Press Releases

 (June – December 2023)

Sessions, a multi-faceted proposal curated and directed by Dimitris Chimonas and Lex Gregoriou, emerged from the need to create a “rehearsal space” for exchange and participation, responding to the constraints and challenges faced by the young generation of artists and society at large in the contemporary, post-pandemic era. Sessions propose an alternative, experiential, and fluid approach to art, thus creating a public meeting space for performances, exhibitions, and alternative education, encouraging improvisation, questioning, criticism, and disorder.

The first cycle of Sessions took place from October to December 2022, at 6 Sapfous Street (formerly DriveDrive), as a series of cross-pollinating and fluid queer happenings, including experimental dance and theatre performances, discussions, workshops, visual interventions, live music, poetry, parties, and film screenings. During this period, more than 25 events were hosted in collaboration with over 60 local artists and collectives. The program suggested a redefinition of our relationship with life, art, and politics, towards the formation of an inclusive and participatory society. Through these actions, a living archive of a wide range of projects and ideas around personal and collective identity, and the sense of belonging was created. Sessions were established as a radical political act within the broader local art scene, creating a safe space for catalytic action and the fulfilment of vital needs of artists and marginalized groups, collective reactivation, "deconstruction" of self-identity, and the advancement of dissonance, as well as a means of personal and artistic survival.

From June to December 2023, with a playful spirit of occupying the entire SPEL building, Sessions propose a new cycle of performative works, concerts, screenings, visual interventions, workshops, parties, and lectures, honouring the multiplicity of interpretation and engagement. Along with the creation of a library curated by Loizos Olympios and a meeting space on the building's terrace, the overall project explores modes of exchange, participation, and witnessing, prioritizing accessibility, participation, and inclusiveness, all of which should characterize urban public space.

SPEL’s doors will open on June 19th, and the entire process (preparation, execution, archiving) constitutes the project of SESSIONS x SPEL, which will be accessible to the public for observation and participation. The official inauguration of the ongoing project and the summer cycle of events will take place on June 29th, in anticipation of the start of the intensive autumn program.

The Sessions project aims to be an open and safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community and beyond, for experimentation, dialogue, and exhibition.

The program of individual events will be announced soon.