#VIADUCT while still on that bridge some thoughts and reflections…

Almost a month has passed from the completion and presentation of our – now that is over I can admit- quite ambitious research project VIADUCT a communication tool for analysis in heritage. I usually put down the thoughts and reflections on each Diadrasis adventure much closer to the completion with the memories and emotions much more fresh and intense. But, this time it was different. Certainly the closing of the year and the holiday season that followed are a good excuse for this delay 😉 Then again it was not the only reason. I am now confident that it is much more because of the shared feeling of the research team in the presentation that this closing was a beginning not an end!

Very poetic one could say. But now looking on the results of this effort, a handbook, a poster, a website, a seminar and a workshop for the wider audience, I really feel that the very essence of the project stands in spreading and disseminating these results. Which starts now at the “end”. But how did all this happen? Why did we decide to build a bridge? [For those who still wonder what on earth the name of the research project stands for, VIADUCT: a long high bridge, usually with arches, that carries a road or railway/railroad across a river or a valley.]

How did all this happen? This is a great question, and one can trace the answer in the way
Diadrasis was conceived and still keeps acting: with interaction in action from new hints, people and ideas. It was back in Gatzea seminar where we had the luck to have as participant Dr. Sophie Blain, Archaeometrist, who in a very straight and direct volunteer lecture explained
to the rest of the team the instruments of her research subject, dating. A vivid discussion started about how most of heritage professionals are skeptical about the possibilities of laboratory analysis and how confused they feel when they have to order them and even worst later interpret them! It would all have been just another wonderful discussion if it wasn’t for the good coincidence that a conservation scientist, Ariadni Dimitrakopoulou
decided to apply those days for a research internship with us. The missing professional profile, came to knock on our door so we would have an Archaeometrist, an Architect & Art Historian, a Conservator and a Conservation Scientist working together trying to bridge the gap of communication when it comes to scientific analysis for Heritage.

With enthusiasm we moved on drafting the outline of the research, which was not exactly a piece of cake! We had the clear idea of creating a useful handbook, not competing with the existing bibliography, easy to use from the reader. Simple and straight as an idea, but the execution was by far more complicated. What to include, which are the main points that are usually not clear, which where the different needs of the different professionals, and much more… summarizing how would the result differ from a simple publication and become what we wanted a useful and practical handbook? Well, while posing this questions to each other, we found that actually questions where the answer. The handbook would come to answer to clear questions in a systematic way and in different depths of information. In addition big importance would be given to the graphic representation both of the structure and the explanations themselves.

Available at http://www.diadrasis.org/

And that very moment of clarifying the methodology, another big challenge “crossed” viaduct. The J.S. Latsis Public Foundation opened the applications for the “young researchers grant”, where we decided to apply expanding a bit more the idea and creating together with the book a website. Well it’s already history that the application was successful and VIADUCT was one of the 25 selected proposals out of the 912 submitted. The enthusiasm in the team can be seen I guess by the deliverables, as while we only submitted a proposal with the handbook and the website, we enjoyed that much the result of our work that we decided to add some extras!Once we assured the quality of the results of the publication and the functionality of the website, which gave us the possibility of offering more questions and paths for reaching the desired responses thanks to our extra patient and inspired web developer, we could still add more! Ideas kept coming on the table, but only a few reached realization as the time and budget where indeed limited. The conservator wanted a poster with the summative pages, easy to have in your pocket when closed and good to hang on the wall of the lab or the worksite – approved! What else? Something about sharing and spreading the results further… and on that, what could be better than what Diadrasis loves doing? Non-formal education was the answer. The two days seminar “viaduct- do we make the best out of our analysis?” in the Athens University Museum with 20 participants from Bulgaria, Greece, Germany and Egypt worth all the effort and the extra work, and most of the team of participants together with the lecturers celebrated the success in the book presentation and website launching later the second evening. And after that, did we forget someone? Yes, indeed the wider public, always curious and interested in what we were doing, how  could we share this more specialized project? By putting to our owl it’s new and final coat for 2015, that one of inspector Clouseau and inviting people to explore the profiles of heritage professionals and laboratory experts at the Mediterranean Science Festival held in Limassol Cyprus – great fun I must say 🙂

A full year, a wonderful research team, great partners and collaborators* and deliverables for which we can declare happy and creative! Now do all this sound like a closure or like a new page for viaduct?

*The research was funded  by  the  John  S.  Latsis  Public  foundation and conducted by DIADRASIS in collaboration with the Coordinación Nacional de Conservación del Patrimonio Histórico (CNCPC) of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología  e Historia  (INAH),  Mexico,  the FRS-F.N.R.S.  and Université  de Liège (ULg), Belgium.

#pithari a unique adventure!

Only two days have passed from the presentation to the public of our research project #pithari. The event was small and cozy, and we received wonderful feedback from the attendees. So now, a little bit more relaxed and having recovered some much needed hours of sleep, but with the emotions and impressions of the research still very intense I would like to share some thoughts on this new adventure.

You see, some years ago when we first founded diadrasis, I would never expect this kind of research. And I think that is what at a first glance I love the most about it. Diadrasis, honoring it’s name which in Greek stands for interaction, keeps interacting and growing thinking outside the box. That box that would place our research limits strictly to tangible heritage and related professionals – the often named experts. Pithari is the result of our mingling with different people, like Krupa Rajanngam that presented two community based research projects in India during last years’ conference in the University of York, different professions like Lisa Wollmannstetter that joined diadrasis as an intern during her Urban studies, and our teams need for opening the concept of interaction from heritage professionals to the wider public. 

After some long discussions and meetings, different ideas and aspirations gave birth to our first community based research project. The concept was simple, we would do an ethnographic research as to discover from people’s stories and memories the landmarks that characterize an area. To test it we organized the pilot project in the historical district of Athens Exarcheia. Limited area, full of history and still very much contradictory as often happens with areas of dispute. The area was also the inspiration of the name as, until the end of the 19th century, Exarcheia was named “pitharadika” after the pottery workshops that could be found everywhere in this district. Pithari in Greek stands for the pottery jar in which people would store their everyday necessities, so in our project Pithari became a space for collecting memories of a neighbourhood.

“The concept was simple”, I mentioned before, yes indeed, but to have valuable results much work, commitment and coordination was necessary. We had to first do the research of existing references, then form the team of researchers – train them on the principles of ethnographic research, do the mapping, analyze the data and then organize a “diadrastic” way of presenting it to the public. And at this point a very bug bravo goes to the team of interns Theodora, Maro, Myrevi & Lisa, that made all this happen. They worked hard and passionately, making Exarcheia and the landmarks their favorite subject of the day while supporting also our wonderful volunteers from the beginning to the end.

The volunteers were the other big reward of this project! When we published the call, we were very skeptical on the response of the public. After all, we are still a small NGO and we were not even sure that anyone would be interested in the specific subject of our research. Surprisingly  there where many!         We received 12 applications of which 7 at the end formed the dream-team that conducted 100 interviews and helped us in collecting another 100 online. The laughs of our every 15days group coffee, where we would share progress of the research, problems or simply stories, sound still loud in my ears. And that is another reason why I love pithari: I’ve met and collaborated wonderful people from various fields. Marina, Dimitra, Maria, Katerina, Eva, Chrysa, Myrsini have filled our pithari with great enthusiasm and have made our project very lively and open. Finally the collaborators of this adventure, MONUMENTA & CLIO MUSE and the scientific collaborators dr. Panagiota Pantzou & Elisavet Tapini have added extra value and quality to this adventure.

But, all the above would be nothing without the response of the main component of this project- THE PUBLIC! The response and interest of the people we have interviewed is what made this adventure so special. We would never expect to listen to so many personal stories, walk into houses rich of history and meet all kind of different people. Young or old, locals or foreigners were feeling Exarcheia their home and so wanted to fill our pithari we stories about it. Searching for landmarks, we found people and therefore this Sundays’ event was only the beginning. We have still many stories to tell and share, so stay tuned!

 

#Commonwhispers screening and reflections…

I am sitting here in Warsaw airport, right after receiving our award for best cross-border project (heritage) in the Eastern-European congress and finally have some time to reflect and share my thoughts with you about this wonderful adventure named ‘whispers of a common past’. When applying for a TANDEM collaboration project, over a year ago, never we could have imagined in what an unique project-process were we getting into. Yes an international project, we have already completed plenty of them, yes, also a collaboration with an institution from a foreign country, well that is our basic methodology of work. So what made #commonwhispers so different?

Well for me firstly was the subject, we have been following the question of intangible heritage and it’s conservation issues for years, but never really had the opportunity to work with it. And I assure you that such a vivid full of varieties subject you can start comprehending it only by jumping into it’s deep unexplored waters! And that is exactly what we did with Filiz, began with a vague idea, started planning very big, then faced reality redimensioned the project and finally produced something much better than we had originally planned.
Once dealing with unexplored areas, there is a natural tendency to put some solid basis from your previous experiences. That is exactly how we started: we decided to do two physical exhibitions with the findings of our project. Nice smooth project, creative enough but surely not risky!

But, working with “living” and continuous history, things can surprise you in the most unexpected way. You see, talking about recent history and traditions you are definitely not alone! I underline this, because often heritage people complain about being lonely in their field and that no one cares about what they are trying to study and protect. In the case of intangible heritage, one could easily say that the so-called experts, arrived ‘second’. Before calling it “intangible heritage” these were everyday uses and traditions of ordinary people, they knew that this was defining them and they were doing their best to keep it alive. Associations or simply passionate individuals have done an enormous work, and they are the chain with whom we can really create a synergy for safeguarding this vivid part of history.

For us, this golden synergy was created with the Panhellenic Union of Efessians, and their president Dimitrios Krassopoulos that I deeply thank for his generosity, who gave us original interviews of first generation refugees full of data on our main subject, that was the customs of celebrations. From that moment the final product was obvious, the power and emotion of the film can surely not be reproduced with still images and texts. Filiz at the same time, had access to the original material produced over the last years from the Selcuk Collective memory Center and the contact of an experienced director Tahsin Isbalin, so we said let’s do it… Let’s do a documentary!

The making of the documentary, could be a post on it’s own but I will keep on the overall discoveries of the project. At the same time, dealing with the scientific research we had the joy to have as an intern Katherine Burlingame, who explored in her MA thesis the effects of this shared traditions to the second and third generations, descendants of exchangees and the possibility of using shared intangible heritage as a reconciliation tool. The results of her research were really positive and inspiring, but for us what was essential about her contribution was the neutrality of her view. For how much we try to be objective in our work, our personal experiences make us often take things for granted and when dealing with shared traditions of neighbors a “third” observant can make you reflect on your own prejudices! So another big thank you goes to Kate for falling in love with the project and emerging herself into the recent history and traditions of the Aegean – never I guess would she have thought about it when she left her house in the USA to go to study in Germany..

And last but not least the evening of the screening. I now called a magic evening, as everything is well that ends well, but that evening until 10 minutes before the opening of the evening was a total disaster! Even if early September and in Athens, black dark clouds have gathered over the beautiful garden of the Hellenic Association of Archaeologists and there was no contingency plan, as in the building they were setting up an exhibition for the day after! Chairs in-chairs out, and again and lets’s do it, and the technician that refuses to set up the equipment again 20 minutes before the event, claiming that would be burnt if it rained… “And if you bring you an umbrella and keep it over the projector?”, golden question that saved the evening. Last raindrop a quarter to nine and people kept coming and coming, “more chairs needed, super!”, optimism is back and like always with a lot of help from our friends, everything started with just 10 minutes of delay, more to respect the flow of the still coming people, at the end we counted almost a hundred spectators!!!Who would have thought such a response?

Happy and a bit emotional we began our evening, dedicated not only to the project itself but the intangible heritage, it’s conservation and it’s power as a reconciliation tool. Short speeches were given from Maro Magoula, Kaherine Burlingame  on their researches, and on DIADRASIS and the #commonwhispers project by our MD Laura Tapini. Finally after the theoretical background and the QA short sessions, lights went off and the documentary was on the screen. Memories, stories, music emotions, two nations a lot of shared history and many shared custom and traditions, beautiful and emotional..yes but was that all? No, it was more the unspoken than the declared, the shared feeling of nostalgia for another life, another land which even if knowing that you will never go back to it is always part of you and your heritage. And I think this shared feelings and perceptions can bring closer people, because it is not about nations it is about people, you, me everyone..

So it is not about awards, which of course are always very welcome. It is about an entire process we went through and we feel that we gained so much and are looking fwd to develop it more in the future! Thank you TANDEM for offering us this opportunity by selecting our project 🙂

#REORG discovering a new world, the museum storage!

When last summer  a member of our staff returning from a training in ICCROM brought the idea of discovering and disseminating the storage REORG  reorganization methodology develop by ICCROM and UNESCO, we must admit that we were a but skeptical. Yes we already have started with small museums in our seminars last years in Gatzea, but storage of museums?

And furthermore as often friends asked, why should you have a concise methodology developed from two big institutions for some back scene rooms of a museum? Well after a wonderful training for trainers held in Belgrade, and a volunteer research action in the museum of political exiles Ai Stratis here in Athens I can tell you why! Because the storage, is the room we tend to forget, and still is the heartbeat of our museum. Especially nowadays with the change of perception on Museums. Museums are not a stock-still exposition of our collection, but should be made from  rotating items and when possible items that can challenge and interact with the visitors. To achieve that you need an organized and functioning storage, otherwise is like not having a storage at all.

Ok, you could agree on this point, but again why a methodology? Why can you not go on your own and do some clean up? Well it is simple, because storage reorganization is definitely not a charming work – and therefore it is usually postponed to never, often began and left in the middle- which I can assure you it is even worst! It is exactly like the storage in your house, you keep promising that next Sunday you will clean it, but instead you keep adding things and then another Sunday when they call you for a last minute ride, you have to refuse because there is no physical way of reaching your bicycle! Worst case scenario is that you get so upset with it that you simply want t throw away everything, something that you definitely can not do in a Museum storage!

The brilliance of the REORG methodology, is that it short of reminds you of all the procedures you have to do from the survey till implementation, in a very logical and structured way. All the little thinks you tend to forget when rushing through objects, or when faking a reorganization with a nice frontal view but many hidden objects in ‘
UFO’ boxes behind! All the logical thinking of first observing, then documenting, then planning, then implementing. The basic and simple questions you have to ask, does my storage meet the storage criteria? And if not (almost certain) what can I do to meet most of them? The underlining that you can not start any kind of inventory if you have not a organised space. And of course the responsibility and necessity of selection, you have to make choices as by conserving everything you damage everything!

After all REORG is mind tool, it helps you think in a different way and most importantly leads you to move the importance of the how question in the why! Understanding why you want to do any action will lead you in how to do it…and that is what we will keep from this experience, hoping that we will repeat it in the future in other Museums as well. How? Well wait for our why response sometime soon!

Re-discovering Athens through TANDEM eyes!

This month we had the joy to host in Athens for her placement, our TANDEM partner from Turkey Filiz with her friend and colleague Theodora. Main purpose of this visit was for us to sit together and work on our project, but discovering everyday life and habits  of Athens was nevertheless a priority for DIADRASIS staff and friends.

Upon arrival, we had accurately scheduled  a couple of hours for our visitors to rest – just the right amount of time for us to answer some dozens of emails. But that was not the case, the girls were that  excited to discover Athens that we rushed to the heart of Athens, Syntagma square, and walked down our main commercial street Ermou to get the first vibe of the city.  Not later after, we had to follow the orders of our stomach and rest and eat on Romvis alley, the first time that Filiz said- “ well it looks and feels like Izmir “- phrase that would have been repeated many times in the following days.

The following days, we had a nice cocktail of research related appointments around the city combined with plenty of sightseeing and hanging around with friends and colleagues.

For our research, that is tracing the similarities in  the culture of celebrations between Turks and Greeks that once used to share the same land in Selçuk, which the Greeks called Άγιος Θεολόγος (Agios Theologos), in the province of Izmir, we began  with the charming little museum the Museum of Asia Minor Hellenism Filio Chaidemenou. The museum, absolutely to visit for those interested in what happened before and after the Asia Minor diasaster, was areal great starting point for discussions and reflections. Small problem to overcome was that texts and descriptions are just in Greek- a real pity considering all the effort given to create the museum.  We also had a very helpful meeting with the Center of Asia Minor Studies, who were very welcoming and supportive to our research – not only we got very useful tips on how to orient our research but also went out with many books and a music CD from the research activities. Only disadvantage, we had to carry the books with us on the Parthenon, as we had scheduled the visit right after that appointment – as you will see in our pictures, we looked like very devoted scholars taking their books up to the hill for them to get some of the Parthenon charm!! Heavy books with us, a stiff hill but still: that visit was one of the best we had for some years now, due to the rain of the previous day and the strong winds the sky was a as clear as never and one could enjoy not only the monument, but the entire Attica land up from the surrounding mountains until the sea mirroring impressively the debate between sunlight and clouds…

The rest of the days, we included in our visits not only the vivid city center, but also smaller districts, absolutely not  included in the tourist must see tips! Respecting the Greek contemporary intangible heritage we repeated the same scheme in various locations: long discussions in friends houses, coffee shops, “tsipouradika” and small taverns. Ambelokipoi, Nea Filadelfeia, Kifisia, Gazi, Monastiraki, Metaxourgeio, Petralona, Pagkrati and many more as every district of Athens has its own personal identity that one can appreciate only by experiencing it!

In the weekend, we decided to explore also a bit of Greece outside Athens. The weather on Saturday was amazing, so we grabbed Diadrasis’ magic car (ex-participants know exactly what we are  referring too 😉 ) and went to visit the upper part of the Peloponnese. One day might look brief, but not when you are on a day trip. Began our exploration with the Corinth canal, went then to feel the vibe of the ancient theater of Epidaurus to conclude our day with a walking tour around the first capital of Greece, the picturesque Nafplion  – definitely a day to remember.

And the day after, on our way to the exhibition of the Benaki museum “Rituals of Hospitality : Ornamented Trays of the 19th Century in Greece and Turkey” and on the projection of the documentary “ON BOTH SIDES OF AEGEAN. Expulsion and Exchange of populations, Turkey – Greece, 1922-1924” by Director Maria Iliou and historian Alexander Kitroeff, we had the joy to experience the “classical” marathon of Athens celebrating running culture and the power of will, a real street party!

Not bad just for a short visit in Athens, right?

TANDEM – Cultural Managers Exchange Turkey-EU is an initiative of the European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam), MitOst(Berlin), Anadolu Kültür (Istanbul), and supported by Stiftung Mercator (Essen).

Diadrasis Summer Seminars 2013

Applications are now open for our two summer seminars! Apply before June the 30th for one or both short seminars of DIADRASIS 2013, in Gatzea, Pelion (Greece) walking through old pathways of a mythical mountain of the centaurs. Study new theories inside an Olive Museum and discover during practice the beauties of a location blessed with mountain and sea.

Diadrasis’ 1st volunteer action 2013

Did you know that our name is the Greek word for interaction?

Well, this year we decided to open the interaction to activities of other NGO’s.   This weekend the first volunteer action of our team was organized in Ano Gatzea of Pilion.

The action, cleaning the walking path of the old train lines was organized within the big campaign of the environmental NGO MedSOS http://www.medsoscleanup.gr/. The campaign, lasting from 1/5 to 10/6/2013, mobilized  217 institutions, over 12.000 volunteers in more than 197 cleanings all around Greece.

We were all very excited about this event, which tuned out to be  much better than our expectations! A big thank you also to the local Olive Museum that generously hosted us again 🙂

 

Spring Internship in Athens

Are you interested in learning about Architectural stratigraphy methodology and the ways an international seminar is prepared and developed?

Would you like to spend two weeks in Athens, leaning by doing?

Then apply for our spring internship now!

http://www.diadrasis.org/internships/internships_001.html

Application deadline: 31st of May 2013

 

 

 

 

DIADRASIS internship programme offers opportunities to young professionals interested in heritage for gaining working experience during our activities. The programme is open to candidates worldwide.

Martos project results online

Are you curious and want to explore all the exciting steps of the ‘Martos project’, an international workshop on Stone Conservation and Urban regeneration, for graduates and young heritage professionals held last September in Spain with participants from all over the world?

Results, report, tables, poster and the first video now available for download on our website. http://www.diadrasis.org/projects/martos/results.html

The workshop was organized with the consent of the Junta de Andalucía, under the patronage of ICCROM and in collaboration with the University of York, the University of Jaén, the City of Martos Council, Department of Culture, ADSUR, the IAPH and the IPCE.

 

 

Martos project

Martos 2012 participants

Martos ‘Fuente Nueva’ before-after

Martos project, Spain 2012

The “Martos project” an international workshop on Stone Conservation and Urban regeneration, for graduates and young heritage professionals, was held in August & September 2012 on the 16th century fountain of ‘Fuente Nueva’, at Martos, Andalusia, Spain. The fountain is a project of architect Francisco del Castillo, who had studied near the Italian Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola.

Participants:Louise ASHON, UNITED KINGDOM/ Dan BLAKE, AUSTRALIA/ María Aránzazu GONZÁLEZ POLO, SPAIN/ Gerardo HERNÁNDEZ SEPTIÉN, MEXICO/ Katherine HUMMELT, UNITED STATES/ Siân MORGAN, AUSTRALIA/ Jafet ORTIZ, MEXICO/ Michail PAPAVARNAVAS, GREECE/ Laura RUDELLIN, ITALY/ Saba SAMEE, PAKISTAN/ Shani SASSON, ISRAEL