Serbia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Greece, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Italy. This is the path followed by the “Ways Of the Heroes” program, trying to highlight environmental issues from 6 different countries through the eyes of 12 people, 12 everyday heroes fighting for a better and sustainable environment. Utilizing various art forms, the teams that undertook the implementation of the European program “Ways Of the Heroes” attempted to examine social apathy and the absence of both action and ways of coping. Among the actions developed in the framework of the program is the exhibition “Ecology of Ideas” which, having already passed through Skopje in North Macedonia and before traveling to Mattinata in Italy, stops in Athens until May 31, at the 1927 art space in Kypseli.

The artistic community of Ways of the Heroes collaborated with experts and scientists on exhibitions about waste, with the aim of developing recommendations for both the performing arts sector and the general public, in order to make practices and their activities more sustainable.

Thus, the idea of ​​the exhibition “Ecology of Ideas” was born, which aims to communicate scientific data in a different way. Inspired by Ibsen’s play The Enemy of the People, which questions the impact of individuals on the community and vice versa, the project focuses on bringing stories of these hidden heroes to an international audience.

Videos, an exhibition, children’s picture books and online campaigns are the means used to share these stories and now present them to the Athenian public.

It is noted that within the framework of the exhibition a workshop for children was held today where the illustrated book made by the partners of the program from North Macedonia “Gavroche Books” entitled “The story of the windmill” was presented

“The main axis was environmental issues and social apathy. How does this actually go by without us realizing it when it is such a burning everyday issue. That’s why we found different ways of communication, with performing arts and theater, with documentaries, with books, for young and older ages, with the aim of making everyone aware of the problems that exist”, the coordinator of the project points out to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency and co-founder of the Loop group, which collaborated with other agencies to implement the “Ways of the Heroes” program; Andreas Nassos. One of the messages they seek to send through the program and the exhibition, as he explains, is to make societies aware that the environment will not be saved by personal activism but by collective actions. “We want to highlight at the same time the ignorance that exists around the burden on the environment so that everyone understands how we got here”, he underlines, at the same time expressing his joy that the “Ecology of Ideas” exhibition is now being organized in Greece presenting “the results of a excellent cooperation lasting 30 months”.

On her part, the theater director and producer from Serbia Ana Konstantinović pointed out that through the mini-documentaries they created, they tried to highlight areas that were facing different environmental problems as well as the citizens’ actions to solve them with the aim of an overall environmental awareness.

“In the end, all the stories come to the conclusion that the problems exist because we have left them unsolved,” emphasizes Mrs. Konstantinovitch.

Finally, Doreen Tutikian, co-founder of LOOP, concludes by saying: “we hope that the exhibition will lead visitors to a search for the relationship between art and cultural works and the global problem of the environmental crisis”.

The “Ways of the Heroes” project is an international program of partner organizations co-financed by the “Creative Europe” program of the European Union. Through the mini-documentaries created, it attempts to show stories of citizens from 6 countries who have developed “good environmental practices” and who try to raise awareness among their fellow citizens about issues such as air pollution in cities, harvesting and preserving seeds, the circular economy, recyclable fashion and environmental education. The protagonists of the film work in different fields and all of them try to highlight the significant impact that even a small action can have.

The project’s lead partner is MNT from Skopje, North Macedonia, and partners include La Dramaturgy (Italy), Eho animato (Serbia), Loop (Greece), Studio Teatar (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Gavroche books (North Macedonia) and Studio for the research of the art of acting (Slovenia).

The exhibition is hosted at 1927 Art Space – Kypselis 35, 1st floor and will last until May 31