‘The biggest art that we can make is with our daily life. Because the circumstances are not easy. We are making art to make life acceptable enough to pass it. That’s the main art I think and I am good at it’.

You are invited to our multi-media performance that celebrates our capacity to create art with everyday life, including its difficulties and obstacles. We will share photography, videos, music, dance and theatre created by artists who all met in Lesvos, Greece as part of their migration journeys and are now living and creating across Europe.

Since 2015, millions of people fleeing war, violence and political persecution have passed through the island of Lesvos seeking a better life in Europe. Mytilene, the capital city of Lesvos, has become a crossroads of cultures, languages and dreams. A place where dreams were contested and where people have found ways to connect and create art and community, despite the difficulties and in response to them.

Arts have become acts of solidarity and hope, continuing to grow across borders, carrying with them our histories and geographies. The friendships that started in Lesvos became the base of an international community that is still alive and growing as people migrated onwards to other countries. Each of the artists and all collectively will share their projects and their migration journeys through an immersive process which will also involve our audiences.

We will create performances together across art forms. We will join the rhythms of songs that started in Moria camp and are now spreading across Europe, listen to melodies created on the way from Afghanistan to Germany, witness a photographic journey from Afghanistan to France and participate in theatre making and community making practices that build new belongings in Athens. Through videos, images and voices, we will continue to go back to the stories of the streets and the squares of Lesvos, where people met and created. Parts of the event will be interactive. After the performance you will be invited to a reception with finger food in the beautiful garden of the venue.

The performance will take place at Thermi, Lesvos on the 22nd of March 2025 at 16:00 – 19:00. If you wish you can travel to the venue with a bus which will collect people from Plateia Sapfous.

The performance is free and open to all! Please register until 19th of March to help us organize for the reception.

The organizers of the event are Open University, PPLG and RAD Music International.

The following performances/ projects will be shared:

Photographic exhibition ‘From War to Exile’s Road’ (Amirali)

The exhibition documents the journey from Afghanistan to France. Through his photography, Amirali seeks to capture both the beauty and challenges of the world: the hardships he endured and witnessed as a refugee, human rights violations, and the impact of climate change, alongside humanity’s resilience, creativity, and hope—the beauty of nature and our deep connection to it. Amirali has presented his work in six photo exhibitions across Lesvos, Thessaloniki, Germany, and France, in collaboration with museums and universities.

34 Afghan windows (Elena Yaqubee and Fabio Joel Tunno)

34 Afghan Windows is made of 8 original songs, storytelling, theatre, original video screening that all tell a journey to Afghanistan, the forbidden voices of women behind the Burqa and the forbidden and art, the dark and tyrannical rule of the Taliban, refugees fleeing across borders and the waves of the Mediterranean, the shipwreck and the hope for a free and peaceful world. 34 Afghan Windows has performed on various stages in different countries of Europe and is still ongoing. Elena and Joel who are the creators of this project want to lighten the darkness through their art by giving another color and shape to contribute to a peaceful World.

RAD Music International (Rouddy Kimpioka)

Rad Music International Cultural Club is an official charity organization dedicated to interconnecting and supporting displaced people in Lesvos. An initiative born inside the camp that has transformed the lives of many by turning cries into smiles. Its mission is to stand in solidarity with refugees, raise awareness of migration issues, and advocate for peace and justice through artistic activities on the island: Music, Dance, Education space for kids and adults (Rad Education). Rouddy is deeply passionate about cultural connection and healing through art. He is a man of hope.

Our suitcases , our memories.. (Lamprini Blatsiou, Nazanin Foroghi, Antzela Tzoure)

A video documenting the memories of our friends after we all left from Lesvos. Glimpses of music, tastes, dance and friendships. Moments of solidarity and justice that became an integral part of daily life. The connections we built and the desire to create new experiences. Lamprini is a sociologist, a traveller through human stories, and someone who believes in the power of connection. Antzela is a sociologist, researcher, and observer of the microcosm of everyday life. Their strong friendship and their first steps in social research have shaped and continue to shape communities and relationships with deep foundations. Their goal is to strengthen positive interactions among people, building bridges of understanding and solidarity. Nazanin is a photographer whose journey led her to Lesvos, where she met Lamprini and Antzela, forming a friendship and creating many unforgettable memories. In this project, she curated the video editing with her professionalism and creativity.

Antzela's poetry will also be shared. In an effort to keep her memories alive and share her stories and observations with others, she has written short poems and stories inspired by her life in Lesvos and the moments she shared with so many remarkable people.

Boat Collective (Iman Alidoosti)

The Boat Collective started with self-organized theatre classes in the midst of Europe’s largest, most inhumane refugee camp, Moria on the island of Lesvos, Greece at the end of 2019. We started our artistic trip to heal collectively and create beauty from us for us. The Boat Art Center’ is initiated by the word غربت ‘ghorbat’ in Farsi and in Arabic, الغربة, ‘al ghorba’ which can be translated as ‘homesickness’, a nostalgia for the motherland, the unpleasant feeling of being ‘foreign’, and the pain of ‘not belonging’. We create a space, a home, for people who feel like they don’t belong. Together we can gain strength (again) and build self-confidence in a safe space that is not judging anyone, is respecting everyone’s past and present and is led by our shared values.

Artists: Amir Ali, Antzela Tzoure, Elena Yaqubee, Joel Fabio Tunno, Iman Alidoosti, Lamprini Blatsiou, Lina Petrianou, Nazanin Foroghi, Rouddy Kimpioka, Yaser Akbari.

Community Organizers: Antzela Tzoure, Lamprini Blatsiou

Digital Production: Lina Petrianou

Production: Elena Boukouvala

Arts into Acts Performance

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