(The Halim Bey Mansion, Mytilini)
Last week a fire spat smoke over the capital Mytilini; the next day
the smoldering fire was put out by rain. The refugee camp of Moria
was partly burned down and even though in the north of the island we
had no idea what was going on, the media soon well picked up news of
the fire. European politicians however smelt nothing. They are still
parading around proudly saying that their ‘Deal with the Sultan’
stopped the flood of refugees. I am afraid that they will only step
into action and do what they promised when another photo of a dead
child in a camp shows up and brings people all over the world to
tears.
The whole situation makes my heart bleed and my frustrations
escalate. Every tourist who visited the island this summer knows that
life on the island (except around Moria) continues as usual. Tens of
thousands of Greeks are still surviving a national crisis.
Cultural
organizations however continue to organize festivals. This past
summer the island was full of activities, not only for tourists, but
also for the locals. The absolute top was the Molyvos
International Music Festival,
maybe the best classical music festival of Greece. Young
international talents armed with Stradivarius violins and a Steinway
piano played some lesser known and beautiful music in the fairytale
like atmosphere of Molyvos Castle in several open-air concerts. I am
still wondering how they got the Steinway into the massive fort. This
kind of event attracts people who are drawn to the island itself,
unlike the press-mosquitos drawn by the bad news
The
Turkish couple Can and Sevda Elgiz also want to bring another public
to Mytilini. They collect modern art and offer space to young artists
in their Elgiz
Museum in Istanbul,
which houses the overflow of their growing home collection.
In
the coming month part of this collection is going to be exhibited in
Mytilini, and with a special reason: Can's
ancestors, the Kulassizades, were governors of Lesvos. Can’s great
grandfather, Halim Bey, was the last Ottoman ruler, before Lesvos
returned to Greek government in 1912. The entire family left their
birthplace eleven years later to settle in Ayvalik, when the Treaty
of Lausanne was signed and the population exchange was made. The
family house in Mytilini, where Can’s mother grew up, was left
empty, but some hundred years later still stands. The house now known
as the Halim Bey Mansion
has been restored and has become a public art gallery. This was for
Can a good reason to reconnect with the island, and especially
because Lesvos now needs positive energy.
After
an impressive file of movie and pop stars, various artists and the
pope, who all came to bring attention and help for the refugees and
the Levorian population, we will now see some top-notch art. The
Elgiz love to gather the work of the big names like Karel Appel,
Robert Rauschenberg, Julian Schnabel, Andy Warhol and Gilbert &
George. Which of their art works will cross the Aegean Sea is not yet
clear. The exhibition called ‘Lines of
passage' is created by the Turkish
curator Baṣak
Senova, who has made
her name in the international art world.
In earlier times it was not unusual to visit for several days a city
that offered a high-profile exhibition. Nowadays masses of art lovers
go to the big art attractions, although now you sometimes have to buy
tickets months in advance and then still wonder whether you will see
the artworks or just the queues of people waiting to get in.
A new trend is to mount exhibitions in lesser known places, and
Lesvos offers a perfect opportunity to check this out. Art lovers:
hurry to the Paris of the Aegean, Mytilini.
And
for the artists (Like
Marina
Abramovic
who last
spring worked in Athens): Here is the island of the new art world!
Ai
Weiwei
has already discovered it and because artists will not, like
politicians, ignore the refugee crisis, more will follow to the
island.
(The
exhibition will be open from September 30 to November 11 in the Halim
Bey Mansion in Mytilini)
(with
thanks to Mary Staples)
©
Smitaki 2016
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