Restoring Closeness, the AfroGreeks live – All-day events with Afro-Greek artists all over Athens and live-streaming on Greek Public Television (ERT) and social media
21/03/2021 Athens, Greece
Sunday 21/03/2021, by its very nature, affirms equality in practice, as day and night are of equal length. It became the starting point for a dialogue on the ways one can manage the difficulties of the pandemic: whether as an artist or as a spectator.
The protagonists of the AfroGreeks made Athens a stage by “canceling” the health restrictions on the spring equinox, on Sunday 21/3/21, a day dedicated to poetry and the elimination of racial discrimination. The empty city became the setting that housed the collective project -in progress- the AfroGreeks that organized a day-long action honoring the important messages of the day and respecting all the protective measures for Covid-19.
The 6 actions were shown in a live streaming broadcast on Greek Public Television (ERT) and the social networks of ERT and Døcumatism.
The protagonists of the project who carried out short actions in open spaces all over the city, marking demands, needs, shortages, visions, meetings and new connections. Creating alternative and interactive connections that made the confined Athenians (and all Greeks) participate in the mass celebration of the day as if they could roam freely in the city participating in musical events and discussions.
Moving from one event to the other using drone shots, gave viewers the sense of freely moving through the city, at a time when they had no freedom of movement due to the pandemic.
The artists-performers of the actions stubbornly and creatively claimed what they dreamed of: what the protagonists of the AfroGreeks are looking for every day so that the end of restrictions can find everyone more free, liberated from stereotypes and prejudices, ready to surrender to poetry and acceptance of diversity.
At the end of that day, the protagonists of the actions, as the restrictive measures in the city were starting, organized an online discussion on Zoom with the participation of the viewers, generating many questions, a large number of publications, and laudatory online comments.
The actions of the day:
– 9.30 Pedion tou Areos
Theatre play with poems and music from Africa and Thrace by actor Samuel Akinola, actress & director Eleni Mavridou, musician George Mavridis and 6 young Afro-Greek students from Kypseli schools.
– 11.30 Athens Town Hall
Gospels and songs with musician Stephen Anderindo playing piano and singing.
– 13.00 Monastiraki Square
Street dance performed by dancers Mikel Ergar and Kofi Yadom on the architectural floor markings of the square, which trace the routes of the city’s migrants.
Grace Nwoke read the poem “Where I Exist” by Marcelino dos Santos or Kalungano from Mozambique.
– 15.00 Zappeion Pavilion
Spoken-word poetry, body percussion, and Afrobeats dance performed by a group of four Afro-Greek women (Jessica Anosike, Grace Nwoke, Demelza Okoji, and Maria Shakey) together with dance anthropologist Natasha Martin, in the space where the first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896, where Greece’s accession to the European Union and the crisis-era memoranda were signed, and where prime ministers deliver their post-election addresses.
– 16.30 Terrace of Literature House bookshop in Kypseli
A musical performance featuring songs and poetry by musician and composer McYinka, who secured the creative participation of local residents from their windows, balconies, and fire escapes. Since then, this rooftop has been used almost daily for artistic activities, concerts, and theatrical performances.
– 18.00 Benaki Museum Terrace
Unpredictable encounters and songs with actress Eleni Nzanga, anthropologist and artist Grace Nwoke, musician Stephen Anderindo, and musician and composer McYinka bring the day’s events to a close in the atrium of a museum housing enduring collections of Greek tradition.
– 20.00 Online discussion with the artists of the project and the audience; the topic was the lives and challenges of artists during the period of Covid-19 restrictions.
All stages of the action were filmed for the AfroGreeks project’s Workshop-Archive and are freely available.
