On October 22-23 in Α.Σ.Κ.Τ Athens art university a peculiar event took place for the Athenian noise massive. The postgraduate department of Digital Art Forms coordinated a two day event dedicated to digital sound improvisation.
In the event took part 6 Greek musicians , one from Russia by the name Goosli Noise and one artist from Istanbul by the name Analog suicide. Each of the artists played a set on stage not more than half an hour each. The event was more of a presentation rather than a party, since experimental music and specifically experimental noise is in Greece a scene that’s not really recognised by the public, and is in a more underground phase.
From all the artists taking part in this event i choose two as our weekly featured artists one of them is the Greek artist named George Karamanolakis and the second one is Batur Sonmez which goes by the name Analog Suicide.
George Karamanolakis in 2006 graduated from the University of the West of England, Bristol ( Faculty of Art, Media and Design ) and in 2007 enrolled in the postgraduate course of Digital Art Forms in Α.Σ.Κ.Τ .
He is basically engaged in In situ (Site specific) art , also a director of experimental movies and a member of the creative team OMIO.
Since 2004 he has been composing audio-visual music based on improvisation. For equipment he uses from old toy machines such as < Game boy > to music devices such as cassette players and even analog synthetistes such as <E.M.S synth>.
Has also been very active and has organized a number of art exhibitions.
some links of Georgios Karamanolakis work are found below.
Batur Sonmez which goes by the name Analog Suicide is an audio-visual artist from Istanbul. He has been active in the experimental music scene since 1998. He was one of the organizers for the Transmissions From Outside festival. A festival which gives artists the opportunity to present their work to the Turkish audience. He has also taken part in a number of exhibitions in various countries.
The music he composes has a noise, industrial, influence .
Analog suicide has collaborated with various artists such as Qewr which is a well known Turkish artist.
I hope similar events will take place in Athens again since it is very interesting to experience different types of music and art that break threw the rules of the ordinary and have a creative spin to them.
Perhaps some of you were wondering how was our long activity weekend in the city of Thessaloniki a few weeks ago. Apart from this, you might also be thinking of visiting Thessaloniki for a short trip in the future and share our interest of what is going on with the rave scene there, the local people etc… In order to have a nice visit, with party and definitely a inspiring time in the bars of the city. You may take advice from our experiences which are written on this article below. This is the aim of this brief summary, giving a clue, a personal overview to you , also my impression of my last visit in Thessaloniki.
I arrived there from Athens in the morning, directly running to the airport to pick up the techno kids, friends who were coming from Berlin to attend the Shelter 23 events of the weekend. Some of them were also playing at the club: nice fresh techno tunes. We straight away went for a walk in the city after laying down a few hours at a friend’s place.
In Thessaloniki you can find a huge diversity of things to do at night. It’s a city with an excellent night life, probably the best of the country (comparing with the night life of Athens for example). A couple of gorgeous, rather small bars play minimal techno, such as Elvis, as well as clubs that I will try to write a few lines about below.
Shelter 23 is a new club run by some of our friends in Thessaloniki. A new location with a good music line up of guest and resident djs every weekend. The previous weeks some guest djs from Berlin were playing and some more good artists are scheduled for the future. Keep an eye on our blog for updates. Many of the next events will be announced here.
(Shelter23 monday evening, during private AKNE/SI/GEBIRK working session)
Zenit club is another location that we visited on the weekend. Two floors with different style of electronic music. The upper floor with techno and house tunes and the lower one with drum n bass / jungle tunes. My impression from the space is that it’s excellent. It was decorated nicely and the staff is friendly. he music at the techno floor was also good. (dr0fn0thing disagrees: boring house music with trash effects, only in the morning the music got better)
The drum n bass floor was not so nice (dr0fn0thing disagrees ). It was like being in a drum n bass party in 1997. Old-school beats, rather no concept behind, kinda boring, one of the same stuff as usual. No fresh tunes of drum n bass, neither good breaks from the past as well. The djs seemed really to enjoy but I can’t say the same for the crowd. Most of the people were laying down on the sofa or drinking their cocktail at the bar (dr0fn0thing says: you came to late mate, before it was a madhouse ).
Generally our night was more or less as we expected nothing extraordinary happened. (dr0fn0thing says: you were too wasted mate, the party was nice )
some pics from dr0fn0things trashcam:
An other club you should check it out, unfortunately I didnt attend to any of the events there is Decadence club. According what the people said the entrance fee is rather expensive in comparison with the other locations I already mentioned before. Some people also told me that the atmosphere can be a bit problematic as well. I dunno anything else about this place apart that popular djs are playing almost every weekend.
Dubstep scene in Thessaloniki is active too. Apart from the events hosted in clubs , students and party collective organise dubstep and free tekno parties in the university area. There is no entrance fee , those parties are often influenced by the free tekno culture and teknivals of North Europe or just by anarchist concepts.
Besides the party life in general and the clubs of the city , there is a joyful street life in the city too. A lot of young people hang around on the streets and have meeting points in squares etc when the weather is good. One of this locations in the heart of the city is Rotunda square near Kamara (A big gate made probably during the time of the Greek empire “middle age” today a touristic attraction monument). You can buy your beer for 80 cents to 1.30 or a cheap wine bottle (later not recommended) and warm up before you go party.
Other locations you should check out.
People usually hang out (especially teenagers), skaters etc.. at the area surround the white tower, locals and tourists mix for this strange promenade of people with all their different plans and budgets… You should definitely check out this area. The sea is near and you could have a perfect landscape, especially in the evening. Some bars within boats are there as well, one of those boats is a reggae bar in case you like that crap.
You should not forget to go for a walk in the historical part of the city up to the hils (Palia Poli). It is definitely my favorite part of the city for having a walk. As in most cities of the world, just strolling around between the places that were recommended to you is the most effective way to get an idea of the city, in this case try the coastline-university-historic center-rotunda connected by the little vertical and big horizontal streets.
Regarding the food issue
The food in the city is much better that other places I have visited before but remains not high quality, especially if you dont want to spend a lot of money. The cheapest you can find to eat on the street its guros pita a traditional greek dish. In case you are vegetarian ask for potato pita. Its cheap and tasty.
As an epilogue
Perhaps the electronic music scene in Thessaloniki is not the best of southern Europe , there are many cities with a growing scene especially in Balkans (If you consider Balkans as Southern Europe) . But in the other hand the city is beautiful and many parties take place every weekend. I didn’t probably present all the places because in a week it is not possible to visit everything. And for me it doesn’t make any sense to write about place I never visited before. If you feel that something was excluded from this article, you can write me at our email contact. I would rather prefer you to comment below the article. I’m kinda of motivated to continue writing articles such as this one, building maybe future term, a city map (guide) of the shituationist institute blog.
Greece in summer , a place with many titles to fame. Every year thousands of tourists are searching a new adventure in most of the occasions are going to the greek Islands instead the mainland which is “not much going on”? for the young people’s party. Tons of low quality alcohol and sex on the beach with drunk people hanging around especially during the night on the beach and the little streets of the Island main towns . A big party of the European wasted youth is definitely taking place in Greece. Are you ready for the annual big party in the greek islands?
I m not writing these lines to encourage people to come in Greece this summer , there are definitely several better places to go , especially now who Greece is witnessing a financial collapse , the situation here is getting increasingly disorganized. In the other hand certainly someone can tell you that Greece remains a beautiful country , with much sun , blue sky and in some particular areas with friendly people as well. Lets get a glimpse of the 5 “must to go” areas in Greece during summer!
The biggest airport of the country is located in Athens (eleftherios Venizelos). You may know Athens because of the acropolis , history and the riots , molotov cocktails in the recent past. Athens is truly a destination for riot tourists ..During the summer time Athens turns into a real Hell with the temperature up to 40 degrees. Therefore run directly to the port (Piraeus) and get your ferry ticket for the next destination . Where do you have to go? It depends who you re and what are you searching for. Although the most of the people are searching generally for the same things and in all of the greek islands you can find almost everything you wish , some places are always better than others. Therefore I will describe the best holiday Islands for 5 different types of people as well as I will tell you where Im going this summer.
type 1 (which I also belong to) PARTY ANIMALS, alcohol freaks and people like us!
Party animals , people who love alcohol , vomiting and being wasted in summer please get this announcement seriously. Ios Island in Cyclades is your paradise. Ios in old greek means flower don’t ask me why and who gave this name to the Island. I was there last year and Im planning to go there this year again for 3 months. Ios is rather a small island with a rare fairy village with tinny white houses and blue windows up to the hill , perfect landscape and countless bars and little clubs.
Down to the hill you will find milopotas beach with two big camping areas , small rooms to rent and so on. Especially in August the island is packed , thousands of young single people are searching for a great adventure and the non stop party is taking place 24 hours.
Ios island is a “non go area” for couples , families and retired people who are searching for a peaceful holiday. The food is nasty and perhaps a bit expensive (i don’t know the price lists for this year)but there are also cheap offers and solutions. The little secret of this Island is definitely how to buy your drinks. The bars and clubs are selling crap. I mean the quality of the drinks is awful therefore is always better to get drunk to the village’s square , buying your bottle of vodka or whatever you want from the mini market. It is certainly cheaper and better , comparing what they offer at the bars. All night the little streets of the Ios main village are overcrowded with teenagers or young wasted people in a good friendly mood and open for socializing.
type of person 2 “Im in love.. wanna go with my partner to the paradise… for the people who are in love , counting the stars and watching the moon (bliahhh).. = Santorini Island.
Close to Ios is Santorini. Actually it is only one hour far with the ferry from Ios. Santorini is a real paradise to be honest. It is probably the most beautiful island of Cyclades(with a volcano near to the Island , don’t worry an old volcano, not like in Iceland) but there is a little disadvantage. Because of this island is good for couples (couple island), you can’t really find many party places. The main town (fyra) is extremely expensive comparing to Ios for instance , but offers high quality services (most of the times) for rich people. In my opinion even if this island is beautiful , don’t go there if you re broke.
As far as I remember (i was there in 2006) only an other little village (Perisa) is cheaper , perhaps you can also find a handful of parties at the beach bars there. An other essential fact if you are planning to go to Santorini in the end is that the beaches are not so beautiful comparing to other Islands (Crete for example or Ios etc..).
type 3 party raver , gay queer , one night stand lovers , people who wanna show of power and money , fashion designers ,stupid people from the TV and so on… welcome to Mykonos
Now you re wondering for sure , how type 3 can include and combine party ravers and gay queer with fashion designers and stupid people from the TV. shit happens ? I dunno what to answer but definitely Mykonos is marvellous. Mykonos many decades now is famous destination for gay and queer people as well as for people who love house music and techno. I rather believe that Mykonos is easily comparable to Spanish party Islands like Ibiza etc. In Mykonos you can find Cavo Paradizo which is a fabulous club , the most popular djs of the world plays at least once every summer. Djs and producers such as Carl Cox , Paul Oakenfold goes there almost every year I think?
Located some 6 km south east of Mykonos Town, Super Paradise beach is the most alternative and anti-conformist beach on the island.Super Paradize is SUPER. A brilliant beach bar – club ,offers an exceptional experience. Cocktails and dancing last from Morning till late at night. Besides now the light side , lets mention the dark side of Mykonos.
First of all , the greek trash media advertise the Island , therefore try to avoid the idiots and the evil paparazzi. Mykonos is defined as the destination for the famous and people who have money , due the fact that it is really expensive.. Definitely you can find many stupid people in Mykonos .. but if you re brave enough (also have enough money) go there for a couple of days.
type 4 . I want an Island who combines everything , mountains , marvellous beaches , parties , tropical weather , good food etc…
Crete is definitely the best Greek Island and your destination.If you ask the locals , they think that the Island can easily be autonomous from the rest of the country. It combines everything and it is a highly recommended by everyone who gets there once. The Island is huge and all the regions of the Island are gorgeous. You can easily find flights from the majority of the airports in the UK , NL and Germany. The locals are a bit weird , so don’t fuck with them , can easily get upset. Crete is rather expensive too but you can easily find cheap stuff too. I advice you to rent a motorbike or a car because you can’t really see the whole Island by using public transport etc.
At Iraklio the biggest city of the Island , especially at Malia (the BEST CLUBBING AREA of Greece)(approximately 40 min out from Iraklio) you can find a similar to Ios situation including some house and techno events the whole summer season. More information check at http://maliatv.blogspot.com/. Chania (the second biggest city) is also highly recommended for having parties and great time.
a video from Malia
type 5 : Im a hippy , love trance music and searching for a place with hippies and trance music welcome to Samothraki Island
Well several good friends of mine love this Island. It is an Island , rather famous from greek mythology , ceremonies and orgies. Samothraki is a real alternative for people who wants to relax , just relax.The Island is in the north of Greece and as you understand its rather a big problem because it is not easy accessible. You have to go to Alexandroupolis (a city near to the Turkish border) and then a ferry. A big forest extends towards the mountain of the Island. In the very beginning of the 00s Samothraki was famous for trance festivals and hippies. The Island today remains popular to the hippy scene therefore I didnt really like it to be honest , but the nature with the forests , rivers etc creates a rare atmosphere.
If you had enough of over concuption , noise of the city and so on then go there ..but pay attention to that , the islands deserves respect and your full consideration (collect your rubbish , dont shit wherever you re, or light fire or other things you consider dangerous)
b) practical advice part
You can easily get your tickets with not much stress to Cyclades from the main port of Piraeus .Always becareful the time tables and be sure about the scheduled departures. You can check on google for the maps of each Island. Pay attention that free camping is forbidden and you can easily get a fine or easily be on trial.I dont say that free camping is impossible but better to ask locals or greek young people who do the same , they will be helpful 100%.
Pay attention always to check and compare the prices. Greece is one of the most expensive countries of the EU especially in summer , many times in markets , restaurants etc, will try to extort as much money as possible from you.
As an Epilogue
Greece is not exceptional , but you can enjoy your holiday. Techno and house scene in some particular areas is the only music you will catch up with. I hope you find my alternative guide usefull. If you have any questions or like to add something , feel free to leave a comment.
Our last escape mission from Athens was a good motivation for several good discussions concerning how we comprehed “a good environment according to our ideas about techno parties in general”. Thessaloniki is definitely a good example regarding this debate. Psycho-geographically (I use a situationist term in order to describe properly) the city is an excelent location for techno , minimal and other urban concepts. Thessaloniki ‘s city plan has nothing to feel jealous about from other international metropolis of planet earth , who are famous for their electronic music scenes such as London , Berlin etc.
Comparing Thessaloniki with Athens now, I came up to a conclusion. I realized why art happenings are certainly more successful at the most of the cases there. Thessaloniki is a good combination of various things. Smaller than Athens(You dont have to walk much) but smarter , more artists , better events , small walkways , industrial sites and many more stuff that really offers an essentialy sofisticated mood and inspiration. Well , I think in the sense of psycho-geography Thessaloniki is a lot of promised location for the future . Im definitely looking forward to see what it will happens at the near future in the city. We are also planning to write more reports and an extend info article (special editon) in the future. Glimpse at the pics bellow(there are just few but…). special thanks to angeldoumis and flybutter for the good job
here’s a deep set by Rødhåd of Dystopian Music from Berlin:
it’s called the city of lost children and commemorates the early death of Ramin Raissi aka Ruin 2 years ago, R. was a music enthusiast, part of the Berlin techno scene and journalist for various projects.
Rødhåd will play on the Berghain Klubnacht the 9th/10th of January. Panorama Bar will be closed on this day, as they are renovating and reopening it on the 22nd of January.
I had a look on the statistics of this blog today and I think its interesting which posts are the most viewed this year. I give you 10 of the most popular articles(links) of shituationist blog bellow.
Already a year of insti2te.wordpress.com . A year of cooperation among people with different aspects , music interests , coming from different cities. There is already a year when I was brainstorming in a ferry boat somewhere in North Agean sea together with drofnothing , going to Samothraki Island , regarding the idea of creating a blog , a little contribution to the underground electronic scene in Europe and far beyond. After a year , we can easily say that the first step of our work is done. Insti2te is updated with new fresh stuff every day , announcements of parties , special editions , different genres and artists , record reviews , sometimes providing usefull information for various topics of electronic music and so on. We have provided party and festival reports from alternative festivals all around Europe such as Fussion , Sonica , Ozora and many other good events which took place in Berlin , Athens , Budapest and beyond.
Insti2te is a project in progress , an experiment with some good moments and definitely a lot of mistakes.In the other hand insti2te is always a horisontal process of people , trying to stay connected with the ideas of radical social change , autonomy , providing information , contributing to a new popular counter -culture? . It is probably a way of encouraging people to organize their own events , parties , talks , workshops. My awareness/focus from now and the near future shouldnt be different than putting efforts into organizing some public events , speciffically workshops regarding particular topics , breaking out the virtual scale of this little blog , trying to get in contact with new people in real life , in fact offering space for new ideas , self organization and autonomy within the new rave movements??.Anyways lets see how it goes in the future. This is nothing else than a short note about our willingment of getting more active in the near future , establishing new social networks towards.
I ve continuately tried to find in my previous 20 tracks edition new fresh stuff or rather old but highly recommented in order to give you inspiration for listening artists and generally music that probably you didnt know much about before .The last month I had the idea to refer links which you can listen the tracks directly on last fm as well as finding more about the artists. A special thanks to friends for all the messages I recieved encouraging my idea. The next months I will try to make it even better. Please send me some short notes with your ideas how to make it better , perhaps by using soundcloud or other kind of software related??. Why not you dont shooting your ideas on the comment form? , it would be awesome
A new repression wave of the Sarkozis Government is taking place recently in France. The police special Forces attacked and arrest ravers in the streets of Paris during the “fete la muzique” celebration in the end of the last month. New laws , Police statements and tactics are focusing on the final distraction of the free party culture in France and the whole free rave itself , as it happened in England and other places of Europe already. I read comments from all around Europe who tried to oppose other “dogmatic” activists (especially in Greece)who consider TEKNIVALS as free drug paradise , in the end supporting the State, in order to legalize its repression activity. The repression against teknivals is repression against any individual who respects her self , against every freedom , creativity , art and humanity progress. Im already planning next weeks to spread info material as well as try to organize workshops in Athens and Berlin concerning the new Laws and situation in Europe. To whom it may concern to help with information , material , solidarity posters or whatever , contact with us with subject TEKNIVAL SOLIDARITY
Legalize pro-testival is an annual event that takes place in Greece. A diversity of groups , artists , cultural activists gather every year to protest against the Greek drug policy. Legalize protestival is also a mobilization for all those people who faced the state repression because They like to smoke weed. This year the Festival has been divided in two parts (weekends). The first weekend of May the festival took place at Ermou street in the very (center)heart of Athens and the second at the park of environmental awarreness quite close to the city center. The first weekend , before the concerts , the big party and so on, a street parade inspired by reclaim the streets was extending in the big traffics of the city center. A diversity of music like reggae , drum n bass , trance , other accoustic styles , hip hop , punk etc and a lot of people who were willing to stand openly on the the streets for basic legal rights . Therefore the festival was successful , with a lot promises for its development next year. I was not in the organizational collective but I got impressed with the people who joined it as well as the radical overview of the organizers.
I think that even the most suspicious persons about the political background of that festival got satisfied from the participation as well as the collective’s announcement that I put forward bellow.
“This festival is organized from all of us ,for the benefit of all of us and it can take place only through the conscious participation and help from everybody. It is an open public celebration for Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Choice, Self-Determination, Personal and Social Autonomy. There is not any separation between the “organizers”, the “artists”, the cultural activists and all the participators. There is no ticket, no payments or any financial profit , Self-Organization,Voluntary participatory responsibility, Liberation of the Public Space, Anti-commercial logic, Non-Employment, Non-Profit Economics are the values that you find hidden inside the core of Athens Legalize it Festival , in the fight against all prohibitions and against all addictions, in the same way as in all events and festivals of the underground social and political movement in GreeceThis festival fights openly against any kind of drug culture, against the drug-dealers ,against heroin, against cocaine, against ego-trips, against using of multi substances, against junkie attidute and irrational overdose selfish using of substances (whatever kind of them! ) This festival is against stupefaction, freak-out and self-delusion Freedom, Love,Friendship, Music,Travelling, Celebrations,Existential experience of collective Joy,The Dreaming, Creativity, Opening of Consciousness Could never surrender to jailers, Judges, psychiatrists, policemen Or drug-dealers It is an obligation of all of us. This gathering to be a lesson From all of to all of us, An experience that can make us better people an empowering experience a gathering of awareness. This festival is organized against all prohibitions And against all addictions!”
insti2te
fancypunk
dr0fn0thing
chrysoval
individualusername
mnanotek
markoira
subsonicnoise
degrecia
Jennifairy
). It was like being in a drum n bass party in 1997. Old-school beats, rather no concept behind, kinda boring, one of the same stuff as usual. No fresh tunes of drum n bass, neither good breaks from the past as well. The djs seemed really to enjoy but I can’t say the same for the crowd. Most of the people were laying down on the sofa or drinking their cocktail at the bar (dr0fn0thing says: you came to late mate, before it was a madhouse 
..During the summer time Athens turns into a real Hell with the temperature up to 40 degrees. Therefore run directly to the port (Piraeus) and get your ferry ticket for the next destination . Where do you have to go? It depends who you re and what are you searching for. Although the most of the people are searching generally for the same things and in all of the greek islands you can find almost everything you wish , some places are always better than others. Therefore I will describe the best holiday Islands for 5 different types of people as well as I will tell you where Im going this summer.
welcome to Samothraki Island 
