CTM cooperated with Athens & Epidaurus Festival and Goethe-Institut Athen on Chronotopia Echoes / Αντηχήσεις, an artistic lab engaging with the artistic knowledge and ideas of KSYME – the Contemporary Music Research Centre in Athens.
Chronotopia Echoes / Αντηχήσεις engaged a group of sound artists and composers of electronic or electroacoustic music, selected via open call, who were invited to interact with the vast archives of KSYME under the guidance of Anke Eckardt and Akis Sinos, with the aim to create new works that were presented in concert in Athens in October 2021. The goal was to imagine and seek possibilities of reworking the archived materials, for example via re-interpreting scores, concepts, compositional methodologies, and personal/ historical narratives. Throughout the process, guest scholars conducted public webinars to offer insights on techno-cultural significance and condition of archives in the digital age.
KSYME was founded in 1979 in Athens by Iannis Xenakis, Giannis G. Papaioannou, and Stephanos Vassileiadis, with the aim to support the research and development of electroacoustic music in Greece. Since then KSYME has been actively engaged in the fields of research, education, publications, music creation/composition, dissemination, and exchange of ideas on art and technology, as well as with the curation and production of music events. KSYME’s staff consists of collaborators thoroughly trained on the use and instruction of technological systems, and inspired by common aspirations. KSYME also engages guest collaborators for the implementation of its programmes.
KSYME’s Sound Archive consists of more than 2500 objects (sound tapes, cassettes, DAT, CD, hard drives). Its content is chronologically situated between 1950 and today and includes recordings of contemporary, electronic, traditional, and classical music, as well as documentation of music and educational events (lectures and seminars) that were curated and presented at KSYME.
Spanning a rich history of 65 years, the Athens & Epidaurus Festival is the foremost public cultural organisation in Greece and one of the oldest active festivals in Europe. Over the decades, the Festival has welcomed some of the greatest music, dance, and theatre artists of the international and local scene, attracting large audiences from around the world.
The Festival is held annually at five main venues. The iconic Odeon of Herodes Atticus is a home for major music events, with a special emphasis on celebrated orchestras and soloists. The Peiraios 260 venue highlights the latest trends in theatre and dance, inviting internationally acclaimed, avant-garde creative teams, and commissioning new works by Greek artists. The world-famous Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus features primarily ancient tragedies and comedies by established Greek and international directors. The Little Theatre of Ancient Epidaurus, by contrast, is infused with a more experimental quality, focusing on musical/theatrical performances.