Kypseli BEAT Carnival Weekend

There is always a good excuse for get-togethers and festivities, and the annual Carnival is the perfect one. If you find yourselves in Athens during this long weekend, you might want to check out the Kypseli Beat Carnival Weekend party inspired by South American and African traditions, offering a promising and festive program with numerous DJ sets, food stands including Ethiopian food and coffee, Latin American street food, a vinyl market, book bazaar, and loads more. The event will run from Saturday, March 16, between 5 pm-11 pm through Sunday, March 17, between 1 pm-11 pm.

Electric Wrath performance

Electric Wrath, hosted at the M54 Art space, is a piece about how women come together and become visible as a collective body. It’s a play about rage without words just as some things are beyond words according to its director, Sofia Kouloukouri. Through lack of lights, props, or music, the performers are the engine of work making themselves visible through a device that converts their kinetic energy into electricity. As the collective female body choreography leads into an ecstasy of rage, the performance is viewed as a ritual, aiming to highlight a passage from ”me” to ”us”. Electric Wrath, presented among other places in the Museum of Contemporary Art of Buenos Aires, will run between March 15 to March 17 with double performances starting at 9 pm and 10:30 pm. Tickets can be purchased on the event’s official page.

©George-Kondylis/ Electric Wrath

©George-Kondylis / Electric Wrath

“A Closer Look” photography show

FokiaNou Art Space hosts the photography group show “A Closer Look” created by a mix of five foreign and local artists, curated by the premise’s founders, Mary Cox and Panagiotis Voulgaris. Each artist focuses on a particular series of work, with a common denominator of there being more to the picture than meets the eye. To quote Stephen Shore (The Nature of Photographs), “Pictures exist on a mental level that may be coincident with the depictive level – what the picture is showing — but does not mirror it. The mental level elaborates, refines, and embellishes our perceptions of the depictive level. The mental level of a photograph provides a framework for the mental image we construct of (and for) the picture.” Hidden or imagined narratives lead the viewer on their journey of discovery. The exhibition will be running until March 30, receiving the public during Thursday to Saturday, 5 pm – 8 pm.

Stefan Chrobok, “A Closer Look”

By Vasiliki Kanellou/ “A Closer Look”

Jyri Pitkänen, 2024 From the series “Meanwhile, Elsewhere”. Pigment print, 24x36cm.

Additional Carnival activities

Saturday, March 16

11:30 Kallidromiou Street

Musical stroll with the Athens Philharmonic Brass Orchestra

12:00 Peripheral Filopappou streets

Carnival stroll with the Bloco Swingueira percussion ensemble featuring dance and rhythms from Brazil

Sunday, March 17

11:30 Zappeion courtyard

Carnival Children’s Celebration Carnival rhythms with the Athens Municipal Philharmonic Orchestra. Music, dance, stilt walkers, balloon constructions, face painting, circus artists, group games, pantomime, mascots, and many surprises for our young friends.

12:00 SNFCC

Live music, percussion parade, workshops, masqueraders, and loads of fun and imagination set the stage for an utterly unique Sunday! The well-known multicultural percussion band Bloco Swingueira takes its explosive energy and Brazilian rhythms to various parts of Stavros Niarchos Park, while The Jaguar Bombs set up the wildest party featuring covers of timeless hits.

18:00 Syntagma Square – Ermou – Monastiraki Square

Carnival celebration with animation, jugglers, Brazilian percussion, and other entertainers

Clean Monday, March 18

11:00 Fiolpappou Hill

Musical stroll with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Athens and live concert with “Charisma” band

11:00  Children’s Park & Culture (formerly K.A.P.A.P.S.)

Traditional celebration with music, dances, and Lenten Greek delicacies by the Cultural Association of Ano Ambelokipi.

Clean Monday at Stavros Niarchos

Koulouma celebration is taking center stage at SNFCC on March 18, with a panorama of Greek traditional music and dance from all over Greece, curated by the Professor of Ethnomusicology, Lambros Liavas. Valkanis Brothers Brass Band from Florina will set the tone with traditional brass instruments in an event that will take place between 12 pm-3 pm offering free admission.