Interdisciplinary art • site-specific projects • art–science collaboration • cultural initiatives
We design, curate and deliver cultural initiatives that connect research, creativity and place.
KALLIERGON syn seeks to leave a lasting imprint on culture by opening paths of thought, creation and collaboration, paths that remain open and continue to be walked
Because creation begins with syn, together
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF KAZANTZAKIS AND ZORBAS
Land, People and Freedom in Kazantzakis’ Mani
Stoupa, West Mani, 25–27 September 2026
Where life became literature...Where literature comes to life.
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF KAZANTZAKIS AND ZORBAS
land, people and freedom in Kazantzakis’ Mani
Stoupa, West Mani, 25–27 September 2026
A three-day, multidisciplinary, site-specific festival in Stoupa, West Mani, drawing its content and inspiration from the very place where the relationship between Nikos Kazantzakis and George Zorbas gained particular depth through a shared experience that was later transformed into one of the most iconic stories of modern Greek literature.
109 years after Nikos Kazantzakis and George Zorbas shared this experience in Stoupa, and 80 years after the writing "Zorba the Greek", the festival reconnects the place with memory, creation, and the experience that left a profound imprint on Kazantzakis’ later literary work. Through artistic, narrative, participatory, and experiential activities, Stoupa becomes a vibrant meeting ground for land, humanity, and freedom.
The festival forms part of the broader cultural initiative STOUPA: The Kazantzakis-Zorbas Project, a cultural initiative that highlights the enduring relationship between place, people and creativity, activating memory through contemporary artistic expression, community participation and a creative dialogue between past and present.
The programme is continuously evolving and enriched through collaborations with public institutions, cultural organisations, artists, scholars and active citizens, creating an open space for encounter, dialogue and creation.
THE ARTWORK BEHIND THE FESTIVAL POSTER
Alter Ego (2017), a work by Vasiliki Kateri, forms the visual background of the festival poster and serves as a conceptual prologue to “In the Footsteps of Kazantzakis and Zorbas.”
Created with natural materials from the landscape of West Mani — two large beach stones from Pantazi Beach and sand from Kalogria Beach — together with coal dust and a mirror, the work brings the physical matter of the place into its meaning. The landscape is not represented; it becomes part of the work itself, connecting the relationship between Nikos Kazantzakis and George Zorbas with the actual place in which that relationship took shape.
Alter Ego explores the creative tension between thought and action, contemplation and lived experience. The two forms and their reflections suggest an inner dialogue between different ways of being: the person who observes and reflects, and the person who acts and experiences life directly. The work proposes Zorbas as an alter ego through whom Kazantzakis encounters another possibility of the self — one associated with action, instinct and the immediacy of lived experience.
This dialogue extends into the festival itself. Stoupa and the landscape of West Mani become an active field of encounter between place, memory, human experience and contemporary creation.
In this sense, Alter Ego offers a way of entering the festival’s central themes — land, people and freedom — as living relationships that continue to invite reflection on the boundaries between thought and experience, self and other, life and creation.
Alter Ego (2017)
Vasiliki Kateri
Mixed-media assemblage
Natural beach stones from Pantazi Beach (West Mani), sand from Kalogria Beach, coal dust, mirror
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Land — People — Freedom
Where Land Reflects the Human Spirit
The festival “In the Footsteps of Kazantzakis and Zorbas: Land, People and Freedom in Kazantzakis’ Mani” draws its inspiration from a specific place and a defining encounter that left an indelible mark on the life and work of Nikos Kazantzakis.
His encounter with George Zorbas and their shared experience at the lignite mines of Prastova, near Stoupa, are approached not merely as a historical event, but as a living field of relationship, tension, interaction and creative transformation. A relationship born from the meeting of opposites, which evolved into a creative experience and ultimately into a literary work of global significance.
Stoupa of West Mani functions both as an active landscape and as a land that carries memory, resilience and freedom. The festival unfolds across the very places where this encounter took shape, through artistic, narrative and participatory experiences that engage in dialogue with the past without attempting to recreate it.
The locations do not simply host the works; they actively participate in them. The individual becomes collective, contrast becomes a bridge, and friendship is transformed into an act of creation.
The festival creates conditions for encounter, freedom and inner transformation. It activates memory in the present and proposes a contemporary journey alongside place, humanity and creativity.
Youth Participation
The festival seeks to build bridges between memory and the present, encouraging younger generations to engage creatively with the place and its stories.
Student Field Research: "The Young Researchers of Stoupa"
A participatory educational initiative inviting school communities to explore and document present-day Stoupa through the perspective of Kazantzakis and Zorbas.
Taking on the role of young researchers and reporters, students are encouraged to investigate how the place associated with one of the most significant stories of modern Greek literature is experienced and narrated today.
The results of the research may be presented on the festival’s website after the event, creating a contemporary collective portrait of Stoupa and West Mani.
PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO RECORDING
During the “In the Footsteps of Kazantzakis and Zorbas” Festival, photography and video recording will take place at festival activities and their respective locations. Participants and members of the public attending these activities may be captured in photographs or video footage.
The photographic and audiovisual material is used by KALLIERGON syn, as the festival organizer, for the documentation, presentation and communication of the festival and its activities, and may be published on the KALLIERGON syn website and social media channels, as well as in related printed, digital or audiovisual communication material.
If you do not wish to be photographed or recorded on video, please inform the photographer, videographer or a member of the organizing team at the event location.
Particular care is taken when capturing and using individual close-up images in which a person is the main and clearly identifiable subject. Where required, prior consent will be requested.
Special care is taken with regard to minors. Individual, identifiable close-up images of minors will not be used for the organization’s communication purposes without the required permission of a parent or legal guardian.
Data Controller: KALLIERGON syn
Contact for personal data matters: vasiliki.kateri@kalliergon.com
MEDICAL SUPPORT
Dr Athanasios D. Zaravelas
Orthopaedic Surgeon, MD, PhD
NOTE: The festival is based on collaboration and the support of individuals and organizations who believe in culture as a collective good. Those who wish to contribute financially may support the festival in the way and to the extent of their own choosing.
SUPPORTED BY
