IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF KAZANTZAKIS AND ZORBAS
Land, Human Being, and Freedom in Kazantzakis’ Mani
Stoupa, West Mani, Messinia, Greece
Coming this September...
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF KAZANTZAKIS AND ZORBAS
Land, Human Being, and Freedom in Kazantzakis’ Mani
Stoupa, West Mani, Messinia, Greece
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. Its aim is to highlight the living relationship between place, human presence, and creation, through the artistic reactivation of a defining moment of 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.
The artwork alter ego (2017) by Vasiliki Kateri, featured on the festival poster, functions as the conceptual preface to the festival "In the Footsteps of Kazantzakis and Zorbas". It offers a visual approach to the profound existential relationship between Nikos Kazantzakis and Giorgis Zorbas, as it was shaped in Stoupa of Western Mani. The work captures the creative tension between thought and action, contemplation and lived experience. The reflection of the two figures on the mirror does not suggest a simple duality, but an inner dialogue: the human being who thinks and the human being who dares to live. Kazantzakis is reflected in Zorbas not as an opposite, but as an alter ego, a version of the self that is desired, admired, yet unattainable. The festival extends this dialogue into the landscape itself. As in the artwork, Stoupa of Western Mani is not treated as a backdrop, but as an active participant. It becomes a space of reflection, coexistence, and reactivation of memory. Alter ego does not narrate the story of the festival; it proposes its mode of reading. It sets the conditions for an experience in which land, the human spirit, and freedom are not presented 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 the Mani of Kazantzakis” takes its point of departure from a specific place and a defining encounter that left a lasting imprint 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 not as a historical episode, but as a living field of relationship, tension, and interaction. A relationship born from the meeting of opposites and transformed into a creative experience.
Western Mani does not function here as a backdrop, but as an active field. As land carrying memory, resistance, and freedom. The festival unfolds in the very places where this encounter was shaped, through artistic, narrative, and experiential actions that do not reenact the past, but enter into dialogue with it.
Spaces do not merely host works; they participate in them. The particular becomes collective. Contrast becomes a bridge. Friendship is transformed into an act of creation.
The festival does not seek answers, but conditions: conditions for encounter, freedom, and inner movement. As a contemporary form of intangible cultural heritage, the festival activates memory in the present, proposing a shared journey between place, human presence, 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.
Open Call for Artists / Creators – Festival Participation
The festival invites artists and creators to express their interest in participating by submitting proposals, within a site-specific cultural event that activates place, memory, and contemporary artistic practice. Participation αφορά exhibitions, presentations, and actions that engage in dialogue with the spirit and thematic framework of the festival. Selection is based on the organizational and financial capacity of the festival, as well as spatial, technical, and time-related considerations, and does not constitute an evaluation of artistic quality. Detailed terms of participation are outlined in the relevant document below.
Invitation & Framework for Business Participation
The festival invites artists and creators to express their interest in participating by submitting proposals, within a site-specific cultural event that activates place, memory, and contemporary artistic practice. Participation αφορά exhibitions, presentations, and actions that engage in dialogue with the spirit and thematic framework of the festival. Selection is based on the organizational and financial capacity of the festival, as well as spatial, technical, and time-related considerations, and does not constitute an evaluation of artistic quality. Detailed terms of participation are outlined in the relevant document below.
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