The work of the symposium, which takes place at the “Fish Market” in the South Park, has begun. The Mayor of Patras Kostas Peletidis , accompanied by the President of the Municipal Council Panagiotis Mela, the President of the Cultural Organization Katerina Geropanagiotis and the President of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece Eva Mela, welcomed and welcomed the sculptors, who will create sculptures on ten marble blocks respectively.
For their part, the artists – each one individually – informed about the work they will create, while they presented their own point of view on how they approach and how they will highlight the theme of the International Symposium on Refugees.

Πολιτιστικός Οργανισμός Πάτρας

The Mayor of Patras, on the occasion of the opening of the works, welcoming the artists, first of all expressed his thanks “to all those who have worked so far and to those who will work in the next period for the realization of the symposium”, referring to “the artists, the Cultural Organization of the Municipality of Patras and the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece”.

Mr. Peletidis stressed that “one hundred years since the Asia Minor disaster, through the framework of the events organized, the Municipality and its Cultural Organization want to highlight the cause, which in terms of the creation of refugees is well underway. The sculptures that will be produced during the symposium will confront us with the how and why. Why is there a refugee today? Why hundreds of refugees are drowning at sea today and who are the people who force them to leave their place.”

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The Mayor of Patras added that “The final result, with which the whole city has the opportunity to come into contact through individual and organized visits, will shed light and provide answers to the issue of refugees…”

The President of the Cultural Organization Katerina Geropanayoti said that “it is a great pleasure that today the work of the International Symposium begins and thanked from the heart the sculptors who participate in the work. She especially thanked the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece and its president Eva Mela, thanks to the substantial help and support of which the specific organization was made possible, as well as all the employees of the Municipality of Patras and of course the employees of the Cultural Organization, because without their tireless effort it would not have been possible to achieve the goal. To get to this point, everything we see is the result of hard work and soulfulness and this is proof that it is the employees who create…”

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At the same time he invited “the city, collectives , institutions to visit the site and attend the symposium and see not only how a work of art is made, but also to feel why art concerns us and why art has a mission. A mission to highlight contemporary social issues and phenomena that are the result of specific policies, helping to open paths of hope for the struggle of peoples”.

Mrs. Eva Mela, in her capacity as President of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece, referred to the fact that “the Chamber has collaborated many times with the Municipality of Patras and the Cultural Organization. However, this particular project is a big one, as it is taking place for the first time. What is of particular importance for the citizens and visitors of the symposium, has to do with the fact that a volume of marble, like those placed in the fish market, in less than a month will be transformed into a work of art and will remain as a property of the city. Property for the residents to enjoy afterwards.” He added that “the sculptor’s work is more than hard, just imagine how a s huge and unformed block of marble will take shape with hands body head, it will become a whole composition and requires toil…”.

The first day of the International Symposium began with seven of the ten participating sculptors present. They are Kristaq Valera from Albania, Gagik Altunyan from Armenia and Philip – Angelos Valera, Vassilis Vassilis, Panagiotis Lambrou, Alexandros Pfaff, Chaoussis Besim from Greece.
In the next few days the sculptors Abdulhamid Aktham from Syria, Selcuk Yilmaz from Turkey and Christos Tsoublekas from the Greek artists will come to Patras.

In the context of the informative – educational character of the symposium, there is the possibility of group tours to schools, clubs, associations and institutions.
Interested parties can be contacted on working days at 2610-390-935 (10.00-14.00) and at email: [email protected]
Symposium working hours:
Daily and weekends 9:00-14:00 17:00-20:00