Organization: E. Averof-Tositsa Foundation, Metsovo Conference Center, June 30 - July 1 & July 2006, in the framework of the opening of the international exhibition "The Scarecrow", with 63 original works by Greek and foreign artists, which was presented in Gallery E. Averoff and in the vineyards of the monastery of Agios Nikolaos Metsovo from July 1 to September 17, 2006.
Subject: A primordial inheritance of the whole of humanity. An instinct, a feeling, a motive force capable of sparking off the most extreme and unreasonable reactions. Fear which lies in wait in everything human, non-human or divine, which nourishes art and the sciences, which is contained in every expression of progress or destruction. Fear which transubstantiates, mutates, is handed on, which colours the relation of man with the divine, creativity, love, life and death.
The aim of the Symposium is both to plunge more deeply into the phenomenon of fear itself, to analyse its causes or to categorise its kinds and forms, and to investigate its role, significance and share in various fields of art and life. That the approach should be as multi-faceted as possible is the desideratum. The contribution of experts from various disciplines will throw light on the subject from a variety of directions, with a view to a more global understanding of it. Of particular interest to us is the element of the cyclical in fear: the cause which becomes the effect, fear which becomes a fear-producing threat, the transformations of fear, the handling of fear – by the individual, by the group, by social or political power.
Subjects
Analysing fear: Philosophy, History, Anthropology, Medicine – Psychiatry
Transforming fear: Folklore, History of Art, Literature, Cinema – Stage Direction
Using fear: Politics, Economy, Advertising – Marketing – Life Style, Theology, Psychology, Paedagogics
Guest Speakers:
Christos Boulotis (writer / archaeologist, researcher, Academy of Athens), Manolis Charos (painter), Lena Divani (writer / professor, Athens Faculty of Law), Nick Haeffner (professor of communications, London Metropolitan University), Katerina Kamilaki (Director, Centre for Research into Greek Folklore, Academy of Athens), Marilena Koppa (Panteio University, Department of International & European Studies), Angeliki Kotaridou (archaeologist, Museum of the Royal Tombs of Aegae at Vergina), Nico de Oliveira (Director, Museum of Installation, London), Costis Papaioannou (educator, former President, Amnesty International), Ioannis Petrou (professor of sociology & ethics, Department of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Petros Polychronis (child psychiatrist, Director, AKMA), Stavros Theodorakis (journalist with Star Channel, and Ta Nea newspaper), Maria Vasilaki (Byzantinist, University of the Aegean / Benaki Museum), Stelios Virvidakis (professor of philosophy, Department of the Methodology – History – Theory of Science, University of Athens), Nikos Zilikis (psychiatrist / professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki).
