LAFCADIO HEARN. (1850-1904) | A shadowy Greek
27.03-16.4.2014

Lectures, workshops, roundtables, performances, films, videos, radio shows

** The exhibition is extended until 26/4/14

Beton7 presents from 27.03 until 04.16.2014 a tribute to Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) curated by Demosthenes Agrafiotis and under the auspices of the Embassy of Japan in Greece.
"Because I am Greek and therefore I belong to a southern tribe, I leave longer with this than with the Anglo-Saxons" notes Lafkadios Hearn in a letter. Which Greek status is the author claiming; the “biological", being the son of Rosa Kasimati from Kythera, a Greek island which at the time was under British occupation? The "linguistic”, since his name, Lafcadios, refers to Lefkada, his birthplace? The "cultural", since he has studied with particular passion texts and images from the ancient Greek world? The "imaginary" as a poet, and a traveller in constant search for cultural differences? The 'psychoanalytic', derived out of lack of maternal tenderness which was replaced, by the strict disciplinary Irish environment of his paternal side? The "civilizational", which Lafcadio Hearn uses the Greek world in conjunction with Japanese Buddhism in order to formulate a proposal for the future of humanity? The above questions are the starting point of a series of events - actions in BETON7, which will take place in late March 2014 as a commemoration for his death.
Lectures, workshops, roundtables, performances, films, videos, radio shows compose the first answers to the above questions. Artists, historians, poets, philosophers, social scientists, japonologists will explore the Greek dimensions seen in the literary works of Japan’s "national writer".
The books of L. Hearn, which he wrote in English, during his stay in Japan (1890-1904), refer to the traditions of the Japanese people and their ‘mysterious’ cultural history. A westerner with eastern sensibilities, who studied with special love the imaginary and the symbolic universe of the "common" Japanese, since up to that point the emphasis was given to the cultural norms of the imperial court, the aristocracy and the samurai.

The inscription on his gravestone, in the temple Komputera, reads: "To Lafcadio Hearn whose pen was more powerful even from the sword of the glorious nation who he loved, a nation, whose greatest honour was that it embraced him as a citizen and offered him alas, the tomb."

The programme of events is as follows:

27/03/2014 | Opening
18.30 Greetings by Mr. Masuo Nishibayashi, Ambassador of Japanese to Greece and Mr. Argyrou, director of Beton7
Presentation of publications related to Lafcadios Hearn curated by Takis Efstathiou
Exhibition opening "Calligraphic impressions on parchment: Lafcadio Hearn" by Maria Genitsariou in the gallery space, (1 floor)

Exhibition opening "Hommage on Lafcadio Hearn" in the gallery space, (groundfloor). Artists: Demosthenes Agrafiotis "Non haunting images" (fotos projection) | Magenta (Katerina Sotiriou, Elena Timplalexi), "the gift is alone", video art-installation | "Beuys in Japan" (video) | Frédéric Weigel, "40000×8 clouds", (video) | Robin Perrey, "HI NO MARU NO CINEMA (video).

31/03/2014 | 18.30 | Talk by Ms. Shoko Koizumi, great-granddaughter-in-law of L. HEARN
Reception hosted by the Embassy of Japan in Greece

03/04/2014 | 18.30 Talk by Mr. Panagiotis Evangelidis, Works - bio - graphy by Lafcadio Hearn. “An evaluation”

04/04/2014 | 18.30 Talk by Mr. Sotiris Chalikias, "Lafcadio Hearn in Japan"

05/04/2014 | 18.00 Panel discussion with the participation of: Panagiotis Evangelidis, Sotiris Chalikias. Coordinator: Demosthenes Agrafiotis
Thema: “Lafcadio Hearn. A milestone for the future?”

08/04/2014 | 18.30 Lecture - Performance by Demosthenes Agrafiotis, "My first day in Japan"

10/04/2014 | 22.30 Japanese experimental music proposed by Nektarios Papadimitriou: and Poetical (multilingual) performance with the participation of Michele Valley, Panagiotis Evangelides, Demosthenes Agrafiotis

11/04/2014 | 18.30 Lecture by Maria Genitsariou on "the intertweaving of Greek - Japanese elements - symbols in the stories by L. Hearn. Hearn as a cultural transcriber", and a talk by Dipl. Psych Euterpi Rizou "The extraordinary life of Lafcadios Hearn: a paradigmatic creative processing of a traumatic childhood"

12/04/2014 | 18.00 Reading of the work "A Living God" by Lafcadio Hearn - The text of Hearn and the real story, by Andriani Psaraki.
Presentation of the book "Kotto" by Lafcadio Hearn, translated by Tety Solou, which is just released by the Kytherian World Heritage Fund. The presentation is accompanied by images of Lafcadio Hearn Japan with live music by specially constructed ancient and traditional instruments.

Demosthenes Agrafiotis is a poet and a visual artist, active in intermedia work involving photography, performance, painting and installation. Agrafiotis has published a number of books, essays and scholarly articles on art, science/technology and health as socio-cultural phenomena. As a curator, he has organized festivals and seminars on performance art, whilst realizing exhibitions, workshops and conferences on photographic art and its policies.
www.dagrafiotis.com