Soundscapes / Landscapes

A group of audio and visual artists invite us on a city tour which employs a new form of artistic digital mapping. Starting at the Onassis Stegi, viewers armed with a special interactive digital map are guided in real time around Neos Kosmos, a neighbourhood full of secrets and beauty. On the viewer’s tablet or smartphone, the area is transformed into a digital urban installation with artworks which draw on material from the digital mapping -the buildings, businesses and public spaces of Neos Kosmos, Panteion university and the local streets- but also, behind and within all that, the people who live there, their history and their present.

Discover a parallel reality within the city.
Soundscapes Landscapes offers a parallel route through the city via your smart phone or tablet device. Behind the reality of the city before you, another dimension lies concealed rich in sounds and images that will transform a simple city walk into an interactive artistic experience. Starting from the Onassis Stegi, the route extends over to the other side of Syngrou Avenue and up as far as the Neos Kosmos metro station. Every pavement, street corner and building could conceal a surprise in audio or visual form—all you need do is wander the area to discover them.

Begin by downloading and activating the application on your device or one borrowed from the Onassis Stegi. The application will then be continuously updated as you explore the area, providing you with a continuous audio soundscape unique to your current location. It will also use your current location to offer you related videos for viewing. If you are unfamiliar with the area around the Onassis Stegi, take a moment to examine the map in this booklet. This should help you to plan a little and work out what kinds of routes you might like to follow. You might like to plan specific routes ahead of time, or just leave yourself free to wander.

There is no need to visit all the points on the map or to cover the entire route. The choice is yours: take a deep breath and try to do the whole thing, select a smaller area to explore in detail, or visit different areas on multiple visits. You are in control to design your own route—a route that will be ever changing, for even if you pass by the same location more than once, there is no guarantee the upshot will be the same.

Twenty-six points: twenty-six narratives of reality.
There are twenty-six points scattered around the area covered by the experience, each of which triggers a corresponding piece of video art. These points are marked with red cones both on the map in this booklet and on your screen. As you approach one of these points, a message will appear on your screen with the title of the relevant video. Click on “Watch video” to explore further, and “Done” to stop the video and return to the “Walking” function.

A walk with a difference: a unique soundscape each time.
There are hidden sounds waiting to be discovered behind every location in the neighbourhood. As you walk, your device will create a seamless soundscape from these sounds that is always keyed in to your current location. Children’s laughter, speeches, poetry, electroacoustic compositions -all present, all telling different stories in different ways, all connected to the route you are following.

Medea Electronique formed in 2006 in Athens, Greece, inspired by a play on the words Medea and Media. Comprised of a wide range of individual artists working collectively under the Medea Electronique name, we share a predisposition for innovation in the performing arts. Working in fields including music, video, design, painting, multimedia, robotics, interactive technology and media production, we allow the integration of our distinctive areas of research and practice to define a unique style in the realisation of collective projects which range from multimedia theatrical plays to experimental audio-visual shows, and from improvised noise music through to field recordings and electroacoustic composition.

The residents of Neos Kosmos contributed significantly to the realization of this project. For their invaluable assistance and warmth, our cordial thanks to Father Constantine of the Holy Ascension Church, the Rector of Panteion University, the Muslim Association of Greece, the St. Karabet Armenian Orthodox Church, the Solidarity Club of Neos Kosmos, the Pareaki and Efimeron coffe shops, and Thomas, the owner of Thomas Kebabs. Our thanks, too, to Christos Provezis for the use of his 1915 map of the area, Dorothy Anastasiadou for her contributions to interviewing residents of Neos Kosmos, Anna Lidaki, Sklavenitis supermarkets, the Cornell Ornithology Lab – Macaulay Library for the use of samples from a small number of recordings, and the Onassis Stegi, Athens. We would also like to thank all the people who paused to talk to us, watch what we were doing, tell us their stories and share their pictures and local information.

Recorded experts: Hector Kaknavatos, "Quantum"; Thomas Kiaos, "Selection"; Vladimir Mayakovsky, "Adult"; Miranda Papadopoulou, “In search of…”; Titos Patrikios, "Praise the body"; Alekos Poulos, "Hunt your life"; Giorgos Seferis, “A speech for the summer"; Yannis Stigkas, "À la G.S.”; and Antonio Gramsci’s text "I hate the indifferents."
Excerpts, too, from Giorgio Agamben, “What does it mean to be Contemporary?” (Che cos'è il contemporaneo?), 2007; Kostas Axelos, “Metamorphoses”, Vivliopoleion tis Estias, Athens, 1998; Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari, “Milles Plateaux”, Editions de Minuit, Paris, 1980; Yannis Kyriakidis, “National Liberation Struggle”, Nea Smyrni - Faliro, 1941-1945, private edition, Nea Smyrni, 1983; St. Maximus the Confessor, “Centuries on Love”, c. 650 A.C.; Valère Novarina, “Devant la parole”, Editions P.O.L, Paris, 1999; Tom Robbins, “Even Cowgirls get the blues”, Bantam, New York, 1990.

Stavros Stavridis’ essay “From the city-screen to the city-scene” (Ellinika Grammata, Athens, 2001) proved precious.