Carpe Diem: Chromopolis - Greece 2002

OsGemeos, Nina, Stormie, Besok, Codeak, Woozy, Impe, Bizare, Loomit, Falco, Shime, Mak1, Phil, Jasone, Reb, Liv2

Text and images © copyright 2002 Carpe Diem and the artists.

Carpe Diem with the cooperation of Culture Ministry of Greece has organized, the project Chromopolis during the Cultural Olympiad 2001-2004. During this project, taking place in the summer of 2002, sixteen well known international writers from Greece (Impe, Woozy, Bizare, Jasone, Reb, Liv2) and abroad (Os Gemeos, Nina, Codeak, Besok, Stormie, Shime, Loomit, Falco, Mak1, Phil) travelled to ten cities all around Greece, as "delegates of culture" and painted ten big walls of buildings.

The Carpe Diem was established by a group of people who keep on trying to push art and techniques of alternative form of culture. This group has an active presence in Greece since 1991 in different sections, from the art of Graffiti to skate and bmx.

The spring of 2002 and through collective procedures the group obtained the legal form of an association with the distinctive title "Carpe Diem' aiming at a more completed saying and presence on this field.

The Carpe Diem's intention is to push art and techniques of an alternative form of culture like for instance: graffiti, aerographic, tattoo, the sports of bmx , skate and inline, dance and music, the road theatre.

More specific it is called to undertake:

Arranging symposiums, educational seminaries programs for artists of the wider public. Carry out research programs in cooperation with other departments (state or not, institutes, universities, civilians).

Performance of advisory, educational, instructional activities to sensitize the society. Sensitize the social entirety or representative groups, public departments or private nature. Arranging festivals of alternative form of culture internationally or nation wide. Arranging fine art exhibition internationally or nation wide.

CARPE DIEM'S GRAFFITI GROUP

One of the first aims of Carpe Diem is to push the culture of graffiti.

The "Carpe Diem graffiti group" was established unofficially in 1995 by the photographer Kiriakos Iosifidis and the graffiti artist Vangelis Hoursoglou (Woozy) with the intention to support fine art interventions and graffiti creations, legally, giving the artists the choice and the place to express themselves.

The group is surrounded by artists of the graffiti field from Greece and foreign countries.

ACTIVITIES OF THE GROUP OF GRAFFITI The "Carpe Diem graffiti group' is activated at these fields:

FINE ARTS INTERVENTIONS WALL PAINTINGS OF BIG MEASURES on surfaces of public interest and at central spots of towns.

The "Carpe Diem graffiti group' with the technique of graffiti and the professional artists of international validity, available by its classes, has proceeded to fine art interventions on the gray sites of the big cities. For instance the "Carpe Diem graffiti group' has made two fine art interventions with big wall paintings, one at the municipality of Taurus on Piraeus st. and another one at the Vasdekion athletic center of New Ionia municipality at Magnesia.

ORGANIZATION OF EVENTS- FESTIVALS The fine art interventions the "Carpe Diem graffiti group' organizes very often have a character of celebration-festival. Here the main aim, other the creation of the paintings, is the participation of the public which gets close to the technique of the graffiti, interferes effectively by changing the environment he lives in.

The Carpe Diem graffiti group' with this thought has taken part in proportionate events out of the country.

For instance artists of the group took part in the Greek American Unions festival during 1998 at Ermoy st. Athens, at the fine art intervention at the Koridalos jails the Mai of 2000 at the square of Klafthmonos.

Has organized graffiti festivals all over Greece with the support of the local municipalities the River Party Ardas '99 in Orestiada, at the Book exhibition in Mai and September of 2000 in Athens, October of 2000 in Tripoli and December of 2001 in the town of New Ionia of Magnesia.

The festivals the Carpe Diem graffiti group' organizes are complemented with displays and completions of skateboard and bmx with music by dj's and break dance.

This is succeeded with the close cooperation the group has developed with people all over the range of those of the x-treme games.

ARRANGING SEMINARIES GRAFFITI FOR STUDENTS This kind of seminaries have taken place from time to time in different towns of Greece (Veria, Katerini, Thessalonica e,t,c,) and the more recent activity in this field was the seminary at the camp Olympus in Skotina at Pieria in cooperation with the Greek Girls Guides corps.

COOPERATION WITH PUBLIC AUTHORITIES AND NO SPECULATIVE ORGANIZATIONS (GROUP ARSIS) FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE ART OF GRAFFITI TO THE WIDER PUBLIC. One of the latest fine art interventions of the "Carpe Diem graffiti group' was:

The decoration of the front and the interior of the building of the General Secretariat of New Generation

The fine art intervention on the two trolleys of WITH FINE ART CHARACTER Which aim to promote the fine art creations of the artists of graffiti in indoors places. The first intervention with this kind of character took place with the cooperation of the Goethe Institute of Athens in February of 2001.

SPECIAL PROJECTS

At last on October of 2002 Carpe Diem is organizing a big project called Xromorama. During this project Carpe Diem is going to discuss with students all over Greece and paint first in Athens, ten schools with a concept bassed to social voluntary.

PUBLICATIONS Carpe Diem has published two books with photos from the beginning of the graffiti scene in Greece. Also Carpe Diem publishes the wellknown graffiti magazine Carpe Diem, quarterly.

Carpe Diem
P.O. Box 50402, 14110 Iraklion Athens, Greece
Telephone: + 01 0324 3506
carpe_diemgr@hotmail.com