Mani Through the Senses: A Site-Specific, Socially-engaged Walking Performance in Southern Greece // May 22, 2021
Co-created by Parsons Fine Arts Professor Lydia Matthews with multidisciplinary Greek visual artists, dancers, and musicians (Fotis Flevetomos, Vicky Spachou, Fenia Papadodima, George Palamiotis) and funded by a NEON Foundation grant, this immersive, site-specific, participatory “walkshop” explored the house of writer Patrick Leigh Fermor and photographer Joan Leigh Fermor in Greece’s Mani region. The artistic team developed the project over the past year through a series of virtual/ physical exchanges as well as preparatory workshops with local members of the Panhellenic Association of the Blind, Kardamyli High School arts students, environmental/cultural activists from NARTURA Association, and members of the Benaki Museum staff. The final multi-sensory walking experience culminated in a series of 7 participatory interventions in and around the Fermor house and grounds, now a Benaki Museum site. Participants shared unique insights gleaned from their collectIve journey and reflected on their distinct forms of embodied knowledge. This intimately scaled, performative project mixing sighted and visually impaired community members was documented by filmmaker Eirini Steirou, whose video will debut locally and internationally in Fall, 2021.
Links:
