In his delightful way, Stephen Fry dips back into the ancient world with stories of tests, quests and feats of old as he celebrates his love for Athens in the thisisathens podcast series. Greek heroes and the Gods who meddle in their fates get retold in Fry’s distinctive voice as he undoubtedly adds something lively, humorous and intimate...
Read moreWHAT: With the theme "Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion", International Museum Day 2020 focus on the potential of museums to create meaningful experiences for peoples of all origins and backgrounds is central to their social value. Following lockdowns, International Museum Day 2020 is going digital! The Benaki Museum takes part with ...
Read moreThere’s a palpable change in the Spring air, and it’s not just the scent of budding thyme leaves being warmed by the sun. A new genre of the novel has arrived as a rebuke to the ceaseless grim tidings all around us – political, economic and environmental: and it’s called “Up lit”. Readers, it seems, are now voting for life-affirming stori...
Read moreThe Museum of Cycladic Art and its magnificent exhibition "Picasso and Antiquity. Line and Clay" was awarded the International Audience Award by Youniversal at the sixth annual Global Fine Art Awards (GFAA), which took place online on 11 May. The recognition is all the sweeter when it is a small Greek museum pitted against the...
Read moreKonstantinos Patsios’ upcoming exhibition in Budapest and Paris is a tangle of paint, paper and irony that revisits the female form. It decodes the artist’s interest in feminine and feminist issues, using known painting metaphors long ignored by the male-dominated art world. Using recognizable motifs from classic works of the ...
Read moreJohn Carr reviews Leo Kanaris’ gripping potboilers with private eye George Zafiris. Both Codename Xenophon and Dangerous Days are spiked with Zafiris’ incisive descriptions of Athens and its resilient crisis- scarred people. Whether you opt for the beach or balcony to snuggle with these thrillers, before long, you’ll be rooting for the un...
Read moreDimitris Dassios’ itinerant sartorial style brings alive the sensual vibrance of an Oriental souk with the meticulous tailoring of an Italian couture house. Swarovski crystals, semiprecious gems, Indian zari, cultivated pearls, intricate 19th century Turkish embroidery, mirrors and tassles – and over-sized flowers – find their way into hi...
Read morePlato famously said, “Let no one ignorant of geometry enter in.” Navine G. Khan-Dossos’ geometric art comforts and provokes, drawing inspiration as much from the full sweep of Islamic traditions as well as from the digital realm. Working between London and Athens, her art treats geometry not as an abstraction but as something essentially ...
Read moreLondon-born, Nottingham-based award-winning documentary and travel photographer, Dan Giannopoulos’ work has often focussed on individuals and communities on the fringes of contemporary society whether by their own volition or through circumstances out of their control. In this compelling photo-essay, he documents the debris left behind by...
Read moreTimothy Jay Smith’s Fire on the Island unveils the complex layers that guise the sun-drenched, bougainvillea-tinted Greek isle, blighted by declining tourism and the seemingly intractable refugee crisis. There are family feuds and a corrupt clergy. There is racism and homophobia. But there is romance, humour and mystery too! An engaging s...
Read moreJohn Carr mirrors the collective psyche of a country eager yet cautious to crawl back to near-normalcy. As I find when I rub the fuzz Of sleep from eyes and stagger to The place where the first thing I do Is look in the mirror with a start And ask myself, "Who's this old fart And why doth he still walk the earth...
Read moreTomorrow is Protomayia. Though official celebrations have been slated for May 9, there's no reason why you can't pay tribute to the Return of Spring and the End of Lockdown like a true Greek… On this Greek version of Labour Day, locals traditionally gather bright blooms from the hillsides and fashion them into wreaths for thei...
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