Plex, more than another cultural venue

It’s much than conscionable a building, oregon different taste enactment oregon a “hub” for offbeat artists. Plex, which opened its doors officially connected September 25 with a forum and a party, aspires to beryllium overmuch much than that. With a multifaceted mission, it seeks to service arsenic a catalyst successful the transformation of the fashionable downtown Kerameikos territory into a vibrant, multifaceted hub of creator accumulation and expression, grounded successful the values of community, creativity and sustainability. The semipermanent extremity is to enactment guardant a connection that establishes, connected realistic terms, an alternate exemplary of surviving and coexistence that stands successful opposition to the assertive monoculture of tourism and dining.

This is not the archetypal clip Kerameikos – a erstwhile manufacturing territory – has inspired such ambitious plans. Back successful the mid-2000s, a well-known existent property developer began acquiring aged houses that showed some architectural merit, on with warehouses and bare tons successful the area, with the purpose of making them available to idiosyncratic artists and related originative groups. The overarching vision was to endow the vicinity with a chiseled individuality that would acceptable it isolated from the crowded and alternatively bittersweet state of areas similar Gazi and Psyrri, blighted by wide entertainment. The task collapsed when the economical situation took hold. In the meantime, a conception of the city’s creation assemblage regarded the developer’s program arsenic thing little than a veil for municipality gentrification and the applicable state services failed to understand his true intentions.

View of the interior from the experimental cognition of Plex, which is not expected to unopen down adjacent during the restoration works

The situation appears antithetic today. Vassilis Haralambidis, the manager and co-founder of Bios – 1 of Athens’ astir cutting-edge taste venues, opened successful 2001 – who besides came up with the thought of establishing the originative incubator Romantso connected the fringes of Omonia Square successful 2014, has earned a bully estimation aft much than two decades astatine the forefront of modern Athenian taste production. He doesn’t transportation the stigma of being a “businessman” oregon an “outsider.” And helium has vision.

“We envision Plex not lone arsenic a venue for events, but besides arsenic a taste and κοινωνικά level for Athens, designed to support creator experimentation, assemblage engagement, and inclusive municipality regeneration,” says Haralambidis, who is besides president of the European Creative Hubs Network.

The caller venture is headquartered astatine 28 Kerameikou Street, a once-majestic neoclassical townhouse with shops connected the crushed level and apartments above. Little is known astir the building’s history, different than that it was apt constructed sometime successful the 1920s and aboriginal operated arsenic a knitwear workshop. The gathering already has an creator legacy, having hosted the very archetypal ReMap (2007), and much precocious lodging the corporate experimentation “Communitism.” In its caller incarnation – shaped by the DECA Architecture steadfast – it hosts spaces for exhibitions, performances, workshops and gatherings for residents.

Haralambidis’ program extends further, though, which is why helium bought the adjacent Kerameikos Hotel, which helium seeks to transform into κοινωνικά housing, providing affordable accommodation for artists and creation residencies, and preserving the area’s residential character.

“One of Kerameikos’ biggest issues is hanging connected to its residents, who are being pushed retired by the lodging crisis, and since a important information of these residents are artists, we person a work to step successful with tangible solutions,” helium says.

A third magnitude of the task is an open-air pop-up market, which, successful collaboration with the municipality, will revive the neighborhood’s tradition successful arts and crafts. In the mean term, plans besides see a parallel web of assemblage gardens to bring much greenery and nationalist space.

Plex has already been operating successful an experimental capableness for astir a year, hosting events, and each effort will beryllium made to support it unfastened passim the building’s ongoing renovation.