Interdisciplinary art • site-specific projects • art–science collaboration • cultural initiatives
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, Human Being, and Freedom in Kazantzakis’ Mani
Stoupa, West Mani, 25–27 September 2026
Coming this September...
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF KAZANTZAKIS AND ZORBAS
Land, Human Being, and Freedom in Kazantzakis’ Mani
Stoupa, West Mani, 25–27 September 2026
A three-day, site-specific festival in Stoupa of Western Mani that, 109 years after the meeting of Nikos Kazantzakis and Giorgis Zorbas, transforms place into a living narrative of land, the human spirit, and freedom. The festival is part of the broader framework “MANI | Kazantzakis – Zorbas Project”, which aims to highlight the living relationship between place, human presence, and creation, through the artistic reactivation of a defining moment in our cultural memory. The festival is currently in active preparation and development, with its programming evolving within its own timeline, while remaining open to institutional support.
alter ego (2017) by Vasiliki Kateri, featured on the festival poster, functions as the conceptual prologue to the event “In the Footsteps of Kazantzakis and Zorbas.” The work is a visual approach to the profound, existential relationship between Nikos Kazantzakis and Giorgis Zorbas, as it unfolded in Stoupa of Western Mani. It captures the creative tension between thought and action, reflection and lived experience. The reflection of the two forms upon the mirror suggests, beyond a simple duality, an inner dialogue: the human being who reflects and the human being who dares to live. Kazantzakis is mirrored in Zorbas as an alter ego — as a version of the self he longs for and admires, yet cannot fully embody. The festival extends this dialogue into the place itself. As in the artwork, so in Stoupa of Western Mani, the landscape becomes an active interlocutor, a field of reflection, coexistence and reactivation of memory.
alter ego proposes the way of reading the festival, setting the conditions for an experience in which land, human being and freedom emerge not merely as concepts, but as living relationships that continue to shift the boundaries of self and creation.
alter ego (2017)
Composition / mixed media
Materials:
two big pebbles from Mani (Pantazi Beach), sand (Kalogria Beach), coal dust mirror
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Land. Human Being. Freedom.
Where Land Reflects the Human Spirit
The festival “In the Footsteps of Kazantzakis and Zorbas: Land, Human Being and Freedom in Kazantzakis’ Mani” draws its point of departure from a specific place and a decisive encounter that left an indelible mark on the life and work of Nikos Kazantzakis.
His brief stay in Mani and his collaboration with Giorgis Zorbas at the lignite mines of Prastova, near Stoupa, are approached as a living field of relationship, tension and interaction rather than as a simple historical event. A relationship born from the meeting of opposites and transformed into a creative experience.
Western Mani functions as an active field and as a land that carries memory, resistance and freedom. The festival unfolds in the very places where this encounter took shape, through artistic, narrative and experiential actions that engage with the past while not attempting to reenact it.
The spaces host works and actively participate in them. The particular becomes unified, contrast becomes a bridge, and friendship transforms into an act of creation.
The festival establishes conditions for encounter, freedom and inner movement. As a contemporary form of intangible cultural heritage, it activates memory in the present and proposes a shared journey between place, human being and creation.
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.
Invitation & Framework for Business Participation
The festival extends an open invitation to businesses and organizations that wish to participate, either as hosting partners for festival activities or as participating businesses/exhibitors.
Participation is based on the principles of collaboration, transparency, and equal treatment, within the framework of a cultural program with a clear identity, a social orientation, and a meaningful connection to place.
Detailed terms of participation and collaboration are outlined in the relevant document below.
A trace-like ideogram that brings together
the human presence and the landscape,
between stillness and freedom
Festivals organized by the same creative team prior to the establishment of
KALLIERGON syn
Under the auspices and in collaboration with
Supported by
