Mystery 20 P. A. Initiator – Narrative Archaeology | The Screening

On Friday 22 November, a screening of the documentary of Mystery 20 Performing Arts Initiator – Narrative Archaeology, directed by Konstantinos Arvanitakis and Michail Marmarinos, will take place at Cine Eleusis. This documentary delves into the work and methodology developed during this project, which culminates in a site-specific walking performance within the emblematic Archaeological Site of Elefsina.

Why does someone visit an archaeological site? What do we seek there?

In search of the hidden narrative of the given Archaeological Site, Narrative Archaeology is introduced as a methodological project that highlights the ways that Performing Arts can enhance the interactivity of archaeological sites. Supported by the Ephorate of Antiquities of West Attica.

The documentary offers an evolving account of the project through the perspectives of various filmmakers, weaving individual aspects into a cohesive narrative that seeks to convey, as closely as possible, the immersive experience of the site. Through its black-and-white imagery, the documentary hints at the narrative potential of the unadorned landscape, inviting viewers to immerse themselves in the archaeological experience.

Followed the screening there will be a discussion with the project’s artistic director and co-director of the documentary, Michail Marmarinos, Elefsina Archaeological Site manager Efstathia Anesti, and Professor of Museology at the Department of Cultural Technology and Communication, University of the Aegean, Alexandra Bounia.

A few words about Mystery 20 Performing Arts Initiator – Narrative Archaeology

Mystery 20 Performing Arts Initiator – Narrative Archaeology is a Legacy Project of 2023 Eleusis, which continues, after the end of the year of the title, as methodology – model. Approaching methodological tools of artistic and research projects that have been successfully carried out in Italy under the curatorship and artistic direction of Michail Marmarinos, in collaboration with the Archaeological Society of Florence and the city’s National Archaeological Museum, artists-researchers from different fields of Arts and Sciences embarked on a long evolutionary process in the context of an on-site conversation with the archaeological site of Elefsina, in close cooperation with the archaeologists working there. In the framework of the European Capital of Culture, this prominent site is creating a model field of encounter between Arts and Archaeology, aiming to become an example of applied methodology for other cultural heritage sites in Greece and beyond.