The City Talks Back: Assembly 2 – Films
The City Talks Back is a collaborative project initiated by London-based urban research organisation Theatrum Mundi and hosted by Athens-based cultural foundation Onassis Stegi.
It brings together architects, urbanists, activists, artists and anthropologists to explore the political voices of contemporary Athens. The projects and pieces presented here aim to question who is (and isn’t) heard in the city and how the audibility of voices changes across its varying public spaces.
Following two residencies in January and March 2021, our world was turned upside down by the pandemic. The streets went quiet, but our homes became places for public speaking and listening. Prevented from gathering back together at Onassis Stegi, Assembly 1 of The City Talks Back took the form of a newly-commissioned online platform backtalks.city curated and edited by George Kafka, combining films, performances, sound essays and texts. Nearly a year later, in a still uncertain and distanced world, we gather together again to share performances, translations, films and discussions exploring the city’s political speech, in the form of a 3-day radio broadcast on Movement accompanied by two new films launched on Onassis Youtube Channel and backtalks.city.
FILMS
Alongside the radio schedule at Movement, we will launch two new films at backtalks.city commissioned for Assembly 2.
SATURDAY 26.06
In Rehearsal and Conversation – SGYF Culture Circle
The SGYF Culture Circle is a gathering of people, activism, and creativity. We recognise culture as our most powerful tool in communicating with and belonging in the city. In this film, six musicians play a selection of songs and discuss cultural connections and commonalities.
Musicians: Hussain Badran, Manolis Christodoulou, Salman Duski, Elias Fachides, Kareem Kabbani, Becka Wolfe
Film directed and produced by Joe O’Connor and the SGYF Active Citizens Media Lab
Sound technician: Vaggelis Kritikos
Camera Operator: Angel Ballesteros Rodriguez
SUNDAY 27.06
Athens Tessellation – Stefania Gyftopoulou and Mara Petra with Curing the Limbo
Confinement and social distancing were considered by national authorities as an effective way to get this extraordinary global health crisis under control. In this context, “home” appears as a shelter of relative security, a place of warmth and peace and as a substitute for increasingly inaccessible public spaces. But which homes?
In a new film based on the mapping project presented as part of Assembly 1, contributors of different nationalities and ethnicities open the doors to their homes, allowing us to engage with stories that lie hidden within Athenian apartments and neighbourhoods.