A work by artist Eirini Linardaki in the public space of Kypseli
Curated by Almir Koldzic and Niovi Zarampouka-Chatzimanou
Location: “Theatraki” (Fokionos Negri & Skyrou St, Kypseli, Athens)
Date: March 28–30, 2023

Sanctuary City is a new work by the visual artist Eirini Linardaki, activated in the public space of Fokionos Negri street in Kypseli, Athens, on March 28, 29, and 30, and accompanied by a public program of conversations and workshops. It is a socially engaged art project developed with the input of children and young people from both established and more recently arrived communities in the 6th District of the Municipality of Athens. The work was commissioned by Counterpoints (UK/GR), and was developed in collaboration with the 26th Primary School of Athens, Network for Children’s Rights (NCR), Unicef Greece, Athens Comics Library, and The Home Project. The title “Sanctuary City” is a reference to the term used in ancient Greek democracies about sacred places, as well as to the municipal jurisdictions that, most typically in North America, resist the efforts of the national governments to enforce immigration law. The sanctuary is the refuge that people were at all times entitled to seek, but nowadays is often overruled by hostile migration policies.

Sanctuary City is the second in a three-part series of commissions launched with Adrian Paci’s installation piece, We Apologize, presented on Victoria Square, Athens, in 2021. Paci’s work generated a heated debate around the issue of public space, prompting many people to engage with the piece and question “Who is ‘we’? Is it us? Or is it them?”. These responses to Paci’s work encouraged curators Almir Koldzic and Niovi Zarampouka-Chatzimanou to continue working in the wider neighborhood, but this time with the view of including a broader “we” in the making. The result was an invitation to Eirini Linardaki – an artist with a long-term experience of working with communities in public spaces – to develop a public art project with the youngest residents of the city, coming from both recently arrived and more established communities.

For her project, Linardaki returned to Kypseli, the neighborhood where she grew up. During her visits, she noted various landmarks and sights that connected her to her childhood, as well as many transformations and changes that have occurred since she moved to a different part of the world. As part of her research, Linardaki also visited the apartment where she grew up and where she rediscovered the floor mosaics bearing the shapes and motifs that used to spark her imagination as a child. This very personal and intimate experience inspired her overall framing of Sanctuary City. The other core aspect of the project involved Linardaki designing special workshops, attended by over 80 children and young people who contributed designs of their most cherished objects, along with stories about their neighborhood. During these workshops, Linardaki encouraged young people’s participation through the use of diverse materials, fabrics, and colours.


The fabrics are part of Linardaki’s ongoing personal collection, first developed in 2008 in Liberia – a country completely devastated by the civil war – where her students would take her around the slums showing her their favourite fabrics. In the words of the artist, the fabrics are “reminders of a very strong memory of my mother carrying me around, completely wrapped in 70s flower-patterned sheets, as if I were a ‘trousseau,’ a piece of the collection of embroideries that families used to pass on to their daughters like a dowry.”
The soft materiality of the final work allows passers-by to sit and walk on its surface, without interrupting the daily life of the neighborhood. Its sole aspiration is to expand the dialogue on our contemporary identity as Athenian citizens, as well as our right to reclaim public space, creating a public sphere of action, sociality, and solidarity towards the achievement of our common well-being. The “Theatraki,” a local amphitheater, was chosen for the activation of this work because it met the artist’s main aspiration: to invite people to sit together and talk, while preserving the utmost respect to the collectives and locals who already use and activate the space through political and academic initiatives.

Lastly, through this work and the public program, the artist and the curators hope to encourage the Municipal Authority and other relevant bodies to include public consultations and participatory processes in the urban and cultural planning of the city, providing the citizens with transparent and structured decision-making processes about the use and access to public space.

Eirini Linardaki is a visual artist based in New York and Crete. She received her fine arts education at the Limerick Institute of Technology in Ireland, the Universität der Künste Berlin in Germany, and the Beaux-Arts de Marseille in France. Linardaki has developed numerous public art projects in the United States, collaborating with various organizations such as the NYC Parks Department, the NYC Mayor’s Οffice for Climate Policy, and the Department of Transportation. As part of her community-based art practice, she has been an active member of the Newark Artist Collaboration. This collaborative effort brings together artists from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to create public art installations that reflect Newark’s unique character and history. Linardaki is also known for her community-based art projects, particularly through workshops on accessibility and multiculturalism in several different countries like Liberia and France, where she lived for more than twenty years. In 2019, she initiated the “Occupy Art Project,” a collaborative art research group that involves artists and curators from the States, France, and Greece. Linardaki’s activist work was recognized with the Sing For Hope Artivist Award in 2022. She is mother to two children.

Across Borders is a three-year international program of public art commissions, supported by Counterpoints Arts and actualized in collaboration with various local partners in Greece, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Location
“Theatraki”
Fokionos Negri & Skyrou St, Kypseli
113 61, Athens

Duration
March 28–30, 2023

Visiting Hours
Tuesday, March 28, 16:00–20:00
Wednesday, March 29, 10:00–20:00
Thursday, March 30, 10:00–20:00

Public Discussions
Sanctuary City: A conversation with the artist Eirini Linardaki about her new work
Wednesday, March 29, 18:00–20:00
Speakers: Eirini Linardaki, Theophilos Tramboulis (EMST), Vaso Vlitsaki (26th Primary School of Athens)
Moderation: Niovi Zarampouka-Chatzimanou

Who has the right to speak and act in the public space?
Thursday, March 30, 18:00–20:00
Speakers: Ilirida Mousaraj (Archive of Albanian Migration – Archive of Contemporary Social
History in Greece [ASKI]), Marina Naki (architect), Nikos-Deji Odubitan (Generation 2.0)

Workshops
A series of workshops for children and young people will take place as part of the public program (ΤΒΑ). If you wish to participate either individually or with a group of children that you work with, please contact us at counterpointsgr@gmail.com.

Contact
For more information, please contact us at counterpointsgr@gmail.com or visit the website counterpointsarts.org.uk

You can download the Press Release here for further information.