H(E)AVENS – A four-day festival on the role of private foundations in the field of culture \u2261 Athens, 7-10 December 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u201cprivate cultural foundations\u201d? 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 \u201ctax haven\u201d and a network of \u201coff-shore\u201d 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are the current pursuits of cultural foundations \u2014 the initial philanthropic aims of their founders notwithstanding? None of the answers usually provided to this question \u2014 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 \u2014 seem to exhaust this complex phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Arundhati Roy writes in her essay Capitalism: A Ghost Story: \u201cPerhaps it\u2019s time for us to take back the night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Events at \u039a\u0395\u03a4:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Friday 8 December<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 12.00 <\/strong>| Rotated Soundscapes {sound installation} \u2014 Agapi Zarda<\/p>\n\n\n\n 13:00 – 15:00<\/strong> | Private cultural institutions: a mapping {panel + discussion} 15:30 – 17:00<\/strong> | Shipping, climate crisis, greenwashing {screening + discussion} \u2014 Reporters United<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saturday 9 December<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 12.00 – 14.00<\/strong> | Paradise Papers and Funding of Cultural Institutions {workshop} \u2014 Reporters United<\/p>\n\n\n\n 14:30- 15:30<\/strong> | On the Astounding in art: states of artistic praxis and artistic praxis as a state {panel} \u2014 Costis Zouliatis, Yiannis Iolaos Maniatis<\/p>\n\n\n\n 16:00 – 16:45<\/strong> | The Transformation of King Constantine {video + discussin} \u2014 Rocinante group<\/p>\n\n\n\n 19:30<\/strong> | \u201cIt Would Be Great if You\u2019d Have Me\u201d: The Life and Times of Rebecca Juicing {performance lecture} \u2014 Macklin Kowal<\/p>\n\n\n\n 20:30 – 21:00<\/strong> | The New Museum Saga {performance} \u2014 FYTA<\/p>\n\n\n\n 21:30 – 22:00<\/strong> | Papaki Foundation {music performance} \u2014 Thanos Polymeneas-Liontiris<\/p>\n\n\n\n 22:30 – 23:00<\/strong> | Under the same roof? {music performance} \u2014 \u0391\u039cR<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sunday 10 December<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 14:00 – 15:30 <\/strong>| Performative practices as a means of emerging forms of resistance {lecture} \u2014 ReCompulsive Behaviours<\/p>\n\n\n\n 16:00 – 18:00<\/strong> | LGBTI movements and public space in the era of institutional appropriation of gender politics and identities {panel} \u2014 Danae Papaevangelou, Michalis Binios\/Patras Pride, Fil Ieropoulos\/LALA, Macklin Kowal\/Sub Rosa Space<\/p>\n\n\n\n 18:30 – 19:00<\/strong> | Merely colonial? {lecture} \u2014 Maria Kakogianni<\/p>\n\n\n\n Detailed programme for all days and all venues: https:\/\/heavens.gr\/en\/english\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The festival is organised and hosted by the following groups and venues:<\/p>\n\n\n\n KET LALA O Meteoritis Noucmas or.artspace TWIXTlablab Tanzterrain
\u2022<\/strong> Non-profit foundations in culture: staffing and artistic production \u2014 Marianna Stefanitsi, Martha Michailidou, Nikos Souliotis
\u2022<\/strong> Are libraries \u201ccool\u201d after all? The case of the Stavros Niarchos National Library \u2014 Vassilis Georgakis
\u2022<\/strong> 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. \u2014 Anastasia Christaki
\u2022<\/strong> Image Politics and Cultural Foundations \u2014 Yorgos Karailias
\u2022<\/strong> Independent art spaces and the urban dominance of private cultural foundations. \u2014 Dimitrios Papachristos, Kristi Petropoulou<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kyprou 91\u0391 & Sikinou 35\u0391, 113 64 Athens
https:\/\/polychorosket.gr\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Derigni 39, 104 34 Athens
https:\/\/lalaspiti.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fokionos Negri 68, 113 61 Athens
https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ometeoritis\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kasou 3, 113 64 Athens
https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/noucmas\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dimitrakopoulou 89, 117 41 Athens
https:\/\/orartspace.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/twixtlab.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tinou 52-54, 113 61 Athens
https:\/\/www.tanzterrain.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n