The Onassis Foundation is creating a new world at Neos Kosmos

The Onassis Foundation’s OnAthens initiative proposes a series of outdoor works that stimulate the relationships locals and visitors have with their surroundings, and their sense of place – with the city’s yesterdays and, moreover, its present day. Two street artists – SAME84 and Ath1281 – are presenting new works of art at two points in Neos Kosmos: the basketball courts at the 39th Youth Center (on the corner of Sarkounidou Street and Kasomouli Street in Neos Kosmos) and the 60th Youth Center (on Heldreich Street, in Dourgouti Park), so as to give each and every child and adult the chance, whether they live in Neos Kosmos or are just visiting, to enjoy sporting activities and to connect with artworks that exude joy and hope. Play involves being creative and happy, making friends, learning to respect others, waiting your turn, and living alongside others. Play is a first step towards happiness and cooperation, towards a community of people living together in harmony. Play is a lesson in being civilized that unfolds in our everyday lives.

SAME84 – known for his large-scale murals and public artworks created in Greece and around the world – has applied his bold and colorful palette, and his hybrid figurative and abstract graffiti style, to the basketball court at the 39th Youth Center. Here’s what the artist himself noted about the work: “The thinking behind it all was to create a court filled with colors, ideas and textures that are found on the streets themselves, so as to make it quite literally part of the Neos Kosmos neighborhood. And to make the space completely functional, so that every basketball lover can take their first steps there, because there are many shining examples of neighborhood kids with a real love of basketball reaching tremendous heights, no matter the neighborhood they’re from. We created a court that feels familiar, where everyone can feel at home. I hope that, on seeing the work’s bright colors, local residents will take on its optimism, and that the neighborhood will embrace and love the work, and protect it too.”

The artist Ath1281 – who has created murals at various points around the city, and has presented work as part of solo and group exhibitions in Greece and around the world – has covered the 60th Youth Center with humorous everyday scenes involving his signature human figures. Here’s what he had to say about the basketball court he painted: “The mural is made up of a series of self-contained scenes. It starts by depicting humankind’s current relationship with the environment before leading us into an imaginary world where humans, flora and fauna join together to form a sports team – ‘Team Earth’ – for the win. The aim was to spark public awareness of environmental issues, and to create a pleasant space where children and local residents can come to exercise.”

Dourgouti is not just Onassis Stegi’s local area. It is a historic neighborhood of Athens, built up in layers, through consecutive waves of conglomeration and integration. A makeshift refugee settlement that was home to Armenians and the displaced of Asia Minor, living alongside populations from Epirus and Macedonia, and others from around the world. A place of history and memory. A model society where the dissimilarities of various cultures intermingled to create, over time, a unique signature and identity. Stories that seemingly unfolded in another world came together to form Neos Kosmos (literally, the “New World”). Over the course of more than a century, this settlement has managed to make itself a melting pot of different peoples, to become a nucleus of global culture shaped by the customs, practices and habits of peoples from various parts of the world. Dourgouti, or else Neos Kosmos, is now a world unto itself where hundreds of families – generation upon generation, both past and yet to come – have lived and contributed, and will continue to live and to give.

The Onassis Foundation seeks out places where art can intertwine with daily life, and treats both the neighborhood around Onassis Stegi and the broader city as a dynamic space for co-existence. Particular love and care is reserved for the Neos Kosmos area of Athens, and for its prominence – ensuring not only its place on the map, but also that it stays vibrant, and accessible for all.

Ever since it first opened its doors, Onassis Stegi has sought to activate its local area with arts events, with the aim of generating everyday relationships and unexpected meetings – a vibrant community bustling with people through the day and night. Everything from the street parties launching Onassis Stegi’s artistic season each year, which bring thousands of people pouring into the neighborhood, to audiovisual tours around the Neos Kosmos you never knew existed and Soundscapes Landscapes 1, an artistically-curated digital mapping of the area for real-time exploratory walks, all just by launching a simple app on your smart phone or tablet. From the Music Connects Onassis Stegi with Panteion University initiative, a pioneering program presenting dozens of contemporary music concerts, to the European Big Bang Festival for music catering to children up to the age of twelve, which always includes events in Dourgouti Park. From performances that tour the streets around Onassis Stegi, such as High & Low – A Murderer in Tokyo by Syllas Tzoumerkas, to the site-specific workshop titled The Dourgouti Island Hotel Project (DIH), with the “Ohi Pezoume” team inviting participants to use materials drawn from oral histories provided by residents, and from the historical and sensory mapping of the neighborhood, in Music for the New World, a project realized in partnership with the Urban Dig Project and the ARTéfact Ensemble for contemporary music, with Onassis Stegi commissioning five young composers to create new works performed by ARTéfact. Anthropological, archival, and historical elements drawn from the Dourgouti Island Hotel archive acted as raw materials for the compositions’ organically-formed libretti. Last but not least, in our efforts to support local residents, and to strengthen our ties with the surrounding area, Onassis Stegi has – for many years now – offered everyone living in Neos Kosmos, Koukaki, Nea Smyrni, Paleo Faliro, and Kallithea the chance to buy tickets for our events at a reduced rate.