PCAI presents Oh, tranquility! Penetrating the very rock, A cicada’s voice this July in Delphi in the framework of the 2023 programme of the Ministry of Culture’s All of Greece One Culture institution. The PCAI programme will unravel through commissioned performances and an exhibition inspired by Dimitris Pikionis’ environmental concerns, expressed through his essays Gaia’s Atimosis (1954) and Sentimental Topography (1935), as well as his architectural and artistic work. All performances and activities will take place in the former Pikionis pavilion in Delphi, a recently restored monument of modern architecture designed by the leading Greek architect and his son, Petros Pikionis, in the late 1950s. Visual artists, architects, poets, sopranos, designers and performers were invited to create new works in dialogue with the refurbished Pikionis landmark and the unique heritage and natural landscape of Delphi.
The programme, curated by Kika Kyriakakou, PCAI artistic director, includes works by Angelo Plessas, Anna Pangalou, HOPE, Digitaria, Phoebe Giannisi, Zissis Kotionis, Natalia Papadopoulou, Serapis Maritime, Kostadis, VASKOS (Vassilis Noulas & Kostas Tzimoulis).
The Oh, tranquility! Penetrating the very rock, A cicada’s voice programme at Delphi borrows its title from the 1689 haiku of Matsuo Bashō, the most important haiku poet in Japanese history. Bashō composes a summer image of nature, awash with sounds and silences, insects, living creatures and erupting rocks. His poem is a song about earth and stone, a tribute to harmony and balance, a hymn to the recurring song of the cicada that transcends decay and death. A haiku with environmental implications that encompasses Pikionis’ relevant concerns and the dialectical relationship he sought with nature and his surrounding environment. The distinguished architect would regularly refer to Japanese philosophy and art, incorporating these influences into his own idiosyncratic artistic idiom, where modernity and respect for nature often intersect with folk tradition.
* The title of the programme is an English interpretation of Matsuo Bashō’s haiku (1689). It was translated by the scholar and Japanologist, Helen Craig McCullough (Classical Japanese Prose, An Anthology, 1990, p. 539).
PERFORMANCE PROGRAMME
Sunday 23 July
Natalia Papadopoulou
HOPE & Anna Pangalou, Digitaria
Serapis Maritime, Kostadis
Monday 24 July
Phoebe Giannisi & Zissis Kotionis
Angelo Plessas
VASKOS (Vassilis Noulas & Kostas Tzimoulis)
Reserve your free ticket for one or both days of the event.
On both days, there will be a free shuttle bus service from Athens (Syntagma Square) to Delphi and back. The bus will depart from Delphi to Athens on both days after the end of the last performance. A reservation for each itinerary is mandatory.
Reserve your seat on the shuttle bus, by filling in the form:
https://forms.gle/jhEZURDJoQFdwWE38
Find here the booklet of the event featuring artist bios, descriptions of the performances and more: OH, TRANQUILITY | BOOKLET (GR/ENG)
Dates: Sunday 23 & Monday 24 July, 2023
Arrival Time: 6 pm
Venue: Pi, Global Center for Circular Economy and Culture (former Pikionis’ pavilion), Delphi, Greece
Information: pcai.gr, info@pcai.gr and via phone: +30 2104060088
(Monday-Friday: 9am-5pm)
More about the former Pikionis’ pavilion in Delphi, now “pi”
Harmoniously integrated into the surrounding area, the Pikionis building or Pavillion, as it is known, was constructed in the late 1950s. Recently renovated by PCAI, the historic and architectural monument is located in the archaeological area of Delphi and was designed by leading Greek architects Dimitris and Petros Pikionis. Stone-built, with relief techniques on the walls and impressive flooring, it is a unique example of post-war architecture. The former Pikionis’ Tourist Pavilion in Delphi is the new dynamic space of PCAI and Polygreen under the name “pi” (Global Centre for Circular Economy and Culture). This new cultural space aims to cultivate environmental awareness with contemporary art as its main vehicle. The former Pavillion is considered as one of the most beautiful balconies of Delphi and has already hosted important exhibitions and cultural activities of PCAI. These include the exhibition of works by renowned sculptor Takis, in collaboration with the Takis Foundation, as well as the group exhibition Keeping Time with environmental works from the PCAI and Fidelity contemporary art collections, curated by Kika Kyriakakakou, Patricia Dellorfano and Lexi Lee Sullivan. This exhibition, through works by visual artists Carly Glovinski, Lynne Harlow and Charly Nijensohn, functioned as a reflection on time and materiality, underlining the environmental concerns of both collections. In the context of the exhibition, a performance by VIGIL (Despina Sanida Krezia & Fotini Stamatelopoulou) was commissioned, and a series of guided tours and educational workshops in Delphi schools were implemented.
The production is part of the programme “All of Greece One Culture”2023 of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.
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Activity aligned with Goals 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17
