Inauguration of the Onassis Cultural Center in Athens

Copyright Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation

We could easily characterise it as a marvel of architecture. The Onassis Cultural Center is coming to the town of Athens and opens its doors to the public in a two-day inauguration (11th & 12th December 2010). The Centre was built on a privately-owned 3,000 sq. m. plot on Syngrou Avenue and boasts 18,000 sq. m. of interior space. The building design belongs to the French architectural firm "Architecture Studio" which in a reference to the minimalism demonstrated by Ancient Greek architecture, created an airy white rectangular shell which makes innovative use of white marble bands.

The Centre’s cutting-edge facilities include:

Main Stage: An 880-seat amphitheatre. The multiplicity of potential stage and lighting configurations make it possible to use this impressive auditorium for a range of large-scale events, from theatrical and dance performances, concerts and cinema screenings to lectures and concerts.

Upper stage: A 220-seat auditorium which can be used for smaller-scale theatrical, music and dance performances, presentations, lectures, cinema screenings (multimedia, virtual reality), seminars and conferences.

Lecture & exhibition space: A room on the 5th floor which can seat up to sixty on free-standing chairs. It is ideal for lectures, educational programmes and round-table discussions.

Exhibition hall: A 700 sq. m. space on the Centre’s second underground level specially-designed for exhibitions and other activities.

A number of open spaces spread over the Centre’s levels and ideal for smaller exhibitions or meetings.

Liquid Sky: A meeting point in the Onassis Cultural Centre bearing the signature of the celebrated Greek contemporary artist, Aemilia Papaphilippou. Integrating art into public space allows the artist to enter into a dialogue with the visitor and artistic expression to become part of our everyday lives. As we commune with art naturally in an atmospheric space before and after the performance, concert, exhibition or discussion, we realize that, yes, we can live in art.

Restaurant-Bar-Café: The roof-top restaurant-bar- offers breathtaking views of the Acropolis, the Philopappos monument, Lycabettus and the Saronic gulf and is also available for private functions.

Underground car-parking areas

The theatre lighting in both auditoria was designed by James Morse from the London-based Light & Design Associates company, while the architectural lighting for the entire building was redesigned by Eleftheria Deko & Associates.

For the inauguration of the Onassis Cultural Center a coupon is required for your entrance. Each entrance coupon corresponds to a two-hour stay in the OCC and encompasses at least one production.

Entrance coupons will be available from:

athinorama magazine

radio stations: KOSMOS 93,6 / ERA Third Programme 90,9 / ERA Second Programme 103,7 / En Lefko 87,7 / Best Radio 92,6

bookstores Eleftheroudakis, Papasotiriou and Public

The programme is the same on both days and features:

ORCHESTRA OF COLOURS / Dimitri Mitropoulos, Hyppolytus

MAIN STAGE / 18:00-18:40

Narration: Filareti Komninou, Nikos Psarras / Choral coaching: Melina Peonidou / Artistic oversight: Yannis Sabrovalakis / Direction: Vassilis Nikolaidis / Conductor: Miltos Logiadis

Dimitri Mitropoulos composed his Hyppolytus for the National Theatre of Greece production directed by Dimitris Rontiris at the Theatre of Herodes Atticus in 1937. It is a superb example of the way in which the great composer and conductor approached ancient drama through a modern musical idiom. In choosing this work to inaugurate both the OCC’s musical programme and our collaboration with the Orchestra of Colours, we are also honouring one of Greek music’s greatest figures in this, the 50th anniversary of his death.

LORENDA RAMOU – Pierre Boulez, 12 notations / Dimitris Dragatakis, Antiques

UPPER STAGE / 18:00-18:30

Pierre Boulez’s 12 notations are a series of pianistic haiku written just after the end of World War ΙΙ in 1945, when the composer was 20 years old. Violent outbursts coexist with a lyrical inwardness and influences from the musical trends of the era. The eight miniatures that together comprise Dimitris Dragatakis’ Antiques, which were inspired by copies of ancient sculptures made by Grigoris Semitekolo and dedicated to the pianist Nelly Semitekolo, reveal unexpected parallels with Boulez’s work. However, if the 12 notations are entirely representative of their era, Antiques provides a bridge between its era (1972) and a distant, primeval past on the verges of myth. A special piano concert by Lorenda Ramou.

MANDAFOUNIS/ ZARHY - Y-HUE

UPPER STAGE / 19.30-20.00

A production based on HUE, a work tracing the borders between presence and absence performed by seven of William Forsythe’s dancers in Frankfurt in 2007.

BIJOUX DE KANT - Colours

MAIN STAGE / 20:00-20:45

A performance based on Goethe’s Theory of Colours

Bijoux de Kant, a company which has worked systematically with Romanticism and with Goethe in particular, here presents its version of the Theory of Colours and puts a singular company of travelling players on stage. An alternative biography of the German poet in which music and video both have crucial roles to play.

KANIGUNDA THEATRE COMPANY - City-state (a work in progress)

UPPER STAGE / 20.30-20.45

Dramaturgy: Kanigunda Theatre Company / Direction: Yannis Leontaris / Sets & Costumes: Thalia Istikopoulou / Lighting: Maria Gozadinou / Assistant Set & Costume designer: Georgia Bourda / Cast: Maria Kehagioglou, Maria Maganari, Rebecca Tsiligaridou, Anthe Efstratiadou, Efthimis Theou

The core materials and structure of City-state, a production the Kaniguda Theatre Company will be staging in April 2011, here stand revealed. An extract with the rhythms and the ‘feel’ of a performance.

adLibdances - Oh! Deep Sea-Corpus IV

UPPER STAGE / 22.00 - 22.30

Choreography: Katerina Papageorgiou, alias Kat Válastur / Dramaturgy: Nikos Flessas / Music: Thomas Mahmoud / Costumes: Benjamin Klunker / Performers: Ligia Manuela Lewis, Kiriakos Hadjiioannou

Oh! Deep Sea-Corpus IV, the second work in Katerina Papageorgiou’s Odyssey project, is inspired by the Lotus Eaters episode. What does ‘forgetting’ mean, and how necessary is it in an era which forces you to know who you are?

STAVROS GASPARATOS – Music for the stage

MAIN STAGE / 22:00-22:30

Stavros Gasparatos: piano, electronics / Anastassis Missyrlis: cello / Dionysis Vervitsiotis: voilin / Themis Symvoulopoulos: vibraphone, percussion / Yiorgos Poulios: electronics

A thirty-minute concert with older incidental compositions by Stavros Gasparatos for the theatre and for dance, along with premiers of works which prefigure his collaboration with Angeliki Stellatou in seven deadly sins at the OCC in March.

ΕVA AND THE APPLES

GROUND FLOOR / 22:30-24:00

Eva Kotanidi: vocals / Manos Loutas: bass / Giorgos Zervos: guitar & vocals / Kostis Vazouras: brass & vocals / Pantelis Benetatos: piano / Marios Ioannou: drums

EXHIBITION OF PHOTOGRAPHY BY STRATOS KALAFATIS AND LIA NALBANTIDOU

EXHIBITION SPACE / LEVEL -1

YELP DANCE COMPANY - Bitesize YELP

LEVEL 4 FOYER

Choreography: Mariela Nestora / Music: ILIOS / Costumes: Antonis Volanakis, Konstantinos Zamanis, Tatiana Suhoruhov

Characters from different works in the YELP company’s repertoire, 2001-2010, meet unexpectedly in the OCC entrance and foyer. The meeting evolves into a dialogue between architecture and dance.

ΜEDEA ELECTRONIQUE – Monotony

EXHIBITION SPACE / LEVEL -1

Concept: Manolis Manousakis & Michael Larsson / Direction: Michael Larsson & Lokey / Writing: Michael Larsson & Manolis Manousakis / Music: Manolis Manousakis / Video Art & Animation: Lokey, Christos Laskaris / Installation & Set Design: Christos Laskaris / Sound installation: Thodoris Zioutos, Manolis Manousakis / Actors: Maria Goula, Yannis Evangelidis / Curator: Elli-Anna Peristeraki / Surround Mastering: Studio 19 - Kostas Bokos / Production: Medea Electronique

Medea Electronique’s audiovisual sculpture installation Monotony was inspired by Constantine Cavafy’s poem of the same name and Raoul Vaneigem’s The revolution of everyday life. The Medea Electronique art company—their name a clear allusion to New Media—was founded in 2006 by independent artists who express themselves in a range of artistic idioms including music, sculpture and video art.