The Weekly Collection #1
A weekend plan that knows how to eat, drink and discover the most significant events in the city, from theatre and cinema to art and unmissable festivals.
What's going on out there? The city is becoming alive every hour. Every day is more interesting. It's been a while since the New York Times predicted that Athens would become the new Berlin and win over those audiences who know how to distinguish entertainment from entertainment. And yet, it's heartwarming to find out how right they were about this evolution of the city's culinary and cultural life even since that distant 2017. Indeed, today in every neighbourhood, we can find at least one place that will stimulate our interest. It can be from a new theatre or exhibition centre to a new wine shop with fantastic delicacies, for drinks with terrible music or all together simultaneously.
Life in the city happens every day, and a reason to get out of the house and listen, watch, try, and find our place. With The Weekly Collection column, we undertake to identify all those unmissable events that we want to include in our plan. A plan that tests, monitors, attends and suggests.
The unforgettable pizza: Ovio
Where: Apollonos 4, Athens
And on social media: Instagram | Facebook
When: Whenever you want to eat Italian
Why: Panos Ioannidis has made one of the most fantastic kinds of pasta we have tried in Athens (and beyond). And as if that weren't enough, he's made the biggest underdog in ordering a favourite: the Margherita pizza. Yes, the Margherita pizza. Because indeed, when you want to try a restaurant's cuisine, the vast majority of us will choose something with cold cuts, something with truffle, something with many kinds of cheese and finally, the Margherita pizza. And yet, on this list, this pizza is something else. The same goes for the gnocchi with gorgonzola, pear and walnuts. Then, of course, the risotto (a bit of an ace up Ioannidis' sleeve) with asparagus and lime is one of the dishes that must pass the table. To sit, clean and leave, making our stomachs happy. Finally, you have to save some space for sweets. And if you don't want a plural, understandably, let's be simple and order the lemon pie, which is the epitome of this saying: When life gives you lemons. Well, in this case, making a lemon pie is the best suggestion one could think of.
Bonus: The speed with which the dishes come to the table to relax and surprise our palate.
The show of the week: The Players, directed by Giorgos Koutlis
Where: At the Kivotos Theatre
And on social media: Facebook
When: Wednesday - Sunday
Why: He answers me sold out and with that effortless laugh, the terrible group of Yiannis Niarros, Vassilis Magouliotis, Ilias Moulas, Alexandros Chrysanthopoulos, Giorgos Tzavaras and Giorgos Boukauris together with a crazy guest from Themis Panou are coming or instead COMING to take the applause and lighten our soul. For the second year at the Kivotos Theatre, directed by Giorgos Koutlis, Nikolai Gogol's comedy is exactly what your SC needs to remain SC. The always delightful Yiannis Niarros and his wonderful friends Ilias Moulas and Alexandros Chrysanthopoulos set a trap for adult card players and more.
Where do I book: www.viva.gr/tickets
The concert of the month: Tindersticks with strings and guests
Where: Concert Hall of Athens & Thessaloniki
When: 30-31/10 & 1/11
Why: Celebrating 30 years on the music scene, the band that takes us on cinematic escapades in every note closes its anniversary tour in Greece with two concerts in Athens (30&31/10) and one in Thessaloniki (1/11) at Megaro of Athens and the Thessaloniki Concert Hall respectively. If we think that thanks to a matchbox that Stuart Staples found in Greece, they "owe" their name, it's a good closure. With their new song written for the fantastic Danish YouTube channel Brodie Sessions and released a few days ago, many guests and strings, the band and Stuart's perfectly calm and characteristic voice will be here waiting for us to close or open our month.
Where do I book: Tickets
The Group Exhibition that (we don't want to, but) ends: "Reality check chapter II: inner sanctum"
Where: At the Attica Psychiatric Hospital in Dafni
Και στα social: Facebook
When: Thursday - Sunday (until 30/10 from 15.00-20.00)
Why: 36 artists undertake to continue asking questions beyond the nature and operation of a psychiatric Institution, one year after the first "reality check" group exhibition presented in 2021 in one of the most significant abandoned buildings of the Attica Psychiatric Hospital (PSNA Dafni ). Costas Prapoglou curates the collection that wants to speak and share messages that can only be heard and assimilated in such a space. One of the most important events in contemporary art for 2022 as this SC ends. An excursion may end up in Eleusis (about the events we will discuss next week).
Exhibition information: artefact-athens.org
The film that won Cannes: Escape Decision, by Park Chan Wook
Where: In the cinemas of the city
And the audience's review of it: www.imdb.com/title
When: All week
Why: The creator of the fantastic and now timeless "Old Boy", Park Chan Wook, one of the leading contemporary Koreans, won the Director prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival for his outstanding film noir: Decision to Escape. It is the story of a police officer in a state of permanent insomnia who investigates the mysterious death of a well-to-do middle-aged man who appears to have fallen from the top of a cliff. Fans of the excellent Park films already know that this is a beginning that, over the next 138 minutes, will begin to complicate and fascinate its viewer. Yes, it's long - you better go, SK. Yes, it's worth every minute. But, no, it would be best if you didn't lose her.
By the following week, the plan was complete. All that remains is to make the program so that you can fit it all. And if you don't make it, here's the next one. The important thing is to be active and learn. After all, this is the only way we can evolve with events that first become experiences and then memories.
