This year, Tuned City visits Ancient Messene between May 31st – June 3rd and seeks out the exemplary ‘ideal city’, the ancient Greek polis.
Maria Papadomanolaki is one of the invited artists who will present new commissioned works at the festival.
Tuned City
Listening to the voice.
Listening to the stones and the city.
Listening to the history and to the mythology.
Listening to the environment.
Listening to each other.
Do we all hear the same when we listening?
‘The urban landscape of Messene was constructed in the Early Hellenistic era, according to certain architectural and town-planning principles of spatial organization, which reflected the political and social values of the period applied to the demands of this programmatic city founded by the Thebans in 369 B.C. on the south slopes of mount Ithome. The city was famous for its mighty fortification walls, the monumentality of its public buildings and the Hippodamian town-plan. The cityscape preserves evidence related to its successive constructional phases in the course of time from the 4th century BC to the 14th AD. The character of the landscape is defined and transformed by human activities and ideologies; it is a cultural product subject to constant re-interpretation.’ – Petros Themelis, director of the excavations
The archaeological site and active excavation with all it’s layers of history is the ideal place to reflect about ‘city as a construct‘ and explore the sensual aspects of space as well as social and political dimensions of the city.