The Open Orchestra project in the public spaces of Athens: an urban utopia with transformative power?
| dc.contributor.author | Kokkali, Ifigeneia | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-11-29T13:25:56Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-11-29T13:25:56Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | en |
| dc.description | Game changer? Planning for just and sustainable urban regions, Paris, 8-12th July 2024 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | The Open Orchestra is a group of about 150 professional artists and amateurs, founded in spring 2021, in Athens, Greece. Its establishment is directly correlated to the Support Art Workers Action Group that has emerged during the pandemic of Covid-19, as a way to resist to the depreciation of culture and art-workers themselves, many of whom remained unemployed and with no support from the state, during the long quarantines imposed as a protection measure1. Even more importantly, the Open Orchestra comes as a continuation of the Paris Occupation of Odeon, when, on March 27, 2021, during the Agora organized by the occupants of the Théâtre de l'Odéon, professionals from the French Symphonic and Lyric Orchestras, musicians from specialized orchestras, occupiers of the Odéon, and students formed a large orchestra of solidary musicians2. Following this line, in spring 2021, the Support Art Workers Action Group gathered in Propylaia, Athens, sang and played the piece “El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido”, exactly as did the solidary orchestra at Odéon, Paris, a couple of months earlier. This has been the starting act of the Open Orchestra (O.C./ A.O. in Greek). Which started rehearsing once a week, at the Filopappou Hill, in a central public park of Athens, yet derelict and merely abandoned by the Municipality of Athens. It is called Open Orchestra, because anyone who wants to rehearse with it can do it at any time: there is no limitation on artistic level or degree of commitment (one can enter and leave the Orchestra at any time). Organizationally, there is a solid core of 100 people, who rehearse every Sunday. There exists a coordination group, yet decisions are made through open circles organized regularly, in which the whole group participates. This is particularly relevant to the organization of different projects. Every one or two months, rehearsals take place in a deprived neighbourhood of Athens (Victoria square, Perama, Amerikis Square3, etc.), instead of the regular one at the Filopappou Hill, and messages such as “Lively Squares” or “We want to danse in squares, streets and neighbourhoods” are delivered in any possible means (e.g. banners, posters, etc.). The A.O. also gives an open concert every June, in vicinity to the archeological site of Kerameikos and the Acropolis. Yet, most importantly, it provides solidarity to several people and events: performances in several trials of public interest (trial for the murder of Zac/Zackie4; trials for victims a sexual violence, rape5 & murder; etc.), as well as campaigns for social justice and peace, with the most recent example concerning the war in Gaza and Palestine6. The aim of this presentation is to explore how this impulsive bottom-up initiative can/has become “game-changer” at the local (city) and the very local (neighbourhood) level, essentially as an antidote to the harsh regeneration and touristification policies that hit actually the Greek cities. Building upon my own participation to the A.O. during 2021- 2022, I seek to understand to what extend such an initiative – a community of joy, care and solidarity, and an urban utopia, as I would like to call it – may be capable of transforming, in the mid-term, both public space and the relations performed within public space. Considering its ephemeral and sporadic performances and actions, to what extend can an initiative such the A.O. play a role in shaping the neighbourhood and the city fabric overall? I am particularly interested in examining the potential of such initiatives yet also the significant challenges they pose as regards appropriation, belonging, and reclaiming the city. After all, what would be needed, from a planner’s perspective, to enhance and leverage such initiatives in a view of coming closer to the ideals of the Just City and the Right to the City? How can planners ensure that such bottom-up initiatives can be taken under consideration in decision-making processes? What kind of spaces could accommodate such initiatives that promote interaction among diverse people yet often they challenge the established status quo? Keywords: Open Orchestra/Athens, culture, art/ist, solidarity, political action, spatial justice, public space appropriation, transformative power | |
| dc.description.version | published version | en |
| dc.identifier.isbn | 978-94-64981-82-7 | en |
| dc.identifier.pageNumber | 1400-1414 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14235/2284 | |
| dc.language.iso | English | en |
| dc.publisher | AESOP | en |
| dc.rights | openAccess | en |
| dc.rights.license | CC-BY | en |
| dc.source | Game changer? Planning for just and sustainable urban regions, Paris, 8-12th July 2024 | en |
| dc.title | The Open Orchestra project in the public spaces of Athens: an urban utopia with transformative power? | |
| dc.type | conferenceObject | en |
| dc.type.version | publishedVersion | en |