The Open Orchestra project in the public spaces of Athens: an urban utopia with transformative power?

Abstract

The Open Orchestra is a group of 150 professional artists and amateurs, founded in spring 2021, in Athens, Greece. Its establishment is directly correlated to the Support Art Workers Action Group that has emerged during the pandemic of Covid-19, as a way to resist to the depreciation of culture and art-workers. More importantly, the Open Orchestra (O.O./ A.O. in Greek) comes as a continuation of the Paris Occupation of Odeon on March 27, 2021. Following this, in spring 2021, the Support Art Workers Action Group gathered in Athens and sang the piece “El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido”, exactly as the solidary orchestra at Odéonhad done some months earlier.

This has been the start of the A.O., which is called “Open”, because anyone who wants to rehearse with it, can do it at any time: there is no limitation on artistic level or degree of commitment. Organizationally, there is a solid core of 100 people, who rehearse every Sunday at the Filopappou Hill, in central Athens. Decisions are made collectively through open circles organized regularly, in which the whole group participates. This is particularly relevant to the organization of different projects. Every one or two months, rehearsals take place in a deprived neighbourhood of Athens (Victoria square, Perama, Amerikis Square, etc.), instead of the regular one, while messages such as “Lively Squares” or “We want to danse in squares, streets and neighbourhoods” are delivered in any possible means (e.g. banners, posters, etc.). The A.O. gives an open concert every June, yet, most importantly, it provides solidarity to several people and events, such as trials of public interest (e.g. trial for the murder of the LGBT artist Zac/Zackie; trials for victims a sexual violence, etc.), as well as campaigns for social justice and peace, with the most recent example concerning the war in Gaza and Palestine.

The aim of this presentation is to explore how this impulsive bottom-up initiative can/has become “game-changer” at the local (city) and the very local (neighbourhood) level, essentially as an antidote to the harsh regeneration and touristification policies that hit actually the Greek cities. Building upon my own participation to the A.O. during 2021-2022, I seek to understand to what extend such an initiative – a community of joy, care and solidarity, and an urban utopia, as I would like to call it – may be capable of transforming, in the mid-term, both public space and the relations performed within public space. Considering its ephemeral and sporadic performances and actions, to what extend can an initiative such the A.O. play a role in shaping the neighbourhood and the city fabric overall? I am particularly interested in examining the potential of such initiatives yet also the significant challenges they pose as regards appropriation, belonging, and reclaiming the city. They promote interaction among diverse people, while challenging the established status quo. After all, what would be needed, from a planner’s perspective, to enhance and leverage such initiatives in a view of coming closer to the ideals of the Just City and the Right to the City? Can planners take under consideration such initiatives in decision-making processes?

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