Athens is celebrating! “Shop window art”

New artists revive with their work the empty shops of the City.

This Christmas season, Athens is reviving. Young people take action in bringing a sign of hope and participation to the City. The festive program that the City of Athens has prepared this year, concentrates on solidarity and joint efforts. For this reason, the artistic workforce of the City is giving an emphasis on giving life to the commercial center of Athens, which has lately been hit from the financial crisis, with lots of shops shutting down.

Thus, students and graduates of the School of Fine Arts have taken up the task of bringing back life, through their work, to the empty streets of the commercial city center. They will turn the windows of empty shops to "Windows of Art". A double target is set: to revive the city center by giving a chance to Athenians to see artistic work, as well as to give young artists the opportunity to expose their work. The artistic move "Shop Window Art" will take place from December 17th , when the holiday shopping hour schedule begins and will last until January 7th. And since such an effort is worth rewarding, the Commercial Union of Athens will give prizes for the best three art works, while the Panhellenic Union of Real Estate Owners will give a medal prize to the best transformed area.

We invite all residents and visitors of Athens to a street art show. With a starting point being this year's Christmas Season, our hope is, through our "Technopolis" complex and with the support of the School of Fine Arts, this effort to become a institution for the years to follow: to give "light" to shops that will remain closed in the coming years, instead of them being part of the "dark" and ugly side of the city and to contribute to its festive "transformation", giving simultaneously a motive for young artists from all over Greece to show their work. This artistic effort will be under the supervision of the School of Fine Arts, Professor Marios Spiliopoulos, while responsible for the program is ms. Olga Patouni.

An update of all Christmas activities will be provided by the following webpage www.christmasathens.gr, from December 5, as well as on our webpage www.breathtakingathens.com