Ecotone III:Invisible waterscapes, the map

Presented at “Cities of Tomorrow”
Group exhibition curated by Katerina Koskina, Konstantinos Pittas
Organised by City of Athens Cultural Office
Supported by the United Nations Regional Information Centre and the Eurocities network
open air, Vassilisis Olgas Av., Athens, Greece


The work builds a narrative on the traces of burried Eridanus river in the center of the Athenian metropolis. It is consisted by a physical part, that the visitor can see take from the exhibition space, a map, and a non-physical one: a walk presented by the artist. The visitor is encouraged to perform the walk on his own, following the map, or participate at the common walk. The first projects of the Ecotone series were related to a natural ecosystem occupying an anthropogenic one. In this case, the anthropogenic conquers the natural: the city buries its rivers. It is interesting that when the water of the city disappears (Ecotone III), Mornos artificial lake, the protagonist of Ecotone I and II, is created to give an answer to the problem.
The important architect and artist Dimitris Pikionis In his text Sentimental Topography(1935), explains how the human body, through the simple act of walking, discovers the geometry of the earth, the sculpture of the landscape, and how this natural movement/displacement leads to a switching of feelings, along with the variations of the landscape. Man, as a being, a body and a soul, labors when climbing, enjoys beautiful views, calms down on the horizontal, meditates at the glades, fears at the edge of the cliff, feels awe in the caves, which were the first prehistoric sanctuaries in the body of great mother-Earth, and there they could be in touch with her. The artist, using walking as an artistic practice, takes the visitors to a trip in time and space, to relate the past and the present, to understand the city palimpsest and the historical and physical processes of evolution. Silence and talking are used in a way that aims to direct the attention towards specific things: landmarks, present situation in relation to the old one, small details etc. Historical information is also present.