Description

The Greek National Opera’s online festival Waves of Light, in collaboration with the PPC and curated by Giorgos Koumendakis, features the first series of site-specific performances inspired by the Megalopolis Steam Power Station.


Model Megalopolis
Christos Kalamidas - Department of Creative Media and Industries (University of Thessaly)
This piece is a visual representation of the actual PPC facilities in Megalopoli, in the form of a model. This model has been made of construction materials intended for scrap, such as steel remainders. These materials cannot be used unprocessed. They are highlighted through a new alternative approach that redefines their value, drawing inspiration from the postmodern art movement of arte povera. The industrial image of the model, combined with the coal surrounding its base, is a direct reference to the image of a lignite factory, such as the PPC facilities in Megalopoli. This audiovisual work projects the model onto an appropriately shaped setting, where smoke comes out of the chimneys, accompanied by a sound mix of industrial noises and sounds produced from burning materials like coal and lignite. It is a handcrafted piece that offers a different way of viewing and receiving the image of this historic factory.


The Greek National Opera assigned the organisation of a cross-university / interdisciplinary arts workshop focused on the Megalopolis Steam Power Station to the Department of Performing and Digital Arts at the University of the Peloponnese, involving eight university arts departments from across Greece. As part of the online festival titled Waves of Light, 20 young artists and artistic teams from university departments throughout Greece drew inspiration from the striking sites of the old PPC factory in Megalopolis to create 20 new site-specific digital works for GNO TV, the GNO’s digital platform. These works are grouped into various genres that fall within the broader fields of performing, visual, and digital arts. The music and scripts in these works are inspired by the spaces, history, and people who worked there.
Participating in this workshop were students from the following departments: Department of Music Studies (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Department of Visual and Applied Arts (University of Western Macedonia), Department of Culture and Creative Media and Industries (University of Thessaly), Department of Theatre Studies (University of Patras), Department of Sound and Image Arts (Ionian University – undergraduate and postgraduate programmes), and the Athens School of Fine Arts.
PPC, a leader in Greece’s electrification through its emblematic factories, has evolved into an active cultural agent, offering its historical sites as a canvas for contemporary artistic creation. Through the Waves of Light online festival, PPC contributes to repurposing industrial landmarks into vibrant reference points between the past and the future, where energy meets art.

Creative team – Cast

CONCEPT, RESEARCH, REALIZATION, DIRECTION,
VIDEO RECORDING, EDITING, SOUND RECORDING, SOUND MIXING: 
CHRISTOS KALAMIDAS

Photos & videos

Photos