Through narratives, memories, personal experiences and photographs, the new edition of Onassis Publications captures the stories of people and buildings, while mapping the changes taking place in Athenian society.

“How did the apartment building begin to be built?” Who lived there? What are the new cohabitation experiences in Athens? What is the profile of today’s tenants? A free “tour” of the city of Athens unfolds through the pages of the publication of the Onassis Foundation, “37 stories of Athenian apartment buildings” which has just been released, edited by Thomas Maloutas, Nikolina Myofas, Dimitris Balapanidis, Ifigenias Dimitrakou. This book was born from the need to get to know and understand the Athenian apartment buildings of the counter-provision. Through the experiences and stories of old and new residents, we discover what these buildings, symbols of an entire era, hide.

Narratives, memories, personal experiences, photographs, diagrams, building regulations, contracts and operating regulations capture stories of people and buildings, while at the same time mapping the complex processes and changes that take place at the level of the neighborhood, but also of Athenian society as a whole.

The stories in the book unfold in many – and different from each other – areas of the wider center of Athens: Patisia, Kypseli, Victoria, Exarchia, Gyzi, Ampelokipoi, Syntagma, Kolonaki, Pagrati, Koukaki, Neos Kosmos, Kallithea, etc.

Looking at Athens from above, one enjoys its most characteristic view: a “sea” of apartment buildings. An important component of its modern history, but also of its current structure, the apartment building is a result of post-war urbanization. A model that enabled wider social strata to rebuild the city building by building. The above procedures have been the subject of public debate for several decades. Well-established myths about those “who destroyed Athens” distance the actors of the countervailing and the apartment building from the current residents of the city.

In an attempt to connect these two worlds, the book on the one hand records stories “from the inside” – narratives that capture what happened or is happening inside the apartment buildings of Athens – and on the other hand presents stories of the city “from below”, i.e. stories about with the people who built, passed, inhabited and inhabit the city.

The interspersed stories and theoretical texts are not necessarily read in the order they are placed in the book, but also with a more free “tour” of the reader.

For the publication, interviews were conducted with current and some former residents and professionals who were willing to provide testimonies and evidence about the history and life of the apartment building in which they live and/or work. The testimonies of the “sample” of narrators gave the research a lot of interesting information about the routes and strategic choices of the people who built and managed the housing stock of Athens.

“Mr. Telis is no longer an administrator. Since we lost his wife, he resigned. No one wanted to take over. Of course, they didn’t ask me. What can I say, maybe you have to be an owner to have some rights. A company took over the management. He keeps leaving us printed notes in the elevator, what to do, what not to do, how to do it, etc. “Fine, we’ve calmed down. Better that way” Apostolis tells me one day. Mrs. Eleftheria, however, – the wife of Mr. Telis, the old manager, the manager, that is (since the management is somehow a family business) – would drop me notes under the door and invite me for her “most delicious bean salad of your life” – that’s how he wrote to me.”

The Athenian block of flats of the past decades housed a socially heterogeneous mixture of households, popular and even (middle) urban, but ethnically it was homogenous, almost purely “Greek”, and most of the time under the form of the nuclear family that owns or, more rarely , rents her apartment.

Today, in most areas of the center the social and demographic profile of tenants is changing significantly and becoming even more diverse. Greek tenants, economic migrants from Eastern Europe, refugees from Asia and Africa, as well as foreign nationals from “developed” countries in Europe and the Middle East.

Many different types of households and family situations are also recorded: single men and single women (single and divorced, single women, widows, elderly with their carers), roommates, friends and countrymen, parents with children, couples without children , parents with children living elsewhere, married or cohabiting couples, heterosexuals and homosexuals. Household types and tenant profiles that are not just numerous and diverse (more numerous and diverse than in the past), but also more visible.

The publication shows how, over the years, new experiences of cohabitation in apartment buildings and neighborhoods, new challenges for neighborly relations and conditions of coexistence, unprecedented, complex and dynamic, are formed: “Through sounds coming from windows, skylights, balconies and roofs, the Athenian apartment building expands through its alternating soundscapes. Exotic spices, garlic and peppers in the pan, smells that make small apartments seem bigger.”

Publisher: Onassis Foundation

Diligence: Thomas Maloutas, Nikolina Myofa, Dimitris Balapanidis, Ifigenia Dimitrakou

Authors: Konstantinos Vakalopoulos, Dafni-Foteini Vallianatou, Sofia Gryllaki, Ifigenia Dimitrakou, George Dimitropoulos, Emmy Karimali, Korina Kehrologu, Thanasis Kotlaz, Christos-Georgios Kritikos, Angeliki Kyparissi, Thomas Maloutas, Efi Mastorodimou, Dimitris Balapanidis, Christina Botsou, Nikolina Myofa, Maria Xanthopoulou, Maro Pantelidou, Sofia Papidaki, Iris Polyzou, Dimitra Siatitsa, Stavros-Nikiforos Spyrellis, Myrto Stenou, Dionysis Tzanetatos, Konstantinos Tsellos, Christos Halvatzis, Anastasia Christakis

Introductory note: Aphrodite Panagiotakou

Supervision – Coordination: Christina Kosmoglou

Editing of texts – Corrections: Vassilis Douvitsas

Artistic Curation – Design: Bend

Issue date: December 2024

A few words about the publications of the Onassis Foundation

The diverse universe of the Onassis Foundation is reflected in the pages of the new editions of the Onassis Foundation. The first, and most autobiographical, play of the Portuguese writer, director and Artistic Director of the Avignon Festival, The Dance of the Lovers, of the show of the same name performed on the Small Stage of the Roof. A strange prayer book takes us to the abyss of the Homeric epic, Nekyia, by Yiannis Angelakas and Theodora Kapralos with a text based on rhapsody l of Homer’s “Odyssey”

The special visual world of the leading Greek choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou The Great Tamer. A study of the Athenian apartment building and the identity of the city of Athens, Builders, housewives and the construction of modern Athens by Ioanna Theocharopoulos. The most recent series of works by the international visual artist Yiannis Varelas Anima I. A socio-scientific glossary for the weather Words for the Weather: A glossary edited by Jussi Parikka and Dafnis Dragonas.

The new series of publications of the Onassis Foundation listens to and records the trends in contemporary research, highlights voices of important Greek creators of today and asks questions about issues that will concern us in the future, such as artificial intelligence, political ecology and digital culture. In addition to the printed form, the publications also include a series of vinyl LPs and CDs, which create a universe around Stegi’s productions, with the music of iconic performances or educational material. The publications of the Onassis Foundation open a creative dialogue between artists, researchers, scholars and the domestic and international community of readers, highlighting the importance of research, experimentation and collective reflection.

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