“Opera of the Summer” / “Opera Lata” (15th September 2012) – Participation of the Press Office with the film “Diolkos”

September 15th, 2012,
From 15.30  to 01.00
Park around the Ujazdowski Castle

Open-air music and film evening

Summer Opera is an interdisciplinary outdoor event, entirely devoted to ‘the joy of music’ in a broad perspective: to create music, to listen to it, to understand it, to appreciate it and to dance on it.
Summer Opera is the follow-up of last year’s “Awakening of the summer” which was organized by the network of national institutes for culture and embassies in Warsaw: “EUNIC Warszawa” and CCA Zamek Ujazdowski and which brought 3000 persons to the castle on a warm midsummer night.
This year, once again, the gracious environment of the Castle will transform into a lively European boulevard and the keyword is ‘Opera’. Opera’ in the sense of a spectacular synthesis of arts; combining various elements, often surprising and sometimes disturbing, but always fascinating. The main role in the Summer Opera will be played by cinematography. 3 screens will show documentaries devoted to musicians, music and instruments. There will be animation- and feature films as well as music videos from several European countries and even a silent film. Feel like doing it? There will be a voice-workshop, lessons in Irish dancing, you can make music on what needs to be recycled and – of course – the opera brings also a music workshop for children and parents. Workshops are dedicated to everyone: those talented and those who cannot sing or play.
An Opera is not an Opera without a choir and an orchestra! Therefore on stage: Małe Instrumenty (Poland), Alfredo Costa Monteiro (Portugal) and Anthony Chorale (The Netherlands) and in the late hours: DJ Disco DJ Partizanti (Poland) and DJ PM Misha (Portugal).
For the hungry and thirsty the opera will serve Hungarian, Portuguese and Czech delights and more, more, more!
The opera brings thunder and lightning, but in case the weather is not in harmony with the opera, we will go inside. 
Workshops are open for everyone. No registration needed.
Detailed information on the websites of the organizers and on facebook.

Organizers:

EUNIC Warszawa (European Union National Institutes for Culture): Embassy of Greece – Press Office, Delegation Wallonie-Brussels (Embassy of Belgium), Embassy of Ireland, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Austrian Cultural Forum, Czech Center, Danish Cultural Institute, Instituto Camões, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Goethe Institute, Bulgarian Cultural Institute, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Romanian Cultural Institute, the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Warsaw
and:
Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle / KINO.LAB
Admission Free

The Press Office of the Greek Embassy invites you to the screening of the film “Diolkos”, at 18.30 in KINO.LAB.

A movie for the Diolkos of Corinth

1.500 years since the construction and use of the Corinthian Diolkos, the Technical Chamber of Greece in collaboration with the Society for the Study of Ancient Greek Technology, created a movie presenting one of the greatest innovations of technical civilization of Ancient Greece.
The 22 min. film, created with the use of 3D animations, represents one of the most important technological monuments of Greek civilization, Diolkos: an overland route for the transfer of ships between the Saronic and Corinthian gulfs along the Isthmus (Corinth), when there was no strait. The film offers many other technical details, but also extensive scenes of marine life in antiquity: gaming, visit at the Temple of Poseidon, fun time in a pub, the construction of Hydraulis (hydraulic, water music instrument) and an emotional confrontation.

7th Thessaloniki International Book Fair

The National Book Centre of Greece (EKEBI) and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in collaboration with HELEXPO and the Hellenic Federation of Publishers and Booksellers are organising the 7th Thessaloniki International Book Fair (TIBF) from April 22 to 25, with “Antiquity and Us” as this year’s theme.
TIBF is the leading cultural event for books in Greece which has managed over the years to become a focal point for the book world in Greece and the wider Balkan and Mediterranean region.
Thirty countries will be represented in this year’s fair which features more than 100 events: Greek and foreign authors as guest speakers, special features, seminars and workshops.
China will be the country of honour. Over 200 Chinese (publishers, authors, artists, government representatives) will be in Thessaloniki to present China’s immense book market but also a country with a rich tradition and history.
Greek News Agenda (30.5.2008) – Special Issue: Thessaloniki – City of Culture

Cultural ties with Georgia

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA) The Institute of Classical, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies of the Tbilisi State University has undertaken the initiative to compile the first Modern Greek-Georgian Dictionary, containing 50,000 words. The project was funded by the Kostas and Eleni Ourani Foundation. 

The Greek element has been present in Georgia since antiquity. The first trips had commercial purpose and within years, the first cultural enclaves were established.
The two early Georgian kingdoms of late antiquity were known to ancient Greeks as Iberia in the east and Colchis in the West.
The Western part was strongly influenced by Greek culture – as evidenced in Greek mythology and the story of Jason seeking the Golden Fleece in Colchis – and the eastern part by the Persians.
Greeks in Georgia established ties with the Byzantine Empire, building on a common religious background.
Until recently (1989), the Greek community in Georgia counted some 100,000 residents, but nowadays the population totals between 15,000- 20,000. 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Greeks in Georgia; Photo: “The Argonauts”, a publication by the Institute of Classical, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies of the Tbilisi State University.

Hellenisms from Antiquity to Modernity

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   Katerina Zacharia (ed), Hellenisms: Culture, Identity and Ethnicity from Antiquity to Modernity, Ashgate Publishing, 2008. A distinguished group of historians, classicists, anthropologists, ethnographers, cultural studies, and comparative literature scholars contribute essays exploring the mantles of Greek ethnicity, and the legacy of Greek culture for the Greeks in the homeland and the diaspora, as well as for the ancient Romans and the modern Europeans. Given the scarcity of books on diachronic Hellenism in the English-speaking world, the publication of this volume represents nothing less than a breakthrough. Topics explored range from European Philhellenism to Hellenic Hellenism, from the Athens 2004 Olympics to Greek cinema, from a psychoanalytical engagement with anthropological material to a subtle ethnographic analysis of Greek-American women’s material culture. All quotations from ancient and modern sources in foreign languages have been translated into English.

Greece: Daily Life in Antiquity

(GREEK NEWS AGENTA)  “Scenes from Daily Life in Antiquity” is the title of a new permanent exhibition which opened yesterday (20/11) at the Museum of Cycladic Art. The exhibition gathers 150 artefacts that offer visitors the opportunity to acquaint themselves with various aspects of public and private life in Classical Greece: political organization and administration, religion, burial customs as well as daily activities. Large panels and screens with interactive applications help create the impression that visitors are in an ancient city.

Archaeology & Hellenism

Damaskos, Dimitris, Dimitris Plantzos: A Singular Antiquity, Benaki Museum 2008.  This volume includes a large part of the proceedings of the conference entitled “Archaeology, Antiquity and Hellenicity in twentieth century Greece”, that took place in the Benaki Museum Piraios Street Annexe in January 2007. Archaeology was a backbone of the national strategy in modern Greece:  the book examines the manner in which positions were formulated and the epistemological programme of archaeological studies in Greece; its interaction with other sciences; and finally its involvement in the intellectual and political life of the land.

Greek Wine: Ancient & Modern

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)    Ancient Greeks were making wine nearly 6,500 years ago, according to a new study that describes what could be the world’s earliest evidence of crushed grapes. According to findings published in “Antiquity” journal, charred 2,460 grape seeds and 300 empty grape skins were used to make wine, discovered at the “Dikili Tash” Neolithic site, Northern Greece. Discovery Channel: Ancient Mashed Grapes Found in Greece  Antiquity Journal of Archaeology: Grape-pressings from northern Greece: the earliest wine in the Aegean?  Many journalists and oenophiles comment favourably on modern Greek wines: World Media Articles on Greek Wines

New Acropolis Museum: Video about the Construction and the Transport of the Exhibits

(ORGANISATION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW ACROPOLIS MUSEUM) This short video provides you with the opportunity to view the later stages of construction of the New Acropolis Museum through to its completion. Both the preparation and transport of a block of the Parthenon frieze is covered including the momentous occasion of its transport and arrival from the old to the new Museum: http://www.newacropolismuseum.gr/webnews/newslist.asp?offset=0&nid=44&lid=2  .  The childrens’s Book “The Museum and the Excavation: Now for young and old“: http://www.newacropolismuseum.gr/eng/ch_book_eng.pdf