The Demos Center and the Frances Rich School of Fine and Performing Arts, Deree – The American College of Greece, present:

Celebrating Democracy Through the Arts

by inviting you to a series of events

11 January @ 16.00 -18.00 | The Kitchen Towel

Meet artist Doreida Xhogu and women cleaners, co-creators of Mama Klorin. The artist makes her personal diary subject to a collective intervention and invites the public to participate in its creative process. A place for participants and the public to meet, to celebrate togetherness, to share stories of their everyday life, their work, migration, trauma and mourning, using moments of sharing to recount community memories of loss and resilience.

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16 January 2025 @ 19:00 | Openness in Art – On the Democratic Distribution of Authorship

In contemporary liberal societies, artists, audience and critics alike often expect art to express the pluralism, tolerance and sensitivity necessary for the sustenance of democratic cultures. In this environment, the contemporary artwork is expected to explore and propose modes of social co-existence – to invite, involve and engage. The artwork’s quality of openness frequently becomes, therefore, a condition for its very existence. Taking as a starting point Umberto Eco’s analysis of the “Open Work” (Opera Aperta) of 1962, Christos Asomatos, Assistant Professor in Art History at Deree – ACG, will present an aesthetics of openness in modernity, explore its recent history in contemporary art practice, and outline its intriguing intersections with our conceptions of democracy.

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18 January@ 17:00 | Mama Klorin Exhibition Tour in Albanian

Guided tour in Albanian of the Mama Klorin art exhibition by the artist, Doreida Xhogu, and co-curator, Pati Vardhami.

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18 January @ 18:30 | A Polyphonic Musical Concert

Join us for the musical stylings of two polyphonic musical groups: Lot Kurbeti, an all-male chorus from Albania and Isokratisses, an all-female group who will sing the music of Epirus.

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20 January @ 18:30 | The Civic Symphony – The Power of Music in Shaping Society

Join us for The Civic Symphony: The Power of Music in Shaping Society, an engaging lecture exploring the profound role of music in fostering democracy and civil connection. Drawing on key theories about music as a tool for communication and social cohesion, this event will highlight how amateur music-making reinforces the unwritten rules that sustain a healthy, inclusive society. Together, we will listen to inspiring musical examples that illustrate these ideas and conclude with a shared singing experience, demonstrating firsthand the unifying power of music. Meet Assistant Professor and Choir Director Effi Minakoulis and the Community Choir of The American College of Greece.

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24 January @ 19:00 | Music and Hierarchy: Music as a Democratic Process

Music and democracy have a shared emphasis on expression, inclusion, and collaborative participation. Existing hierarchies in both music and democracies are characterized by oppositional discourse. Music shows us aesthetic qualities in the peaceful co-existence of opposing elements and reminds us that we can take pleasure in the process of democratic deliberation. Join us for a presentation on music and hierarchies and music making as a democratic process. Meet cellists, Dr. Nora Karakousoglou and Leslie Jones, Assistant Professor, Music Department and Program Coordinator at Deree – ACG.

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25 January @ 17:00 | Mama Klorin Exhibition Tour in English

Guided tour of the Mama Klorin art exhibition in English by the co-curators Ioanna Papapavlou and Pati Vardhami.

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28 January @ 19:00 | Performing Borders and Democracy

The notion of what constitutes a border is open for interpretation. The experience of crossing borders, moving borders, abolishing borders, has always been present in a variety of ways that relate to race, gender, age, social class, health and wellbeing, politics and the economy, and historically, most literally, geographical borders that keep shifting over time. Borders may be invisible, physical, intangible, psychological. Borders may be externally imposed or inadvertently and reflexively erected internally. In this project a number of performances on ‘borders’ are analyzed in juxtaposition with democracy. The question that is raised is the oxymoron of whether democratic societies of the present times, simultaneously, hinder and/or facilitate the continuous creation of borders, in what ways and to what extent. Meet theater director and Deree – ACG faculty member Katerina Nikolopoulou.

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30 January @ 19:30 | Don’t Look

How did our world restart after the pandemic? How did we regain the ability to work collectively in the physical space after the long confinement? How does our existence through our art reflect the global traumatic experience of isolation? How did the concepts of space and time change with the use of technology during confinement? The hybrid project Don’t Look, implemented by artists/professors at the Department of Theatre Studies of the University of Patras and the Frances Rich School of Fine and Performing Arts at Deree – The American College of Greece was born in the post-COVID period, where the above issues were urgent. Panel Participants: Katia Savrami and Despoina Georgakopoulou, Professors at the University of Patras, Theatre Studies program, in collaboration with Thomas Economakos. Effie Halivopoulou, Tim Ward, Nikos Falagas, Professors at Deree – The American College of Greece. Moderator: Art Curator Ioanna Papapavlou

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31 January @ 19:00 | Mama Klorin – The Women Cleaners Talk

An open, collaborative discussion on social experiences and thoughts between Doreida Xhogu and women cleaners, participants of Mama Klorin. What social matters concern the cleaners; their working conditions and wages, their (non) insured labour, their denied political rights, the professional despecialisation from their countries of origin, and what they ultimately had to sacrifice in order to provide their children with better life opportunities. Introduction and discussion moderators: Art Curators Pati Vardhami and Ioanna Papapavlou

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Join us for lectures, performances, and discussions exploring the intersections of democracy and art!

All events will be held at The Demos Center – ACG, Ipitou 17B, Plaka, Athens