During the three weeks preceding Easter Lent, Greece celebrates Apokries (carnival). Although the country’s biggest carnivals are held in Patras, Xanti and Rethymno, festivities are also held in the capital, notably in the neighbourhoods of Plaka and Moschato, with parties and fancy dress parades. This year’s activities include concerts and parties, workshops and traditional shadow theatre Karagiozis shows. The Athens philharmonic orchestra, big band, and choir as well as the Lefteris Grigoriou & Global Daoulia band set the rhythm in the districts of down town Athens with plenty of music to get carnival-goers on their feet. Carnival ends on Kathara Deftera (Clean Monday), which is a public holiday; in Athens young and old celebrate traditionally the beginning of Lenten feasting with lagana flatbread, halva, song and dance.

The exhibition Passage to the Future: Art from a New Generation in Japan will run at the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art from February 20 to April 12. The exhibition introduces a sampling of Japanese art from the 2000s by younger artists who are recently receiving attention for their work. With a focus on elaborate attempts to create art, the exhibition features paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs and video works by eleven artists. The showcased works of art signal a change in contemporary art, and reflect a worldwide tendency for artists to take a greater interest in everyday life and focus on the expression of very personal perceptions and feelings.

The 4th Balkan Festival will run at the Block 33 multiplex in Thessaloniki from February 20. The festival celebrates the cultural diversity in the Balkans, as well as their common elements and roots, aiming to enhance the participation of young artists from Balkan countries. Although it focuses on music, it also features other forms of art such as film, photography, painting, and gastronomy.

The Greek Film Archives will hold a one-week trip to Africa through the film, from February 19 to 25. The 4th African Film Week will screen 18 films, familiarising the public with the culture of the African Continent and highlighting variations in culture between the north and south. Among the weeks highlights are October 1, directed by Kunle Afolayan and Dazzling Mirage, by Tunde Kelani.

The Museum Alex Mylona – Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art is holding the photographic exhibition by Christos Chrissopoulos My mother’s silence, curated by Denys Zacharopoulos. The exhibition runs until April 26, and will also feature, for the first time, the artist’s video Knitting the thread of time, shot by Chrissopoulos during his visit to his family home, in the winter of 2014.