no water, Athens, 2015. Photography: Christina Georgiadou

Phrases and drawings carved onto the walls of the 1941-44 underground Nazi detention facilities in Athens were transferred onto the ​above-ground "body" of the city​

no water (2014-15)

documentation and public space intervention/performance
Metamorphosis/Athens
​

On 26 March 2015, a series of ephemeral drawings were made along the usual route taken by demonstrations through the center of Athens. During a public space intervention/ performance that spanned seven hours phrases and drawings carved onto the walls of the underground Nazi detention facilities, currently Memorial Site 1941-1944 at 4 Korai Street in Athens, were transferred onto the above-ground "body" of the city. 

The starting point of the intervention was the location of the Memorial Site 1941-1944. The phrase "ENTRANCE 1/7/43, EXIT unknown" was written close to the entrance of the monument. The work ended across the Greek parliament with the words "I need water".

The incident at Propylaea during the intervention

Shortly after the beginning of the intervention, while making a flour drawing at Propylaea, a squad of police officers interrupted me and asked me to explain what I was doing. After talking to them about the work I was allowed to continue and conclude the drawing. Eventually though, after the officers read the leaflet distributed during the intervention, I was asked to remain on the site and to not proceed until a police car came to inquire. They told me the Police Headquarters found the text I was distributing alarming and were sending a squad on site. After some waiting the police car came. For a while people with uniforms along with some in civilian clothes were reading the leaflet together and discussing. A police man from the original squad went to talk to them apparently to my defense. The incident ended with the police allowing me to continue on my way. Due to the officers not allowing any photographs of the event there is no visual documentation of the incident. 

The project was documented by photographer Christina Georgiadou and filmmaker Yannis Karpouzis. 

Below is an image of the leaflet distributed to passers by followed by its translation in English:

24 hours with nothing to eat or drink, only smelling the jasmine
public space intervention

Phrases and drawings carved on the walls by prisoners of the Nazis during the period 1941-44 being written onto the above-ground "body" of the city, the pavements and squares of Athens. Material, wheat flour and carob meal. The itinerary begins at the entrance of the detention facilities at 4 Korai Street, currently Memorial Site 1941-1944 open to the public, and ends...

ENTRANCE 1/7/43
EXIT unknown*

*phrase at the underground facilities of 4 Korai Street

Penelope Vlassopoulou
March 26, 2015

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The video of the intervention

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Photographic documentation of the work

"ENTRANCE 1/7/43, EXIT unknown": The first flour drawing, at the location of the Memorial Site 1941-1944

At the start of the itinerary, the location of the Memorial Site 1941-1944

Preparing to fill the flour pen with carob meal

Crossing the street towards Propylaea, starting point of the demonstrations in the city center

Crossing Panepistimiou Street to Propylaea

At Propylaea, spreading the flour for the drawing

The intervention at Propylaea

The intervention at Propylaea

Drawing at Propylaea

The site of the drawing at Propylaea

"twenty-four hours with nothing to eat or drink, only smelling the jasmine", drawing, wheat flour and carob meal, 300 x 120 cm (118” x 47”), Propylaea

At Propylaea after the conclusion of the drawing, talking to a passerby

A man looking at the drawing

A dove feeding on the flour

Leaving Propylaea after the police incident

A man complaining about me occupying part of the pavement while a woman stands sympathetic. Outside a closed branch of the National Bank of Greece, Stadiou Street

."I need water" (ΖΗΤΩ ΝΕΡΟ), Panepistimiou Street

The intervention at the end of Panepistimiou Street

Making the dotted design before drawing the pair of flowers carved at the second basement of Memorial Site 1941-1944

Drawing the pair of flowers while a man is photographing the process

The concluded drawing of the flowers

View of the drawing, Stadiou Street

Man reading the leaflet distributed during the intervention, Stadiou Street

Talking to a passerby, Stadiou Street

Drawing the phrase "This too will pass, 30-7-44" (Και αυτό θα περάσει, 30-7-44) while talking to a passerby, Stadiou Street

Drawing the phrase "This too will pass, 30-7-44" (Και αυτό θα περάσει, 30-7-44), Stadiou Street

"This too will pass, 30-7-44" (Και αυτό θα περάσει, 30-7-44), Stadiou Street

Spreading the wheat flour for the drawing, Stadiou Street

Taking out the stencil for the design of the drawing, Stadiou Street

Filling the flour pen with carob meal, Stadiou Street

Drawing over the dotted design created with the spolvero method, Stadiou Street

Drawing while talking to a passerby, Stadiou Street

Drawing the form of a woman, Stadiou Street

Drawing with the flour pen over the dotted design, Stadiou Street

Drawing interpeting a carving of dimensions 15 x 15 cm (5.9'' x 5.9''). Wheat flour and carob meal, 80 x 90 cm (31.5” x 35”), Stadiou St.

View of the drawing, Stadiou Street

Waiting at a bus stop for the rain to let up, Klauthmonos Square on Stadiou Street

Spreading the wheat flour for the drawing on the pavement outside Alpha Bank, Stadiou Street

Applying the stencil. On the pavement outside Alpha Bank, Stadiou Street

"I jumped on the tram and they put me behind bars 2/7/44", outside Alpha Bank, Stadiou St.

The intervention outside Alpha Bank, Stadiou Street.

Drawing outside Alpha Bank, Stadiou Street.

"I jumped on the tram and they put me behind bars 2/7/44", drawing, wheat flour and carob meal, 150 x 120 cm (59” x 47”), outside an Alpha Bank branch, Stadiou St.

"Innocent 1-9-44", by the statue of Theodoros Kolokotronis, a leader during the Greek War of Independence

"I need water" , outside the luxury goods stores, Stadiou Street

Going over the pictures of the original carvings, outside the National Bank of Greece at Stadiou & Karagiorgis St.

Woman photographing the intervention with her mobile, outside the National Bank of Greece at Syntagma

Waiting at a bus stop for the rain to let up, across Syntagma Square

Unrolling the stencil outside the McDonalds restaurant across Syntagma Square

Setting the stencil on the flour surface outside the McDonalds restaurant, across Syntagma Square

"ENTRANCE 1/7/43, EXIT unknown" (ΕΙΣΟΔΟΣ 1/7/43, ΕΞΟΔΟΣ άγνωστος), outside the McDonalds restaurant across Syntagma Square.

A man and a woman stepping on the drawing seconds after its conclusion

Drawing the words "I need water" (ζητώ νερό) under heavy rain across the Greek Parliament at Syndagma

No water (χωρις νερο)
public space intervention/performance
span of seven hours
2015

Photography: Christina Georgiadou

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At the Memorial Site 1941-1944

In the beginning of the project the walls of the Memorial Site 1941-1944 were documented in order to draw the material needed for the work. The documentation was concluded over the course of four photographic sessions in December 2014 and March 2015. In the last session of March 12 photographer Christina Georgiadou documented the process. The photographs shown below are part of this documentation. In it are visible the prisoners' carvings made on the dark gray paint layer of 1944. Most of the drawings of the intervention interpret material located on the walls of the second basement. All of them had an original size significantly smaller that the one chosen for their interpretation. 

With thanks to the administration of the Memorial Site 1941-1944 for the permission to photograph the walls of the Monument and document the process.

Entering the Memorial Site 1941-1944 at 4 Korai Street in Athens

Descending the stairs to what used to be the underground Nazi detention facilities

The Nazi flag that was hanging on top of the building when it served as the base for the German Kommandatur

Photographing at the first basement of the Site

At cell IV at the first basement of the site that used to be divided into multiple confinement cells

At the second basement, the site where most of the material for the drawings was drawn

Photographing a wall at the second basement. The carving reads "Germany above all and the Soviet Union"

A signed elaborate miniature drawing from a fifteen year old prisoner, dated July 20th, 1944

Photographing a wall at the second basement

The pair of flowers in the foreground is one of the carvings interpreted during the intervention.

The second basement of Memorial Site 1941-1944

Photographing at the second basement of the monument

Photographing a wall

At a cell of the second basement where the prisoners were frequently left without water

Leaving the monument

Exiting Memorial Site 1941-1944

The Academy of Athens and Propylaea are right across the location of the Site

Photography: Christina Georgiadou