E X H I B I T I O N S

The exhibition Brides: Tradition and fashion in Greece will be running at the Benaki Musuem until April 4. Focusing on weddings, it presents a large array of clothing from the collections of the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation. From local traditional Greek dress in the 19th century to European fashion, Brides includes wedding dresses from the end of the 19th to the dawn of the 21st century; along with the variety of shapes and decorative motifs in bridal wear, the exhibition intends to showcase the particular social and experiential function of the wedding dress.

The exhibition Talking Pictures: The spread of religious painting in Russia and the Balkans, 16th-19th century was inaugurated at the Byzantine and Christian Museum on January 15. In the 15th century Europe, appeared a particular kind of religious painting with original iconographic themes enriched by extensive texts. This was essentially a new type of image, a kind of pictorial preaching; the talking pictures were used as a means of polemic in the context of heated religious debates in the 16th and 17th centuries. The exhibition was organised in cooperation with the Institute for Mediterranean Studies – FORTH.

The largest group exhibition of contemporary sculpture in marble and bronze ever made in Greece, the Greek Marble Initiative will be inaugurated tonight, at the Myro Gallery, in Thessaloniki. The exhibition will showcase over 70 sculptures in marble and bronze, of 27 Greek and foreign sculptors, created specifically for this exhibition. Among the participating artists are Gabriel Andronikidou, Thanos Karoni Paraskevas Cook, Cypriot Chopirtean George Iliopoulos, Ulysses Tosounidis, John Bizet, Maria Chalvatzi and many more.

F E S T I V A L S

One of Europe’s most dynamic musical communities, the Music Village, is traveling from Mount Pelion to Athens for a three-day celebration of sounds and idioms. The Music Village was initiated in 2006, during a summer gathering of artists, in the village Agios Lavrentios, Pelion. Today, it is one of the largest artistic art communities in Europe and presents - for the second year - a weekend festival of sounds, ranging from early music to European avant-garde. At the Onassis Cultural Centre, on January 24 - 26.

The Kalamata Documentary Panorama Tekmiriosis opens its doors for the first time this year in Kalamata from January 22 to 29. The new institution will showcase 77 documentary films; 46 Greek and 31 international productions. The Panorama has scheduled a number of parallel activities: a morning educational zone that gives the opportunity to students and teachers to watch documentaries and to meet artists; a day dedicated to gastronomy documentaries and a tribute to immigration.