The work done during the week in Thessaloniki was an important and positive  experience that has matured in all of us the awareness of the strength that Art can have in helping people.

There have been five days of encounter, listening, observation, exercise and visits.
From the first day, with friends of ANTIGONE, Andromachi and Byron, we have worked with ludic painting, a entertaining activities to get in touch with each other, to make us know aesthetically and at the same time participate in the dual role of “models to be portrayed “(passive) and ” painter artists “(active).

Subsequently, the Spanish friends of COGAMI have exposed the professional work experience within their association, with its teaching laboratories supporting the disabled. So the Swedish team of MEDLEFORS FOLKHOGSKOLA has involved us with their physical body relaxation techniques and activities.

Particularly interesting was the lesson of the English group of HEADWAY ARTS about the “self-evaluation” process. A work that involved all participants by collecting a number of possible principles that may be useful for user rating.
An approach based on the centrality of the person, stimulating mutual trust and a kind of courage to activate the various relational opportunities: meeting, commitment, spirit, fairness, expressiveness, tolerance, etc.
In summary, a process of evaluation that can be understood as a journey to take without being in a hurry, as it takes time to learn to know and during which you must find the right “balance” between the individual placed in the center of attention and The group around it. Introducing mutual mechanisms of flexibility, solidarity, group spirit and positive thinking.

In the next day, at the Contemporary Art Museum in Thessaloniki, we have been working on art workshops on the subject of different cultures about the expression of the facial portrait. The theme of self-portrait with the Pop Art technique; a little workshop for making decorative objects (necklaces, masks, crowns, etc.) linked to the traditional mythological culture of the Greek carnival; at last we met some artists-users from the Antigone Association, who illustrated the working techniques and how they made their works.

Finally, in a gray and decadent aesthetic of Thessaloniki palaces facades that display all their splendor decorated with parables and air conditioning machines, the opportunity to discover the colors of artistic expression around the different environments (museums, cafes, Grocery stores, branch offices, private circles, etc.) that hosted the collections of artists linked to Antigone, gave us a contrasting, positiv and vibrant inner vision of the city itself.

We thank Andromachi and all friends of Antigone for the hospitality and the fantastic organization and we fully share the words of Byron with which he defined that “in Art the madness is added value”