Annick Chantrel Leluc

“Without the Intellect nothing thinks” (Aristotle, De anima, III. 430a 22)

Being in by Greece, I had the honour to be invited by the Visual Artists Association of Northern Greece to come and see what was happening in Ierissos, in Chalkidiki.
Under the shadow of the Mount Athos, close to the isthmus where Xerxes disembarked, in this historical place of meetings, the elected and the Arts Center of Ierissos offered this summer a remarkable cultural experience.
All the people of the city, residents or people οn vacation, amateurs, were invited to come and meet contemporary Greek artists of international fame...For ten days, twenty persons lived together: they ate, they worked, they discussed. Bonds were created. The richness of the initiative is partly due to the reception of artists in residence. The experience of the one allowed the emulation of the other.
Various creation techniques were discovered and observed - painting, sculpture, mosaic, drawing, glass -. The speakers and the participants received by the municipality all the material needed for creation.
Under the artists’ supervision, children workshops allowed the participation of the youngers.
The pedagogical aim of the symposium was reached.
Then an exposition of the works made by all was held.
This exposition touches me a lot with its richness of interfering sensitivities..... Ierissos has just tempted an original experience full of promises.
Promise that more men and women, young or less young people, amateurs and neophytes, will take part in the next symposium.
Promise of revelation of fertile personalities and hidden talents.
Thanks to this experience, culture left the big urban centres for an area which is closest to the people.
On this historical ground, the municipality of Ierissos allowed to feel the permanence of the great figures of the Greek imaginary, rooted in the mythical accounts of Antiquity, ...... All these works and in particular the sculptures of Christos Alevras testify for an encouraging future of the contemporary art.
Born in Stageira close to Ierissos, Aristotle questions us: Art wouldn't it be the material intermediary that helps intelligence transform into act?

Annick Chantrel Leluc Art historien Paris 2006