Routes in Marpissa 20-21-22 August 2015 Marpissa, Paros
On 20, 21 and August 22, 2015 volunteers and guests of the cultural and experiential festival “Routes in Marpissa” shared unique moments and strong emotions in the traditional settlement of Marpissa, Paros.
During the three days of the festival, we travelled through the world of patterns and motifs discovering the physiognomy of Marpissa: patterns in nature, in the sciences, arts and social life. The thematic stations of the festival included experiential activities that had been prepared by the organising team: we knitted, we portrayed our strong moments in the tableau of emotions, we created our own fairytale and we designed patterns in the sand.
We had the opportunity to visit the group exhibition “Tools” curated by Despina Zefkili and 3 137. The works were exhibited in open spaces, courtyards and houses of the traditional settlement. During the festival, we had the opportunity to visit the house of the artist Rallis Kopsidis in Drios and watch “12 films” in Super 8 film, a work by Constantinos Hadzinikolaou.
The festival started on Thursday, August 20, with the game «A Journey to the Land of Patterns and Motifs,” which filled the village with children’s voices and colours, while under the guidance of Vassilis Karfis, the visitors enjoyed the experiential workshop «Constructing and Reconstructing the Traditional Folk Greek Dance.” The evening continued with the dance performance «Meeting point» with dancers from the State School of Dance and the night was completed with the concert «Minor dispute» by the Petros Klampanis Group with Petros Klampanis, Spyros Manesis and a string quartet.
On Friday, August 21, we learned the secrets of “Natural Candle Making” by priest Emmanuel Tziotis. In the afternoon, Lily Lambrelli explained to us the “Patterns of Fairy Tales” through an experiential workshop. Young children spent their afternoon with Athanasia Panagea in the photo art workshop “The Decisive Moment”, while teenage visitors took “Vacation in Marpissa”, a “summer” poster workshop with MUMS – Graphic Design Studio, Marina Mantzari and Katerina Fotinopoulou. At night, a big audience came to Marpissa in order to attend the concert by Melina Kana, “The Charmer of Thisseion” and Petros Malamas. After this wonderful concert, our night ended with “Crevices”, a late-night storytelling from Lily Lambrelli accompanied by Yiannis Psariotis’s music.
On Saturday, August 22, the artists Natasa Biza, Maria Papapostolou and Iro Vavanou showed to the children the world of creative patterns. Athanasia Panagea, through her lecture “Photographed Islands,” guided us in a tour to photos of famous photographers who visited the Greek islands. Musicians from Paros and Antiparos played tsampouna and toubaki folk music and the festival was completed with a traditional feast by Nikos Economides, Kiriaki Spanou, Panos Vergos and Argyris Psathas.
The festival was attended by the Vice Governor of the south Aegean region Mr. Georgios Leontaritis, the Vice Governor of culture of the south Aegean region Mr. Stelios Brigkos, the District Officer of Paros Mr. Costas Bizas, the Mayor of Paros Mr. Markos Koveos, the head of KDEPAP Mr. Athanasios Marinopoulos, chair and members of Municipal and Local Communities and representatives of associations and organizations of Paros.
The participation of residents and visitors exceeded all expectations giving great joy and strength to all the volunteers and the organizing team.
The organizing team of “Routes in Marpissa” warmly thanks the residents, professionals, the Municipal Community of Marpissa, the Municipality of Paros, KDEPAP and the Region of South Aegean for their support to the festival.
Finally, we thank all those who came and walked with us in Marpissa for one more year…