Milies-Volos, Grecia 2009
video performance 18′

“Greece is a country of just lines. Nothing is too high nor too low: it seems a country born and raised in a greenhouse. The ocean and the Alps are far from Greece, even the sky and the sea are never too blue. It seems that a light gray blanket covers the entire country”.
Giorgio de Chirico, The mystery of the infinite.

[Ελληνικά] [Italian]

At the end of the nineteenth century the engineer Evaristo de Chirico was commissioned to build the railway Milies-Volos to join the Pagasitikos Gulf with Mount Pelion, “… a narrow gauge railway that tied that port of Argonauts with the interior of Thessaly . “(A. Savinio” Tragedy of childhood “). The track, separated by less than seventy centimeters and the bridges, which connect some of the valleys, are still an example of balance environmental, architectural and engineering harmony. The landscape, the tracks, the architecture of the bridges, the smells, the sounds of the valley, the smoke of the locomotive and that silly train that climbs the mountains of Pelion were sources of inspiration for the two brothers, the Evaristo’s sons. Their work is a proof of this contemplation. “In childhood we are perhaps closer to the mysterious past of life” (A. Savinio Tragedy of childhood): we do not know what the father told the children, but we know exactly what the brothers told later with their work. This project is a reflection of the places that remain indelible in the memory and inspire the work of a lifetime: the brothers de Chirico never detached from their childhood landscape, precisely the construction of the railway.
Today, walking along the track, we are turned to the paintings of Giorgio: we associated drawings and music to the tracks exchanges. Perhaps in the history of the brothers artists, de Chirico are a perfect witness between myth and anti-myth.

A device consisting of multidisciplinary italians and greeks artist explored through an experimental practice, the landscape of Mount Pelion along the train route. The group has ventured into the world of poetry and metaphysic of Savinio and Giorgio de Chirico looking into the landscape of childhood of the two brothers for the key to a possible multi-faceted and creative interpretation of the riddle.

Based on an idea of: Maria Chatzinikolaou, Matteo Fraterno, Spyros Tsalapatas, Mary Zygouri

A project by: ilmotorediricerca, Italia; Omada Filopappou, Grecia.

The artists in different roles: Nico Angiuli, Maria Chatzinikolaou, Roberto Dell’Orco, Matteo Fraterno, Zoe Giabouldaki, Petros Lekapinos, Nadia Kalara, Martin Kaltner, Nikos Papadopoulos, Maurizio Papagni, Tereza Papamichali, Nikos Podias, Maria Anna Quaranta, Silvestro Sentiero, Spyros Tsalapatas, Adonis Volanakis, Mary Zygouri.

Contributors: Principi Attivi – Regione Puglia Italia; Comune di Milies, Tessaglia, Grecia; Comune di Agrià, Tessaglia, Grecia; Comune di Artemidos, Tessaglia, Grecia.

Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico – Roma, Italia; Archivio Kostas Androulidakis, Atene; Archivio Andrea Di Mario, Roma; Gli amici del treno del Pilio – Volos, Grecia; Associazione Amici d’Italia – Volos, Grecia; Viktoria Bed & Breakfast – Damouhari, Grecia.

Organization and coordination on the place: Dimitris Koutsos; Vera Vassardani.

Video documentation cured by: Ilmotorediricerca

EXTRA

• Giorgio de Chirico’s speech
• Soltanto il viaggio è l’iniziazione alla conoscenza (Maurizio Papagni’s paper wall);
• Les chants de la Mi Mort, Scène de la Tour (Music from Mary Zygouri’s performance);
• META (Adonis Volanakis and Nadia Kalara);
• Les chants de la Mi Mort, Préface Poétique (Homme chauve’s text).
• Evaristo de Chirico biography
  

 

Have fun!