Elefsina festival animates city
Situated near Athens, Elefsina is mostly known for its industry. Yet in the heart of this industrial city lie charming paths and houses, an archaeological site and various contemporary cultural activities, including the Aeschylia Festival. The festival has been taking place for 32 years and has been held at the Former Oil Refinery on the Elefsina beach for the last three. The building belongs to the National Bank of Greece which has kindly ceded it to the City of Elefsina. Running to October 12, the festival covers a broad range of events including exhibitions, ancient drama, Renaissance theater, ecological documentaries, live music and a one-day conference on ancient Greek drama set-designing and costume-making dedicated to the late influential set designer Vassilis Fotopoulos. The festival commenced last Sunday with Dimitris Lignadis’s take on Aristophanes’ «Frogs,» followed by a percussion performance by Nikos Touliatos’s Ichodrassi group. Tonight is the final night of the three-day ecological documentaries screenings, to be followed by Cretan music by the Hainides tomorrow. Events further include Roula Pateraki’s double Oedipus with the National Theater on Sunday, Angela Brouskou’s take on Aeschylus’ «Agamemnon» on September 10, a concert by the Athens State Orchestra the next day, the day conference on September 13, an exhibition by Calliope Lemos and much more. On the visual arts front, Marios Spiliopoulos presents a journey between myth and reality with his «Human Traces,» featuring audiovisual interventions and video art in various parts of the city as well as the Old Refinery. The exhibition records the traces that people have left through the course of History. Just a little further down, the Leonidas Kanellopoulos Cultural Center hosts prints, drawings and photographs by artists, archaeologists and photographers who visited Elefsina from the end of the 17th century until the early 20th century. This is the annual art display organized in Elefsina by the Titan Cement Company SA, in collaboration with the municipality. www.aisxylia.gr.
