Living Among Giants | Psychogeographies
“Living Among Giants | Psychogeographies” is a contemporary artistic project that explores the connection between living experience and landscape, as shaped through the enduring coexistence of the community of Kypseli (formerly Chosepsi) with the mountains of Tzoumerka, the “giants” of Epirus.
Through visual artworks and performances, the artists engage in a dialogue with the history, natural environment, everyday culture, and objects of collective memory of Kypseli, one of the most notable villages of Epirus. The result is a living narrative that reveals hidden stories and memories of its people, fostering a continuous dialogue between past and present.
Dialogue with contemporary culture sparks an artistic journey through the village of Kipseli, Tzoumerka. “Living Among Giants | Psychogeographies” was designed and realized by CHEAPART, with the financial support and under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture (YPPO), the Municipality of Central Tzoumerka, Kypseli Municipal District of Arta, the Pantelis Karalis Museum of Folk Art and Life, and with the participation and collaboration of local the community.
Since 2021, CHEAPART has developed a series of exhibitions and research projects in regions where dialogue and fresh perspectives are most needed. By linking contemporary thought with artistic creation, these projects generate space for exchange, rooted in the unique local history, myths, and traditions.
«Living Among Giants | Psychogeographies» evokes the authentic forms of communication and interaction that have historically shaped the community, emerging from a life lived among the wild mountains-the “giants” of Epirus. This experience constitutes a “good practice” in openness, outreach, and mutual understanding, reinterpreted through diverse artistic practices within a seven-day contemporary art gathering.
Psychogeography serves as a means of exploring the lived relationship between people and place. In Tzoumerka, place is not simply a geographical reality, but an experience inscribed upon the body and embedded in memory. The mountainous landscape, its pathways, and its sense of isolation have shaped a distinctive way of inhabiting and perceiving the world, in which nature becomes both a source of security and a challenge to human limits, as well as a carrier of collective memory. Through contemporary artistic practices, the landscape is reinterpreted as a field of living psychogeographies, where past and present coexist and interact creatively. A central exhibition across two historic sites is complemented by artistic interventions and activities unfolding within the traditional spatial and social environments of Kypseli.
What contemporary narrative could shape a new collective experience in Kypseli?
Every journey, lived experience, and pathway is connected to the community’s living psychic landscape, shaped by nature and by its historical and social experiences. 19 contemporary artists from Greece and abroad enter into dialogue with the existing landscape, re-signifying places and traditional routes while proposing new ways of perceiving and understanding the landscape. They explore movement and the ways space is used, the impact of time on the body and memory, forms of interaction, and the potential to create new individual and collective spaces.
⟶ Group exhibition, 19 Contemporary artists among the «Giants»
Nineteen contemporary artists and three curators from Greece, Austria, Germany, and Finland came together in the group exhibition *Living Among Giants | Geography of the Soul*, hosted at the Kypseli Primary School and the Pantelis Karalis Museum of Folk Art and Life, in an artistic collaboration inspired by local traditions and culture.
Artists: Sebastian Boulter, Christian Rupp, Sof Fachouridou, Richard Jochum, Athina Kanela, Babis Karalis, Dimitris Karalis, Eleni Kastrinogianni, Carrot Root, Lars* Kollros, Anna Alexia Papadopoulou, Leftheris Plakidas, Elio Samaras, Mehrta Shirzadian/ Stephan Trimmel, Nefeli Stamatogiannopoulou (Nefeli Stam.)/ Giorgos Gogolos, Athina Vahla, Werner Widmer
⟶ Events and Tours
Local Community in Dialogue with the contemporary:
Presentations / Workshops / Discussions:
• Archival exhibition «Dimitris Karalis, the photographer, the man»
• Open discussion with members of the Kypseli community, addressed by Theologian Kostas Aggelis, Pavlos Doulamis, President of the Municipal Community of Kypseli (Chosepsi)
• Gastronomy installation, Anna Alexia Papadopoulou «Fuel the vessel», co-produced with the community of Kypseli
• Leftheris Plakidas, Presentation and talk "Where can photography lead you?"
• Athina Vahla, «Early bird routines» Movement / improvisation practice connecting body, space, and community through breath, awareness, and collective experience.
Tours / excursions:
• Excursion to Kipina Monastery and Kalarrytes
• «Stone Crosses: The Guardians of Tzoumerka», Visit to the stone crosses and discussion on establishing a sculpture gallery
• Visit to Kokkini Ekklisia (Red Church), Guided tour by Theologian Kostas Aggelis
Performance:
• Athina Vahla, Carrot Root, «The glass threshold», A museum intervention at the Pantelis Karalis Museum of Folk Art and Life
• Mehrta Shirzadian, "Soul Exchange", participatory performance
• Lars* Kollros, «Acoustic Movements» visual / sound performance
• Sebastian Boulter, «Endless Rowing for Singing Rowers», sound performance
• Collaborative visual and sound performance, Sebastian Boulter / Lars* Kollros
• Carrot Root, «habenichts*in», sound performance
• «Between Worlds - Six Chapters», Giorgos Gogolos, Nefeli Stam, visual / sound performance
• Nefeli Stam (improvisation) / Carrot Root«habenichts*in», collaborative performance
• Presentation of visual designs to the participating artists by Takis Karalis
“Traces of Stone”, live observatory and archive, a dialogue between tradition and the contemporary.
An open and interdisciplinary initiative: a living archive and repository, open and accessible to all, connecting art, nature, and social space. It is a collective process of wandering, observation, and creation, brought to life through photographic impressions of the artists and public.
Organized by: CHEAPART
Coordinated by: CHEAPART, APART Art Research and Applications
Program directors:
Georg Georgakopoulos
Fotini Kapiris
Babis Karalis
With the financial support and under the Auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Under the auspices and with the support of the Municipality of Central Tzoumerka
With the collaboration of Kypseli Municipal District, Arta
Pantelis Karalis Museum of Folk Art and Life
Delta Dyo NPO
Kunst im Keller
Participation of the Community of Kypseli
Hosted by:
Kypseli Tzoumerka/ Epirus/ Zig Zag Festival 2026
[L] Outdoor view of exhibition venue, Kypseli Primary School [R] Opening with the gastronomic installation by Anna Alexia Papadopoulou
[L - R] Exhibition view
[L] Exhibition view [R] Opening, Artwork by Athina Kanela
[L] Screening of the photographic archive of Dimitris Karalis [R] Mehrta Shirzadian & Stephan Trimmel, «Man in the Mirror» and performance «Soul Exchange» της Mehrta Shirzadian
[L] Sebastian Boulter, «Endless Rowing for Singing Rowers» [R] Lars* Kollros, «Acoustic Movements»
[L] Lars* Kollros, «Acoustic Movements» Visual/ sound performance [R] Pantelis Karalis Museum of Folk Art and Life
[L] «Between Worlds - Six Chapters», Giorgos Gogolos, Nefeli Stam, Visual/ sound performance [R] Carrot Root, «habenichts*in», Music performance
[L] Leftheris Plakidas, "Where can photography lead you?" [R] Kokkini Ekklisia (Red Church), Vourgareli. Guided tour by Theologian Kostas Aggelis
[L] Pantelis Karalis Museum of Folk Art and Life, Richard Jochum [R] Werner Widmer
[L] Athina Vahla in collaboration with Carrot Root, «Τhe glass threshold», Pantelis Karalis Museum of Folk Art and Life [R] Stone Crosses: The Guardians of Tzoumerka, visit and discussion
[L] Artists and curators "Living Among Giants | Psychogeographies" [R] Program directors, Georg Georgakopoulos, Fotini Kapiris, Babis Karalis
[L] Pantelis Karalis Museum of Folk Art and Life [R] Presentation of visual designs, by the local Takis Karalis
