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The British Museum is facing legal action from one of the UK’s leading heritage preservation organisations over its refusal to allow the 3D scanning of a piece in its Parthenon marbles collection.
The Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) said it would serve an injunction against the museum imminently, raising the stakes in the dispute between the two.
— The Guardian
The 269-year-old institution is said to have refused a request from the Oxford-based Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) that would have reproduced a metope from the Acropolis’ south-facing facade for an important proof of concept. The scans are supposed to allow for a robotic replication... View full entry
The fate of the British Museum’s heavily contested Parthenon Marbles (also referred to as the Elgin Marbles) has once again come under clout after the UK decided to reject UNESCO’s request to reassess its position on repatriating the 2,500-year-old relics to their country of origin. The... View full entry
Europe’s summer of natural disasters has included increasingly frequent extreme weather events [...]
Ms. Myrivili’s appointment is a recognition of that new reality. But it is also a foreboding sign that having someone to grapple with suffocating temperatures may be a mainstay of the municipal cityscape, as necessary and unremarkable as a transportation, sanitation or police commissioner.
— The New York Times
Other cities like Miami have retained administrators with similar titles. Athens is leading the way in terms of a loss of residents who are in large part moving to escape the heat. The country itself is expected to lose 8 million people in the next four years. Myrivili earned a PhD from... View full entry
Across southern Europe, large wildfires have so far killed eight people and caused mass evacuations while also threatening to damage ancient cultural sites. In Greece, authorities have partially closed the Acropolis and other major archaeological sites while battling with dozens of conflagrations around Athens. — Hyperallergic
Greece is currently in the midst of its worst heatwave in over thirty years, and the capital region has been squarely in the crosshairs as the heat has combined with encroaching wildfires to create an emergency situation in Athens. The UNESCO World Heritage Site has recently been... View full entry
Foster + Partners has released designs for what will be the tallest building in Greece. Located near Athens, Marina Tower will also be the first green high-rise building in Greece and the tallest green beachfront high-rise building in the Mediterranean. Images © DBOX for Foster +... View full entry
Plans for a major renovation project to the western entrance of the Acropolis have been met with strong opposition from archaeologists in Greece and across the world. In an open letter to the public, the signatories, including figures from the universities of Oxford, Durham and Brown, called for the cancellation of a project they believe will lead to the “devaluation, concealment and degradation of the greatest archaeological and artistic treasure that has been bequeathed to modern Greece”. — The Art Newspaper
At the center of the controversy is the argument over the "correct appearance" of the historic Acropolis site in Athens that has experienced multiple additions, restorations, and excavations over the years. According to The Art Newspaper, the group opposed to the planned renovation believes that... View full entry
A battle over the right to enjoy uninterrupted views of the Acropolis has resulted in a five-star hotel being ordered to demolish its top two floors, in a landmark ruling hailed by residents of Athens. [...]
Citizens enraged about the ten-storey establishment blocking their own views of the citadel took the case to the highest court in the land.
— The Guardian
Activists in the Greek capital have been rallying against a number of high-rise proposals that could substantially block the view of the city's most priced historic landmark. The court's decision in the most recent luxury hotel case wasn't easy, however, as The Guardian points out: "In 2012, in... View full entry
As the United Kingdom works to strike new trade deals with Europe following Brexit, Greek authorities are using the occasion to try and negotiate a return of the country's long-lost Parthenon Marbles (also referred to as the Elgin Marbles). Reuters reports that Greek officials have included... View full entry
This post is brought to you by AA Athens Visiting School. AA Athens Visiting Schools will be hosting their workshop, Symmetry Sentience, from June 12th through the 22nd and the deadline is approaching—you have until May 29th to submit your online application form and fees!Our world has been... View full entry
This post is brought to you by AA Athens Visiting School. Symmetry SentienceMonday 12 - Thursday 22 June 2017Our world has been enriched by numerous interactive means that connect us across the different continents. These amplifications take place through various media that in turn estrange... View full entry
This post is brought to you by AA Greece Visiting School. AA Chania Progressions::4 October – 14 October 2016In 2016, the AA Chania Visiting School will continue to pursue its design agenda concentrating on the bigger picture of the Chania city’s characteristics. The city of Chania is the... View full entry
This post is brought to you by AA Greece Visiting School. AA Chania Progressions::4 October – 14 October 2016In 2016, the AA Chania Visiting School will continue to pursue its design agenda concentrating on the bigger picture of the Chania city’s characteristics. The city of Chania is the... View full entry
the artist says we should not “sentimentalise or romanticise” the crisis, which has seen more than 2,000 children die on their way to Europe. [...]
Ai first visited Lesbos on Christmas Day last year, and has since dedicated most of his life to helping refugees there, even moving his studio to the island. [...]
“The goal is to make everyone conscious of the struggle of refugees. We need to protect humanity. The fight is endless. If we don’t fight, our children have to fight,” he says.
— theartnewspaper.com
Related on Archinect:Ai Weiwei documents life in Greek refugee camp on social mediaUN Refugee Agency Commissions 10k Ikea-designed Better SheltersCurator of MoMA's “Insecurities: Tracing Displacement and Shelter" on palliative refugee architectureWhat Does the Syrian Refugee Crisis Mean to... View full entry
Squalid, chaotic, overwhelmed: Piraeus is the first port of call for the thousands now trapped in the capital, on the frontline of Europe’s refugee crisis. Since the closure of Greece’s northern border and with it the Balkan migrant trail – a move that has resulted in more than 46,000 stranded on the Greek mainland – it has been emblematic of the country’s inability to cope with a situation few had envisaged. — The Guardian
"In passenger terminals never built to deal with a humanitarian crisis, facilities have been rudimentary, tensions high, and resources vastly overstretched."The article notes that the growing refugee population is putting pressure on Athenian society, which was already tense as the country... View full entry
The Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei is visiting Lesbos to document the plight of thousands of refugees who arrive daily on the Greek island by boat from Turkey. For the past two days, Ai has been photographing orange rubber dinghies coming into shore, families huddled around fires, people queuing to register at the Moria refugee camp and piles of discarded lifejackets, among other scenes [...]
It is understood Ai will be creating a work in response to the refugee crisis.
— theartnewspaper.com
Here are just a few of Ai Weiwei's recent photos from the Lesbos refugee camp; giving a human face to people and entire families escaping war and persecution in their home countries of Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, as well as documenting humanitarian workers, such as the Norwegian group, Drop... View full entry
