procession -PART 2

Procession on the tracks of habitation. Through the Athens Olive Grove. (Event organized by the Nomadic Architecture Network)

the video is attempting a reflection on a certain crowd of activists (including myself) while documenting at the same time an event: their "procession" through a unique area of central Athens, possibly the last large extent that is unbuilt and uninhabited.

These are architects, artists and other activists who take an interest in what is about to happen to this area known as the Olive Grove; the area had been characterized as an industrial zone in 1945. There are factories to be seen, many in a state of decadence, empty lots, but also roads burdened with extreme heavy traffic of trucks.

A metro station was recently constructed with a view to the football pitch (for Panathinaikos) that is on the tracks; a large mall has also been founded... all of which are meant to attract crowds. This is the usual (lucrative), commercial monolithic model applied by large developers without taking into consideration issues of wider nature: the history of the area, the opinion of any local residents, other possible uses corresponding to needs in the larger context of a densely built city like Athens.

The event is also part of the project UNBUILT organized by SARCHA and the Byzantine museum.
For more details:
http://sarcha-architecture.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html

Category:

Music

Tags:

• ελαιώνας
• athens
• greece
• sarcha
• byzantine
• museum
• nomadic
• architecture