Things To Do in Athens This First Weekend of June

23rd Athens Jazz Festival

The Athens Jazz Festival, the longest-running jazz festival in Greece, has landed in the Greek capital this past week, offering free and accessible jazz concerts to everyone at Technopolis City of Athens. For nine consecutive days, the festival has hosted a lineup of international and Greek music bands, with their jazzy vibes resonating throughout the Gazi-Kerameikos area. Each day features three concerts by distinctive artists, starting at 9 pm and continuing until midnight.

Technopolis_VangelisPatsialos

In the same area, the festival’s beloved “Meet Market” showcases about 100 creators sharing their handcrafted creations, including clothes, jewelry, art, decoration accessories, and vintage pieces. Adjacent to the market, Athens Jazz hosts a photography exhibition focused on urban landscapes, along with an array of street food options.

The event offers free admission. You can find more information on this weekend’s featured artists and further details about the festival here.

FOR DEAR LIFE. A RETROSPECTIVE

The third part of ΕΜΣΤ’s exhibition titled “What if Women Ruled the World” inaugurates its flagship event, “For Dear Life. A Retrospective,” shedding light on Penny Siopis’ artistic work. Siopis, one of the most important artistic voices of her generation, was born in South Africa (1953) to Greek parents and is known for her active stance on women’s rights and resistance against apartheid, colonialism, and sexism through culturally charged paintings.

Penny Siopis “Pinky Pinky: Blue Eyes”, 2002 Oil and found objects on canvas. Private collection of Teresa Lizamore, Johannesburg. Photograph: Courtesy of the artist

Penny Siopis @Mario Todeschini

For Dear Life. A Retrospective features Siopis’s 50-year artistic oeuvre, spanning her major painting series as well as several experimental films that combine found footage, personal archives, and texts with notions related to her personal life and the historical and political background of her home country, South Africa.

Penny Siopis, Obscure White Messenger, 2010 Courtesy of the artist.

The exhibition will be hosted at ΕΜΣΤ (National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens) until November 10, 2024, and can be visited during the museum’s opening hours (Tuesday-Sunday from 11 am to 7 pm). Tickets can be purchased only at the museum’s desk. Further information can be found here.

Indie Playground Festival

June 1st marks the kickoff of the Athens Epidaurus Festival, which will run until the end of the summer, bringing around 93 productions. While the noted Tosca opera at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus venue is already sold out on its premiere day, the Indie Playground Festival, unfolding this weekend, transforms the Peiraios 260 venue into an open-air stage, with some free spots still available.

In a two-day celebration, the Indie Playground Festival’s second edition hosts a lineup of well-known and upcoming artists from the Greek indie and alternative music scene. More information and tickets can be found here.

STATE AFFAIRS: MARYAM TAFAKORY

State of Concept Athens, a non-profit contemporary art institution, inaugurates today a video-art project entitled “State Affairs” by Iranian filmmaker Maryam Tafakory, available until June 26. Tafakory works with film and performance, creating textual and filmic collages that blend poetry, documentary, and archival material. Her work focuses on exploring images that speak—or refuse to speak—creating research-based projects that highlight what is often neglected and discarded as trivial and excessive.

Maryam Tafakory Still Image, Nazarbazi, 2022 Digital coloured film, 19 min. Iran/UK. Farsi, English.

State Affairs includes three short films offering an essayistic approach to issues such as racism, religion, futurism, post-colonial discourse, and nationalism, while blending documentary, performance, and the moving image. The exhibition offers free admission and runs until June 28, open Wednesday to Friday from 4:30 pm to 8:30 pm, and Saturday from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm.