The Great Bar in the Sky

“The Great Bar in the Sky” is a fictional, interactive story in digital format, set in an alternative version of Athens, where history took a different turn after the Covid pandemic of 2020.

Inspired by real life events, governmental decisions during and after the pandemic, as well as the flux in our everyday life, and extrapolating to not-so-distant-extremes, “The Great Bar in the Sky” aims to provide users with an unfamiliar vision of Athens, in order to invite self-reflection on our own tangible condition.

By entering the digital world, the player/user – a real life local Athenian – becomes a visitor/tourist in alter-Athens, and is encouraged to piece together the history and modus operandi of this place, by the qualities of the public urban space, and the oral stories of its inhabitants.

What will the new urban planning of the pandemic look like? Will it be enough to wear masks and plastic gloves, or will we need ‘exoscaffolds’ and ‘social distancers’ in the not-so-distant future? Through their interactive videogame specifically designed for HackAthens 2020, Christina Chrysanthopoulou and Olga Chatzifoti attempt to provide us with an image of another Athens, which hovers between dystopia and utopia, submission and revolution, aiming to provoke our consideration on important issues concerning our common future.