2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture presents, on 29 May and 5 & 16 June, Mystery 72 Persephone Walks — an audio walk, a pre-designed route through the city that invites visitors to discover the invisible aspects of Elefsina through the voices and lived experiences of its residents.
The project combines a wandering through Elefsina with a cartographic palimpsest based on the idea that the city is traversed by a network of “invisible” narratives. From antiquity to modern history, the route gathers and composes the city’s memories through the stories of people connected to it. From Symi, who settled in Elefsina, to a teenager working at the TITAN factory. From the first train arriving in the city, to the lament for the last harvest before the new airport, and the imagined border between upper and lower Elefsina.
For the participant , Persephone Walks is a versatile, multidimensional “pocket project” that allows one to explore Elefsina while experiencing the memories of its residents.
The work is part of the project umbrella The Invisible Map, a digital platform that introduces the micro-history of Elefsina through historical narratives and personal testimonies. Mystery 72 Persephone Walks is the result of systematic field research for the collection of oral testimonies, carried out in close contact with the local community. Part of the audio narratives originate from the oral history archive of Mystery 32 Open Eleusis – a documentary that created the first Oral History Group of Elefsina.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Warm thanks for their support in the creation of this project to: Apostolos Athanasiou, Kostas Athanasiou, Dimitris Avgeris, Thanasis Demiris, Alexandra Karanikola, Vangelis Koukouloglou, Jürgen Lautenschläger, Georgia Liapi, Panagiotis Linardis, Evangelia Nodara, Eva Manidaki, Eliza Panagiotatou, Giorgos Papanikolaou, Anna Papanikolaou, Panos Papanikolaou, Giorgos Pavlopoulos, Stamatis Stamidis, Anastasia Tsopelaki, Christos Adam, Michalis Kastanidis, Reggina Mantanika, Io Chaviara.
