚΕΤ:

Friday 8 December

12.00 | Rotated Soundscapes {sound installation} — Agapi Zarda

13:00 – 15:00 | Private cultural institutions: a mapping {panel + discussion}
• Non-profit foundations in culture: staffing and artistic production — Marianna Stefanitsi, Martha Michailidou, Nikos Souliotis
• Are libraries “cool” after all? The case of the Stavros Niarchos National Library — Vassilis Georgakis
• Everyday place in the context of the contemporary city being taken over by the practices of capital. The case of the Onassis Stegi cultural agenda. — Anastasia Christaki
• Image Politics and Cultural Foundations — Yorgos Karailias
• Independent art spaces and the urban dominance of private cultural foundations. — Dimitrios Papachristos, Kristi Petropoulou

15:30 – 17:00 | Shipping, climate crisis, greenwashing {screening + discussion} — Reporters United

Saturday 9 December

12.00 – 14.00 | Paradise Papers and Funding of Cultural Institutions {workshop} — Reporters United

14:30- 15:30 | On the Astounding in art: states of artistic praxis and artistic praxis as a state {panel} — Costis Zouliatis, Yiannis Iolaos Maniatis

16:00 – 16:45 | The Transformation of King Constantine {video + discussin} — Rocinante group

19:30 | “It Would Be Great if You’d Have Me”: The Life and Times of Rebecca Juicing {performance lecture} — Macklin Kowal

20:30 – 21:00 | The New Museum Saga {performance} — FYTA

21:30 – 22:00 | Papaki Foundation {music performance} — Thanos Polymeneas-Liontiris

22:30 – 23:00 | Under the same roof? {music performance} — ΑΜR

Sunday 10 December

14:00 – 15:30 | Performative practices as a means of emerging forms of resistance {lecture} — ReCompulsive Behaviours

16:00 – 18:00 | LGBTI movements and public space in the era of institutional appropriation of gender politics and identities {panel} — Danae Papaevangelou, Michalis Binios/Patras Pride, Fil Ieropoulos/LALA, Macklin Kowal/Sub Rosa Space

18:30 – 19:00 | Merely colonial? {lecture} — Maria Kakogianni

Detailed programme for all days and all venues: https://heavens.gr/en/english/

The festival is organised and hosted by the following groups and venues:

KET
Kyprou 91Α & Sikinou 35Α, 113 64 Athens
https://polychorosket.gr/

LALA
Derigni 39, 104 34 Athens
https://lalaspiti.com/

O Meteoritis
Fokionos Negri 68, 113 61 Athens
https://www.instagram.com/ometeoritis/

Noucmas
Kasou 3, 113 64 Athens
https://www.instagram.com/noucmas/

or.artspace
Dimitrakopoulou 89, 117 41 Athens
https://orartspace.com/

TWIXTlablab
https://twixtlab.com/

Tanzterrain
Tinou 52-54, 113 61 Athens
https://www.tanzterrain.com/

Academia Romantica Athens
Sozopoleos 15, 104 46 Athens
https://academia-romantica.edu.gr/