05 October—6:30 pm
Event
For the public program that frames Forensic Architecture’s exhibition “Violence, Fast and Slow”, we will be discussing new forms of violence, emerging through changes in the political landscape that in turn revive fascist and xenophobic rhetorics via a new kind of authoritarianism, which is carried out today also by elected governments – and by extension their citizens.
In the second event of our public program, we discuss the case of Greece in particular and the fluctuation and normalisation of state violence in the last decade.
In a joint presentation-discussion, Anna Kouroupou, Maria Louka and Yiannis Baboulias will analyze the phenomena of violence that are observed in multiple levels and intensities for specific and at times more vulnerable groups of the greek population. The conversation is co-ordinated by Iliana Fokianaki and will be in Greek.
18.40 Introduction iLiana Fokianaki
19.00 Yannis Baboulias, Anna Kouroupou, Maria Louka
The round table will be followed by a discussion with the audience and will be in Greek, with immediate translation if necessary to english speaking audiences.
*The subtitle The Mirror and The Knife is inspired by the homonymous title of a book written by composer Manos Hadjidakis in 1988. The book is a collection of essays published in local press or recited during his infamous radio show for Third Program (National Radio of Greece, ERT) discussing greek politics, current affairs, national identity and the Greek conundrum at large.
Bios
Anna Kouroupou is a trans activist, columnist and director of the day center of Red Umbrella Athens. Red Umbrella Athens (RUA) is a primary prevention and empowerment body for sex workers in the center of Athens. It was co-founded by the Hellenic Society of Positive Voice “Positive Voice” and the Hellenic Patient Association “Prometheus”. She has been secretary-general of the Transgender Support Association (2013-2017) where she has contributed to the promotion of the bill on legalising the choice for gender identity, which was passed in the Greek Parliament in 2017. Kouroupou has lectured at the 22nd International AIDS Symposium (AIDS) 2018 in Amsterdam, at TEDX Chania and other places. She regularly writes for greek press.
Maria Louka is a journalist and screenwriter. She is head of editing and screenplay for a documentary on behalf of Cosmote History, ERT and Vice Greece. She is currently co-directing and researching the documentary “Mourning: Those Left Behind” as well as the script for a new Cosmote History documentary series. As a journalist and columnist specializing in human rights, the refugee crisis and gender equality issues, she has worked with several electronic and print media outlets (Epilogue of Sunday Liberty, BHMAgazino, Vice, Protagon, Inside Story). She is a regular writer for Omnia and Popaganda. She has been awarded in 2013 with the Eleni Vlachou Journalism Award and in 2018 with the Migration Media Award, and has been nominated 4 times for the European Press Prize. She is the co-author of the books “Zak / Zackie Oh”, “Another Life: Human Flows / Unknown Odyssey” and in the volume “Censorship Dictionary of Greece”.
Yiannis Baboulias is a journalist and researcher. He is currently a Resonant Voices Fellow with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and a member of the Manifold research team. His work has been published in the Atlantic, Foreign Policy, London Review of Books, The New Statesman, The Guardian, and art magazines such as Frieze, and he has collaborated with BBC and Channel 4 productions among others.