Trojan Horse / A happening in five acts

www.lefthandrotation.com www.museodelosdesplazados.com

TROJAN HORSE A project by Left Hand Rotation in Athens

TROJAN HORSE: A HAPPENING IN FIVE ACTS "The Phoenician Epeo of Parnassus assembled, by the arts of Palas, a horse swollen with armed men and introduced the deadly image inside the walls. From here he will receive among the men to come the name of wooden horse, concealer of hidden spears. " Euripides, The Trojans, 10.

Part of the difficulties of articulating practices of resistance to gentrification are due to the symbolic and aesthetic apparatus that gentrification deploys. For the residents of a neighbourhood which was previously abandoned by the power of the state, the arrival of investment and structural improvements is perceived as a gift, an offering. But gentrification, disguised as culture, progress, rehabilitation, etc., will inevitably end up like the Trojan horse, causing displacement of the neighbourhood´s residents.

Starting from the mythology of the Trojan horse, inspired by the tragedy of The Trojan Women, we will analyze gentrification as a destructive deception, something apparently pleasant that brings with it severe consequences, and together with the participants to the workshop we will articulate a practice in the public space that help to deconstruct and unveil, like Laoconte, the fraud of gentrification before it crosses the walls of Troy.

ABOUT LEFT HAND ROTATION Left Hand Rotation is an artistic collective active since 2005 that develop projects that articulate intervention, appropriationism, documentation and video. Since 2010 they have developed the project "Gentrification is not a name of a lady", which addresses the problems associated with the processes of gentrification, using methodologies which combine information, artistic practice and direct action, based on observation and theoretic and academic study.

METHODOLOGY The workshop will structured in 5 acts that will be filmed in the public spaces of Metaxourgeio.

Each participant will perform and represent a key person of the tragedy. Through these interventions in the public space we will discuss the risks of gentrification in the area.

Each act consists of dialogue representations of the participants based on a series of guidelines that aim to inspire the nature and thoughts of the character to be represented. All caracters are extracted from Greek tragedies as The Trojan Women and updated so that they represent agents involved in a process of gentrification: public power, real estate companies, lifelong residents, artists, etc. The only proposed props will be an ancient-Greek theatre mask.

1. Initially we will distribute the characters between the workshop participants.

2. We will elaborate the dialogues between the characters.

3. We will move in group in 5 proposed spaces and we will provide the participants with information related to each space.

4. Participants will interpret the act that corresponds to the assigned character.

5. Each act will be filmed in a fixed sequence for later video editing.

PLOT Before the eyes of the public power (Poseidon and Athena), the districts of Metaxourgeio is undergoing a deep transformation: real estate companies (Odysseus) use the Troyan Horse culture and arts (Epeius) as main structures to attract new residents (Helen) to the new cultural zone . This way life in the neighbourhood becomes more expensive, causing the displacement of lifelong residents (Hecuba and Talthybius). It is important that a movement of resistance is generated by the inhabitants to defend the memory and the history of neighbourhood, (Andromache and Astyanax) supported by activists with experience in anti-gentrification struggles like in Petralona or Exarchia (Laocoonte and Cassandra).

LEONIDOU

MIKALIS

LEONIDOU

IERA ODOS

MIKALIS

KEPAMEION

02

LEONIDOU

P. TSALDARI

STAGE/ACT 05

05

SALAMINOS

AGISILAOU

GRANIKOU

KERAMIKOU SALAMINOS

PLATEON

01

03 STAGE/ACT 01

STAGE/ACT 03

STAGE/ACT 02

THERMOPILON

P. TSALDARI

AGISILAOU

KERAMIKOU

Hybris/ Némesis

(Politicians)

METAXOURGEIO

THERMOPILON

MUNICIPAL GALLERY OF ATHENS

04

Wish/ Identity

STAGE/ACT 04

MEG. ALEXANDROU

Eviction

$

(Hipster +Neighbor)

Athena + Poseidon

Helen + Andromache

Talthybius + Hecuba (Lawyer +Neighbor)

STAGE 05 ACT 05

STAGE 04 ACT 04

STAGE 03 ACT 03

SALAMINOS SFAKTIRIAS

MEG. ALEXANDROU PLATEON

KERAMIKOU

A

Resistance

SALAMINOS

PARAMITHIAS

Culture

A

(Resistance +Gentrification)

Cassandra// Laooconte +Horse

Odysseus + Epeius

(Businessman +Artist)

STAGE 02 ACT 02

STAGE 01 ACT 01

TROJAN HORSE WALK

N

STAGE 01

ACT 01

Salaminos Street/ Dimosio Sima The place where the Dimosio Sima was located - the part of the ancient cemetery in Athens where important leader and warriors were burried it is where the body of Pericles is presumably buried. Today, this place of great historical and cultural importance is still disregarded by the institutions. However, it is one of the places chosen by the company Oliaros (Property Development company) and its biannual contemporary art platform ReMap, in collaboration with the gentrifiers of the Protipi Geitonia (Ideal Neighbourhood) initiative to regenerate on own resources. Sponsors for the initiative was IKEA, SKAI radio and TV and the Municipality of Athens.

CHARACTERS ODYSSEUS

Role during the Troyan war Legendary hero of Greek mythology known for his cunning and enterprising character, he is credited with the idea of a wooden horse, built by Epeius, inside which thirty warriors were hidden. This horse, presented as a gift for the Trojans, broke the defence of the walls of Troy and lead to the victory of the Greeks.

Role in the process of gentrification in the centre of Athens An entrepreneur with strong contacts with local and central state politicians is credited with the strategy of 'urban renewal' of the neighborhood of Metaxourgeio, promoted by the artistic and cultural aesthetics of the area, a gift that has poisoned the residents displacing the most vulnerable population in the neighbourhood.

EPEIUS

Role during the Troyan war Following the instructions of the enterprising Odysseus, Epeius, the best carpenter of the Greek camp, builds a wooden horse of 11 meters high, whose interior is hollow. Epeius engraves on the left side of the horse the inscription "On their return to the homeland, the Greeks dedicate this horse to Athena". On the right flank, he hides a hatch by which the warriors who will conquer Troy will be able to pull out, once the false gift is accepted and introduced inside the city walls.

Role in the process of gentrification in the centre of Athens Financed by entrepreneurs with real estate interests in the area, the artists project a new image of the neighboruhood in which the alternative and the multicultural are intermingled with lifestyle and innovation in a hollow discourse about the entrepreneurial spirit. Cultural dynamization is part of the attempt to attract new residents, rich or bohemian, with another model of consumption linked to design, art, culture and nightlife. Once the false progress is accepted and the new cultural standard has been imposed, the expulsion of immigrants and other deprived groups from these neighbourhoods of the center of Athens begins.

PERFORMANCE GUIDELINES: CREATIVE TONE > Odysseus: Represents a real estate speculator who intends to revalorate the neighbourhood through the vehicle of art. S/he must be a calculating and unscrupulous man who attracts artists like Epeius to the area, promising great cultural success. > Epeius: S/he listens very carefully Odysseus proposals, who convinces him/her on argument of the creation of a "cultural district". Epeius accepts, since s/he is an artist without much responsibility (neither political nor social) and only worries about creating his art works.

ODYSSEUS

EPEIUS

STAGE 02

ACT 02

Plateon Streer in junction with Leonidou Street After the plot of the Dimosio Sima was regenerated by the gentrifying forces it was left intact. The ones who approach and actually made use of this public space was anarchist movements exposing their policies views with graffitis, disussing against the austerity crisis and gentrification. Some of their graffitis are still apparent on the walls. Opposite this corner the bar Cerammeion is situated. It used to be a workshops of a ceramics artist who has displaced because of fierce rent increase. Now in this place only the Bar appears preserving the memory of the art but not of the artist and his displacement story.

CHARACTERS LAOCOONTE & CASSANDRA

Role in the Troyan war Laocoonte, along with Cassandra, both priests of Apollo in Troy, are the only ones criticising and opposing to the wooden horse entering the city. Predicting the deception, they try to alert the Trojans about the trap the horse hides. However, the Trojans do not listen to them, thus allowing the cruel outcome for Troy.

Role in the process of gentrification in the centre of Athens Petralona, along with Exarchia, are the only neighborhoods where there is a movement against gentrification.

Claiming the right to the city, residents warn about the way in which the neigourhoods space is commercialized, particularly for new uses of nightlife entertainment and relevant practices developed by night entrepreneurs. However, in recent years, especially in the streets around Exarchia Square, some degradation trends are being developed, allowing petit-crime, forcing many households to leave the area.

TROJAN HORSE// 30 WARRIORS

Role in the Troyan war In spite of the warnings of Laocoonte and Cassandra, the Trojans allowed the horse inside the city walls with a big celebration. When the hidden Greek warriors got out of the horse, the whole city was sleeping deep after having drunk a lot. The Greek warriors opened the gates of the city to allow the entry of the troops and Troy was then looted without any mercy.

HORSE

A

A

Role in the process of gentrification in the centre of Athens Despite the warnings of some more politicized groups, neighbors welcome gentrification in hope that this is the adequate economic momentum that their neighborhood needs. There is a proliferation of leisure facilities, apartments for tourists, theaters, "alternative" bars, clubs, modern taverns, cultural centers ... Life becomes expensive, but the neighborhood continues to lack the infrastructure for the lifelong population. The invasion of capital physically and symbolically transforms the neighborhood, allowing the entry of people of higher income, forcing out working classes and vulnerable people.

PERFORMANCE GUIDELINES: ACTIVIST TONE > Laocoonte and Cassandra: Two committed activist with very strong capacities when it comes to broadcasting their messages. They come from other neighbourhoods like Petralona or Exarchia and warn of the dangers of the Horse. They prove that their neighbourhoods have resisted gentrification thanks to the neighbourhood grassroots organization and collective work. > Troy Horse: Inside the horse there is a hidden message that has to come out; thirty elements that will transform the neighbourhood revalorising the area and displacing residents. Some of these elements are: tourism, nightlife entertainment, real estate invasion, arts and culture. The way they cheat is by claiming the arrival of progress .

CASSANDRA

LAOCOONTE

STAGE 03

ACT 03

Sfaktirias Street at the junction with Salaminos Street Example of forced evictions in Metaxourgeio. There is a current plot of land which is occupied by the terrace of an open bar. Previously this land used to be the houses of some gypsy families. The state demolished the houses in order to build schools in the area. As the school building is not built yet, this space is currently transformed into a garden for the night entertainment of many Athenians.

CHARACTERS TALTHYBIUS

Role in the Troyan war After Troy was destroyed, women were taken prisoners and forced to leave the city. Talthybius, a messenger from the Greek army, informs the Trojan women of the fate of their loved ones, all murdered by the Greeks, and about their own destiny as domestic and sexual slaves far from their home land.

Role in the process of gentrification in the centre of Athens After the housing market has become more expensive and most of the public space has been privatised, the most economically vulnerable people are forced to leave their neighborhood.

An expert real estate lawyer, adviser to the real estate investors with assets in the center of Athens, delivers eviction orders to the most humble residents, who will be displaced far from their homes.

HECUBA

Role in the Troyan war Former Queen of Troy, desperate after the destruction of the city, shows despair about the vanquished and asks about the destiny of every Trojan women.

Role in the process of gentrification in the centre of Athens Former resident of the center of Athens, after the neighbourhood has been gentrified, shows despair about displacements and asks about the destiny of every former neighbour.

PERFORMANCE GUIDELINES: “DRAMATIC” TONE > Talthybius: With a professional profile as a lawyer. S/he is mediating the notice of eviction to residents that have to leave their house. S/he should act in a cold way marking distances and communicating the message of evition clearly and forcefully. > Hecuba: Neighbour in desperate situation, S/he and her/his family are about to be expelled from their lifehome. S/he receives the message of Talthybius with lamentations.

N

TALTHYBIUS

HECUBA

STAGE 04

ACT 04

Municipal Gallery of Athens It used to be the former silk factory of Metaxourgeio ("metaxourgio" = silk factory). It is increasingly becoming an attractive cultural pole of the neighbourhood for new inhabitants. The old industrial spaces that were part of the industrial history and memory of the area are now transformed into cultural and tourist land uses satisfying the relevant demand.

CHARACTERS HELEN

Role in the Troyan war The most wanted and controversial female character in the Greek mythology. Helen, is often presented as the source of evil in the city of Troy. Helen was seduced or abducted by Paris, son of Hecuba, and taken to Troy. The Greeks demand her return alongside the treasure she had taken with her to Troy. The Troyans refuse these claims and enter a war that eventually destroyed their city.

Role in the process of gentrification in the centre of Athens The profile of the gentrifier is the most controversial in such urban transformations. The gentrifiers are considered to produce and annihilate the process of gentrification. The hipster, the bohemian bourgeois, the urban explorer who pursues the urban authenticity that disappears under his/her feet, are different models of the same pattern of consumption.

Victims of advertising, constructed needs and compulsive consumption, the new middle classes are seduced by the urban, cultural, and elitist lifestyle, and once again attracted to the inner city. Their arrival in the neighborhood triggers the displacement and evictions of the economically vulnerable groups.

ANDROMACHE // ASTIANAX

Role in the Troyan war Andromache, captive Trojan, after the stealth of the city, continues to preserve hopes for a future for the Trojans, deposited in the hands of her son Astianax. The Greeks, in fear that the Trojans may conquer back the city of Troy, decide to kill Astianax, throwing him from the top of the walls, while Andromache is carried away from the city. However, another tradition holds that Astianax was not killed, but fled away and founded a new city of Troy.

Role in the process of gentrification in the centre of Athens Some discourses analyse the neighborhood identity as a space of resistance, such as the hope of staying put in the face of a threatening situation of displacement. The symbolic apparatus deployed by gentrification alienates territories of their collective memory, making impossible the connection and recognition of own history, facilitating the implementation of new patterns of consumption and residence.

However, whatever alternative to gentrification should take into account that identity, like energy, is not destroyed, but it is transformed, that all individuals participate in multiple collectives, in multiple identities, that identity is subject to change, to certify that it does not allow new spaces of exclusion.

$ HELEN

PERFORMANCE GUIDELINES: “CONCILIATING” TONE > Helena: With a social profile of a hipster, Helena arrives in traditional neighborhoods attracted by desires and aspirations: multiculturalism, new commerce and new forms of consumption. This is the social profile of a middle class person with a modern attitude without any further concerns. > Andromache/Astianax: Andromache is a neighbor, or a member of a lifelong neighbourhood association, so s/he is very aware about the memory and history of Gazi / Metaxourgeio. S/he argues that the new generations, like her son Astianax, can rescue the neighborhood preserving some of the old traditions and coexisting with new neighbours.

ANDROMACHE

STAGE 05

ACT 05

Bios Bar A bar popular for the privileged view of the Acropolis of Athens (the Parthenon was built to honour of the goddess Athena). Bios was of the first cultural spaces in the area, bringing together alternative arts and entertainment. It has a theatre, performance and projection space being at the same time one of the landmarks of nightlife in Metaxourgeio. Bios was one of the first bars to attract new social profiles and elitist consumption to the neighbourhood.

CHARACTERS POSEIDON

Role in the Troyan war God of the seas and earthquakes, Poseidon has a controversial role in the war of Troy, by his changes of attitude with respect to one side and the another. At the end of the war he laments the destruction of the city of Troy by the Greeks; the city walls were erected by him.

Poseidon plans a kind of a punishment, the nemesis* against the Greeks because of their moral degradation.

Encouraged by Athena, he decides to initiative a furious storm against the ships of the Greeks on their way to their return home after so many years of absence. * Nemesis, Greek goddess of solidarity, balance and revenge, who, in order to safeguard the universal balance, could bring about desastre to those who had been greatly favored by Fortune.

Role in the process of gentrification in the centre of Athens

There is a huge asymmetry between the power that big capitalist corporations have in the market and the "power" of someone with an average salary trying to rent a flat. So, while the question of consumption patterns is by no means irrelevant, it is secondary in comparison to the unbridled power of capital.

Neil Smith (interviewed by sociologist Andrej Holm)

Political classes have a rather controversial role in the construction of the city, on the one hand they are forced to protect the economic, social and cultural rights of the inhabitants; however on the other hand they are dominated by forces of transnational capital. In the midst of the electoral campaign, some politicians appear to regret about the destruction of the right to the city, enacting ineffective reforms that lead to nothing, like Urban Lease Laws that actually hide networks and plots of political corruption.

ATHENA

Role in the Troyan war Goddess of the arts and war, Athena has a controversial role in the war of Troy indicated by the changes in her attitude with respect to one side and another. The Greeks, because of their hybris* and their cruelty, now receive the enmity of Gods, including that of Athena, their protector so far, who presents herself to Poseidon outraged of the fact that the Greeks have desecrated her temple. * Hybris is a Greek concept that can be translated as "excess", an attempt to transgress the limits imposed by Gods. It is also understood as insolence, lack of moderation, reckless contempt towards the personal space of others, and possible cause of the collapse of civilizations.

Role in the process of gentrification in the centre of Athens There is a huge asymmetry between the power that big capitalist corporations have in the market and the "power" of someone

with an average salary trying to rent a flat. So, while the question of consumption patterns is by no means irrelevant, it is secondary in comparison to the unbridled power of capital.

Neil Smith (interviewed by sociologist Andrej Holm)

Political classes have a rather controversial role in the construction of the city, on the one hand they are forced to protect the economic, social and cultural rights of the inhabitants; however on the other hand they are dominated by forces of transnational capital.

Governors with entrepreneurial visions allow the continued private dispossession of common wealth.

As private capital and profit protectors, some politicians when campaigning have come to suggest vague market regulations, while the cruelty of multinational corporations profanes their electoral image.

ATHENA

POSEIDON

PERFORMANCE GUIDELINES: AMBIGUOUS TONE > Poseidon: From the top of a hill s/he demonstrates his concern about the process of gentrification of Metaxourgeio.

Private investment in the city has grown in an unanticipated way and the consequences of the massive use of AirB&B have overflowed the neighourhood, causing housing prices to raise and displacement to strive. > Atenha: Rebates Poseidon and tries to convince him that private investment in times of crisis is very necessary, that policies favouring tourism like hotels or AirB&B are very good for the economic progress of the new city-brand they may succeed.