Two productions from the “Archive of Desire” Festival on New York City’s ALL ARTS channel
The “Waiting for the Barbarians” concert and the “Visual Cavafy” series of shorts remind us of all the reasons C.P. Cavafy remains relevant to this day. One year after the Onassis Foundation’s “Archive of Desire” festival in New York City, the universal Alexandrian poet C.P. Cavafy becomes available to everyone via the ALLARTS channel.
Alexandria by Evi Kalogiropoulou
ALLARTS channel celebrates April as a poetry month, hosting two productions from the “Archive of Desire”: A festival inspired by the poet C.P. Cavafy and held on the occasion of the 160th anniversary of his birth, aiming to highlight the influential character of the Alexandrian poet and the impact of his work on a global scale.
“Cavafy is a poet for everyone, even and perhaps especially for those who don’t consider themselves poetry fans,” Onassis Foundation Director of Culture Afroditi Panagiotakou said of the poet in a statement. “It thrills me to know he’s coming to New York and entering the lives of those who don’t already know him — his legacy walking the streets, alive within the minds of the crowds.”
Waiting for the Barbarians by Taylor Mac
On Tuesday, April 9th ALLARTS will host Visual Cavafy, a series of short films exploring the cinematic power of C. P. Cavafy’s language that will bring a stirring element to the multi-disciplinary, multi-venue "Archive of Desire": A Festival Inspired by the Poet C. P. Cavafy, running April 28 - May 6 in New York City. The visual poems were commissioned by the Onassis Foundation, and conceived in Greece by Onassis Stegi and in New York by Elena Park and Lumahai Productions. Featuring an exceptional array of creative minds, the films in Visual Cavafy reflect the vividness and power of Cavafy’s language, and, like the festival itself, illustrate his work’s ability to spark new ideas across a wide range of art forms.
Visual Cavafy films include works created by directors Evi Kalogiropoulou ("Alexandria"), Park ("Far Away," "Morning Sea," "Ithaca," "Waiting for the Barbarians," "The Footsteps") Christos Sarris (“Walls”) in collaboration with incarcerated individuals in Greece, and artists Jad Abumrad and Mac Premo ("Voices"). Performers include Laurie Anderson ("Voices"); Taylor Mac ("Ithaca," "Waiting for the Barbarians"); Julianne Moore ("Far Away," "Morning Sea"); Carl Hancock Rux with Daniel Bernard Roumain, Bora Yoon, and Jeffrey Ziegler ("The Footsteps"); with contributions from Dan Bora ("Morning Sea"), Justin Ervin ("The Footsteps," "The Footsteps"), Robert Huott ("Far Away") Garth MacAleavey ("The Footsteps"), Steven E. Mallorca ("The Footsteps," "Waiting for the Barbarians"), Heather Lea Poole ("Far Away"), Bruce Steinberg ("The Footsteps"), and Pete Scalzitti ("Ithaca," "Waiting for the Barbarians," “Far Away,” “Morning Sea”). The films also feature new music and arrangements from Laura Jane Grace ("Walls"), Alexander MacSween ("Waiting for the Barbarians"), and Caroline Shaw ("Morning Sea").
Photo: Beowulf Sheehan
On Wednesday, April 17th “Waiting for the Barbarians” will premiere at the ALLARTS channel. A concert experience unlike any other, even when experienced through your screen. An exploration of love, loss, desire, and longing inspired by the poetry of C. P. Cavafy that permeates everything.
As part of the Onassis Foundation’s “Archive of Desire” festival held in April 2023 in New York City, renowned contemporary artists participated in a unique, sold-out concert at the towering gothic St. Thomas Church on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.
World premieres of new music pieces by prominent international and Greek composers and performers, such as Laurie Anderson, Rufus Wainwright, Helga Davis, Petros Klampanis, Nico Muhly, Dimitris Papadimitriou, Paola Prestini, along with soprano Eleni Calenos, NYC-based orchestra The Knights, and Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, take audiences on a journey to new sonic worlds.
