“Persephone, the red carpet” Conceived & Realised By Collectif MASI (Madlen Anipsitaki, Simon Riedler)

Celebrated during Eleusis’ Mysteries, Persephone revives in the city as a red carpet unfolded and moved in the public space of the European Capital of Culture.

The antic myth of Persephone seeks to inspire contemporaries to heed the disturbed cycle of the seasons and our indefectible interdependence with earth. Embodied as a red carpet, Persephone becomes the city’s common ground to reflect on its present and envision its future.

The idea of rolling out a red carpet on the street, as a set-up for inhabitants to meet, eat, sing, play on it, in short, to make it their own, was born during the lockdown’s lack of places to be together. It will be realized during the well-named Festival Synoikoismos, mysteriously enchanting the everyday life throughout the city.

Persephone, the red carpet is a living sculpture shaped by the protagonists and the dynamics of each neighborhood. To the sound of Andreas Polyzogopoulos’ trumpet she will be led in
procession from a neighbourhood to the other by the inhabitants-artists. During these mysterious transitions different worlds meet…

The different stages of Persephone, the red carpet’s life will become the homonymous movie shot by Joshua Olsthoorn and the Collectif MASI.

The 28th of May 2023, at 18:00 pm on Plateia Eleftherias, the red carpet unfolds and evolves from an aristocratic symbol into a democratic one on a public stage where residents and artists create together, discovering that each of them is a Very Important Person and an artist at the same time. The red carpet first stage, in Plateia Eleftherias, is dedicated to the birth of the contemporary Persephone between the cement’s factory and the sea…

Opening: Sunday 28/05/2023 Birth of modern Persephone
18.00-19.00 Event for the start of the project in Canteen Square / Platform
The transitions of Persephone, the red carpet take place on the following dates:
Thursday 01/06/2023 Innocence (happiness, joy, naivety)
17.00-17.30 Canteen Square / Platform — Kanellopoulou 64-56
Monday 06/05/2023 Death
18.00-18.30 Railway lines
Friday 09/06/2023 Rebirth
18.00-18.30 Railway station — Youth Park
Tuesday 13/06/2023 Fertility
18.30-19.00 Youth Park — Nicomedia Street (Refugees)
Saturday 17/06/2023 Confrontation
18.00-18.30 Nikomedia Street (Refugees) — Agia Markella Square
Wednesday 21/06/2023 Connection of the lower and upper worlds
18.00-18.30 Agia Markella Square —Nikolaidou Street
Sunday 25/06/2023 Forever between two worlds
19.00-19.30 Nikolaidou Street — Ormos Vlychas

Each transition is followed by an event at the place of destination.
Contributors
Conceived & Realised By: Collectif MASI (Madlen Anipsitaki, Simon Riedler)
Documentary Creation & Direction: Joshua Olsthoorn
Music: Andreas Polyzogopoulos
Sound Engineer: Yiannis Antipas
Production Management: Goodheart Productions