MIND THE FACT FESTIVAL

True stories with protagonists those who experienced them

Mind the fact is the new cultural festival of Athens, coming on the 26 - 29 May, bringing us closer to real stories of people living amongst us. Theatrical productions, performances, documentary projections and exhibitions will take over various corners of the city - with protagonists, people who are not always or necessarily visible.

The beginning was made last year, when 9 artistic workshops were created, granting free access to adults, young people and children, with an aim of exploring their experiences and situations they come to face every day.

After the workshops have come to an end, the participants are called to present their artistic creations — a documentation of real life events — inviting the public to get in touch with their reality.

*All performances and events with surtitles and translation are mentioned below: with ENGLISH translation

* All the performances are free of entrance.

Great donor of the first mind the fact is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, under the auspices of the City of Athens with the contribution of the Athens Culture Net.

FESTIVAL PROGRAM

Ruletenburg 
26, 27, 28/5, _22.30 
Ηοtel Ermou (152 Ermou Str.) with ENGLISH translation Based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel, “The Gambler”, the participants — individuals depended on pathological gambling in the past  — portray and rebuild their real life stories on stage. Supporters: SYNERGY-O, KETHEA Therapy Center for Dependant Individuals, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin

We are the Persians! with ENGLISH translation

27, 28, 29/5, _21.30
 Old Trolley Station in Gazi (Ermou and Piraeus Str.)The Station Athens group presents a documentary theatre performance using as a starting point the personal testimonies of refugees as well as recent events that changed their lives, in a discourse with the Persians of Aeschylus. Supporters: AMAKA, SYNERGY-O

photo_opPORTunity 
15-29/5  _Town Hall of Athens opening hours 
&  26-29/5 _18.00-21.00 , Old Trolley Station in Gazi (Ermou and Piraeus Str.) with ENGLISH translationA photographic exhibition with pictures / momentums by teenager photographers choosing to take upon a different look of the great port of Piraeus.Supporters: ΑΜΑΚΑ, Αthens Culture Net


Art Emergency 
26-29/5 _18.00-21.00
 Old Trolley Station in Gazi (Ermou and Piraeus Str.) with ENGLISH translationYoung refugees record their journey using the medium of art, multimedia, sculpture and painting.Supporters: AMAKA, Μercy Corps

Tram tram tram! 
26/5 _4.30-16.30 
Tram line ‘Platonas’: Syntagma Square - Asklipio Voulas with ENGLISH translation A different kind of route. Musicians meet ‘randomly’ and ‘gradually' on the same route and wagon.  As the tram continues its course, the musical company grows and along with it the tram sounds magically different.

The world of grownups
 26/5, _19.00 _19.45 _20.30 
Athens Town Hall (63 Athinas Str., Kotzia Square) Five young boys — living far from any type of family backbone — invent their future self and claim a place within the widen community in the world of grownups. The performance is presented at the Town Hall of Athens.Supporters: Minority Protection Society of Athens (epaa.gr), Athens Culture Net.

Dinner 
26, 28, 29 /5, _19.00 _20.00 
Association of Greek Archaeologists (134 Ermou Str.) A performance / dinner by homeless hosts living below the poverty line. Homeless people invite you to meet around a dinner table to discuss hot and trending topics. An open call to share stories and get to know each other better.Supporters: SHEDIA Street paper, FINGERSIX, SYNERGY-O

About: Body 
26/5, _20.00 
Melidoni Street An open dialogue about the body in relation with creating art, science and work — with the view of the ancient cemetery of Kerameikos.  Supporters: Greek Cancer Society

The island of perfection 27, 28/5, _12.00
 Greek Art Theatre Karolos Koun – Basement (5 Pesmazoglou Str.) Do you follow what you love most? What is perfect? An attempt— on the occasion of Maria Zavakou’s book “Lou and Lee on the island of perfection’’ — of personal placements by children on imaginative questions being transformed into a group narrative using as tools nothing but light and shadow. Supporters: Support Center for children and families - Athens, SOS Children’s Villages, Together for Children, Papadopoulos Publications, Paixnidagogeio

Peri Agoraiou Erotos / About: ‘Love’ 27/5 _15.00 
Greek Art Theatre Karolos Koun – Basement (5 Pesmazoglou Str.) The audience is invited to participate in a “family constellation” (method initiated by Bert Hellinger), in order to construct the graph of the connection of the society to the phenomenon of paid sex. Supporters: To Milo - Family Constellation and Systemic Therapy

Doc Lab projects
 28/5, _22.00
 Association of Greek Archaeologists (134 Ermou Str.) 8 young filmmakers, artists and sociologists in a long-term dialogue with professional filmmakers try to redefine the relationship between documentary and the lens in relation with art and the heroes it captures. How cinema works as a support system for people feeling excluded, anonymous and secluded.

Survival Guide  26-29/5 _18.00-21.00
 Old Trolley Station in Gazi (Ermou and Piraeus Str.) A video installation about homelessness and the concept of life on the streets. This either serves as a labyrinth promoting exclusion or a crossroads leading to opportunities. In this installation, the concept of life on the streets becomes one with the emotions and memories of the individual, experiencing the loss of a home. Supporters: ΑΜΑΚΑ, SHEDIA Street paper

Weaving Voices 
26-29/5 _18.00-22.00
 Association of Greek Archaeologists (134 Ermou Str.) An interactive technology installation, a musical soundtrack created by the voices of the people living in the city — testimonials by the homeless, the refugees, the ex-gambling addicts. Stories woven by creating a narrative that travels us to all different neighborhoods, presenting different portraits. 

Ι Οwe You
 28, 29/5 _21.00
 Association of Greek Archaeologists (134 Ermou Str.)   A different performance approach as part of an intergenerational accountability regarding the topic of directed by Helena Waldmann with the participations of residents of Athens.