This summer, travel to Kymi to live a unique collective experience at the “Healing Art” Festival that includes talks, workshops and performances. With an eye on the healing dimensions of the arts (narrative, voice and group improvisation, dance, theater) a group of elite performers and distinguished scientists participate in the first Festival dedicated to the humanitarian doctor George Papanikolaou and will take place on the “balcony of the Aegean”, Kymi and the villages of Enoria and Kalimeriani.

All the actions of the Festival, through multiple scientific and artistic approaches, pose the question: “Can we benefit from the presence of art in our lives today?” After the collective trauma of the pandemic and confinement with the Covid 19 crisis, the search for the relationship of performing arts with medicine and healing is extremely timely and useful. Nowadays, art is now being re-evaluated as a driving force for change but also as a means that can contribute to human interaction, solidarity, reflection, connection with the other and the environment, the healing of mental wounds and in general the therapeutic practice in times dystopia. In such a context, the organization of a Festival that explores the healing dimension of the arts, and in fact outside the capital, with the benefactor of humanity George Papanikolaou as a connecting link, responds to contemporary deep needs of society, promoting policies that encourage the development of creative synergies and aiming at promotion of physical and mental health. The Festival aims to strengthen inclusion and act as a link of social cohesion, while addressing the local and wider society, especially artists and teachers of all levels of education, students, as well as anyone interested in the performing arts and culture.

The program

The Festival opens on July 21 with a scientific conference entitled “Performance and Healing” and will take place at the historic house of Papanikolaou in Kymi. Purpose: the reinvention of the man who saved millions of women by inventing the test for cervical cancer and establishing a new medical specialty, cytology. Participants and chat with the audience: Aristides Diamantis, Thanasis Dritsas, Giorgos Kiousis, Ioulis Kokkori , Thodoris Xanthos, Vasiliki Petraki, Evanthia Stivanaki, Angeliki Toumpanaki, Dimitris Tsokanis.

At the Spiritual Center of the Parish Community on July 22, cardiologist Thanasis Dritsas will speak on “Psychosocial cardiology”. On the same day, in the forecourt of the Spiritual Center, Agni Stroumboulis in the performance “Passionate doctor for black love” will tell folk tales in her unique way accompanied by Stavros Parginos on the cello.

In the open theater of the Kymi Folklore Museum, where the eye is lost in the blue sea, a particularly robust program of two concerts is presented. The explosive Aggeliki Toumpanaki on July 23 at the musical show “For Women”, accompanied by four amazing musicians, shares songs and stories from all over the world on the theme of Women. Separate creatures, female revolutionaries and pioneers, pirates and mavericks become songs that unite our souls and awaken our minds. On July 25, the group KYMIDES (Aliki Katsaros, Christos Kalogerogiannis, Stavroula Tavoulari, Markos Filianos, Christos Psychogios) is inspired by the old Greek repertoire and presents a program with rebetikas inspired by maritime life, karsilamades from the Propontis, traditional, Asia Minor and Zeibeki , butchers and tsiftetelias in compositions by Vamvakaris, Tounda, Papazoglou, Peristeris and other great masters of folk music.

Kimis festival

Tuesday 23, Wednesday 24 July in a house of the Kalimerians in a midnight performance and with an audience of twenty spectators, Elias Kounelas and Nadia Katsoura will bring to life the heroes of the play “He will have your eyes”. The show is inspired by theater around a bed and was performed in Athens last winter with great success.

In the square of Kymi, on July 24, the children of Kymi meet the Berde company in the popular public shadow theater performance of the group Othonion O Karagiozis the doctor with the leading players Athos Danellis and Nikolas Tzivelekis.

Kimis festival

At the Kalimerian Primary School on July 26, Martha Frintzila meets Takis Farazis on stage, to wander through known and unknown musical landscapes in an effort to “shake off the dust of everyday life”. In their wanderings they meet great composers and poets, known, unknown and overlooked songs, great and very great loves, revolutions, resistances, heroes and victims, passions and mistakes.

The concert program includes songs from the personal discography of Martha Frintzilas, songs by Greek and foreign composers of the 20th century, as well as traditional and “folk” songs.

Kimis festival

Finally, throughout the duration of the Festival at the Primary School of Kalimeriani, a group of experiential educational workshops frames the program. Dance: Dimitris Tsokanis-Vasiliki Petraki. Theatre: Martha Frindzila. Voice and group improvisation: Angeliki Toupanaki. Narration: Agni Stroumbouli. Also at the Papanikolaou House, Lia Lambrou has planned an Educational Theater workshop for children aged 8-12 – Lia Lambrou. The results of the workshops will be presented publicly on July 27 to be shared and disseminated to the local community.

George Papanikolaou

The famous Greek doctor George Papanikolaou (1883-1962), who has saved millions of women thanks to the Pap test he discovered, was born and raised in Kymi, at a time when in the Western world the way of treating patients is changing, when now in a climate of experimentation, new understandings of health and illness are developed, where art and healing are linked through the innovative work of pioneering doctors and artists. Drama acquires a new dynamic, now it can find application in therapeutic practice in hospitals and institutions, but also in school education, creating a new framework for understanding art since it could function as a tool for change in people’s lives.

Kimi

The Kymi mansion with its neoclassical architecture is one of the most important destinations in Central Evia. It is located 2.5 hours from Athens and is the capital of the Municipality of the same name. Its history goes back to antiquity, when it founded two colonies in Aeolis, one to the north of Smyrna and one in Lower Italy in Campania together with the Chalcidians, where the Greek alphabet was also transferred and evolved into Latin. The region with its noble inhabitants, the excellent Folklore Museum, the traditional stone-built villages, the towers, the monasteries and with the cool climate offers for exploration, recreation and tranquility. The place combines mountain and sea, while it stands out for its special natural beauty with a unique fir forest, gorges, caves, crystal clear sandy beaches with the crystal clear waters of the Aegean and breathtaking mountains. In the area the visitor can enjoy fresh fish and local traditional cuisine. Access to Kymi is via Chalkida or with the Oropou-Eretrias Ferry Boat.

Participation: 1) free upon registration in open events and 2) with financial participation in the workshops and three concerts.

Application form: https://technis-iamata.org/application-form/

Scientific and artistic direction: Iosif Vivilakis

Website: https://technis-iamata.org/

Seat reservations: https://www.more.com/happenings/tis-texnis-ta-iamata-festibal-stin-kymi/

PRODUCER: “Othonion” – Civil Non-Profit Company, 28 Epirou, 10433 Athens.

Information: Maria Athanasiou Tel. 697 8226608. Email: [email protected]

useful information
For safety reasons and to avoid delays and overcrowding, early arrival before the start of the events is recommended.

The Festival is under the auspices and support of the Municipality of Kymi-Aliveri, the University of Western Attica and the Ministry of Culture and is carried out with the cooperation of the cultural clubs of Kalimerian and Parish.