Athens Preview:
November 23–30, 2025
Curator Meg Shiffler returned to Athens in November 2025 for a weeklong preview of the project. After months of working across distance, the time shared in Athens marked an essential turning point—an opportunity to inhabit the work together, to test its presence in the world, and to experience a sense of joy and alignment in work created across cultures and borders.
At this point in the project’s development, artist Anna Pangalou had completed adorning selected olive trees around the exterior of Plato’s Academy Park with copper leaf, while the audio compositions were in development through the collection of site-specific environmental sounds and her own breath. The soft launch unfolded through a series of intimate public and semi-public encounters.
- Two silent soundwalks followed by feedback conversations—one with artists, writers/press, project advisors, and friends, and another with university students.
- Two classroom visits with graduate students at the Athens School of Fine Arts and Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, focusing on the collaborative process and development of ΜΟΡΙΑΙΕΛΑΙΑΙ / Sacred Olives outside of an institutional context.
- A visit to the Fulbright Foundation in Athens to discuss the project; Anna, a Fulbright scholar, remains part of its active artistic community.
- An intimate dinner at a local taverna with Anna’s friends, advisors, and supporters, creating space for conversation and feedback. Guests spoke of being deeply moved by her care for the trees—living survivors often overlooked or neglected—and said the experience made them want to be more attentive to the environments they move through in Athens.
Beyond these public moments, the week was defined by the time Anna and Meg spent together at the project site: walking from tree to tree, sitting in the park, and speaking with neighborhood residents and business owners who had come to know Anna and her work. These quieter exchanges grounded the project in lived experience and local connection.
πατήστε εδώ για το κείμενο στα Ελληνικά
Student tour, Nov 2025. Photo: Freddie Faulkenberry
Anna and Professor Yiorgos Klimis, Nov 2025. Photo: Jason Hanasik
Community discussion after tour at Kolonos District taverna. Nov 2025. Photo: Meg Shiffler
Anna leading a student tour, Nov 2025. Photo: Freddie Faulkenberry
Panteion University of Athens, Nov 2025.
Anna, Meg and Michalis Koroneos, owner of Koronaios Winery, Athens, Nov 2025
Anna, Meg, Professor Yiorgos Klimis and students, Panteion University of Athens, Nov 2025
Student tour, Nov 2025. Photo: Freddie Faulkenberry
Student tour, Nov 2025. Photo: Freddie Faulkenberry
Visit to the Fulbright Foundation, Athens, Nov 2025
. Meg meeting one of Anna’s tree, Nov 2025.