Based in 2019, Archipelago Community (AN) is a Greece-based group devoted to selling and safeguarding the pure setting and conventional lifeways of the Cyclades. Located on the confluence of Europe, Africa, and Asia, these outstanding islands usually are not solely biodiversity hotspots but in addition repositories of diasporic tradition and conventional information, whose communities are underneath growing menace from over-tourism and the worldwide local weather disaster.
Responding to those formidable challenges, Archipelago Community is reworking the Cyclades into dynamic island laboratories for analysis, bringing collectively students, artists, and native communities in a sequence of thematic tasks and public packages. By way of this collaborative method, AN integrates visible practices with cultural and environmental research, making its digital collections broadly accessible and fostering regional reminiscence by means of documentation and outreach.
Previous tasks reminiscent of “Maritime Trades of the Cyclades,” “Boatbuilding on Syros Today,” and “Anthemis” have highlighted varied points of island life, from conventional boatbuilding and small-scale fishing to indigenous flora, native culinary traditions, and music. This work not solely preserves native heritage but in addition initiates transnational collaborations, enriching cultural and inventive discourse throughout the broader Mediterranean.
For a latest challenge, AN turned its consideration to the pottery of Sifnos, an island famend for its distinctive ceramics and centuries-old pottery-making custom. “Our engagement with Sifnos started after we had been approached by area people members concerned within the effort to begin a museum for pottery on the island,” AN founder and lead researcher Jacob Moe advised Kathimerini in June 2023.
© Archipelago Community
In shut collaboration with the Sifnos Potters’ Union, the working group for the Sifnos Pottery Museum, the property of postwar artist and architect Cosmas Xenakis (1925-1984), and different regional archives, over the previous 12 months, AN has created an intensive digital and audio-visual report of the island’s artisans. “Pottery is carefully linked with the island’s tradition and financial system and is a profitable instance of the coexistence of conventional tradition and tourism,” Moe says.
That includes newly digitized supplies, together with pictures, handwritten paperwork, movies, and musical recordings, the challenge has additionally produced 13 video portraits presenting a panorama of the historical past and present exercise of the island’s workshops. By recording the tales and practices of Sifnos’ potters, detailing conventional strategies which were handed down by means of the generations, AN seeks to make sure the continuity of this vibrant craft and its cultural legacy.
THE ROLE OF ARCHAEOLOGY
A latest screening, hosted within the backyard of the British College at Athens (BSA) on June 11, showcased three of those video portraits. Every movie was adopted by an interesting dialogue led by three specialists on historical and trendy ceramics. Rebecca Sweetman and Evangelia Kiriatzi from the BSA, together with Toby Brundin from the Craft Potters Affiliation within the UK, explored themes of mobility, island resilience, and the interaction between custom and innovation. Their responses to the movies highlighted the enduring significance of the previous.
A central theme emerged from the movies and discussions: the connection between historical and trendy practices. It underscored how historical craft strategies usually are not solely mirrored but in addition encourage modern artists. It highlighted the function of archaeology in understanding and responding to present problems with mobility and migration. Moreover, the dialogue emphasised how mixing conventional and trendy strategies can spur technological developments and cultural transformations.
The British College at Athens (BSA) is one in every of 19 international analysis establishments in Greece, devoted to advancing the research of Greek lands within the broadest sense. With almost 140 years of analysis, the BSA goals to share its findings and information with the broader public. Since 1974, the Fitch Laboratory for Archaeological Science, a part of the BSA, has been on the forefront of making use of scientific strategies to archaeological analysis in Greece. Its work primarily focuses on investigating archaeological ceramics, exploring questions on their origins and creators, and utilizing this data to review mobility, id, and expertise. This collaborative occasion demonstrated the BSA and Fitch’s mission, by fostering connections with modern craftspeople and interesting in significant conversations. These efforts have enriched our understanding of the previous and current whereas additionally seeking to the long run.
Talking after the occasion, Rebecca Sweetman, Director of the BSA, stated: “The night’s collaboration with Archipelago Community was a beautiful alternative to deliver many folks collectively researchers, archaeologists, artists, potters, islanders and lots of others to share the work with a massively enthusiastic viewers.”
“It has been an honour and likewise a incredible alternative to mix our work and expertise on historical and modern pots and potters in Greece with the exemplary work of Archipelago Community to be able to underline the necessity not simply to protect and broadly share the massive cultural legacy of pottery making in Greece but in addition to assist its flourishing future,” added Evangelia Kiriatzi, Director of the Fitch Laboratory, BSA.
TRADITION AND INNOVATION
Pottery making has been practiced on Sifnos since at the least 18th century (though extra analysis is required to make clear the assumingly lengthy historical past of the craft on the island) embedding itself into the island’s cultural id. The craft flourished as a result of island’s favorable environmental circumstances and pure assets: an abundance of refractory clay from schist rock, ample freshwater from springs, appropriate wooden for gas, and a gentle Mediterranean local weather. These components, mixed with the distinctive ability of Sifnian potters, have sustained the custom by means of numerous generations. Certainly, the time period “Sifnian” grew to become synonymous with grasp potters, whether or not they had been “tsikalas” (cooking pot makers), “aggeioplastis” (pot-makers), or “kanatas” (pitcher makers).
Traditionally, the situation of Sifnian pottery workshops was influenced by the ever-present menace of piracy within the Ottoman jap Mediterranean. Initially, potteries had been established inland to fulfill native wants safely. Nevertheless, after the institution of the Greek State within the early nineteenth century, which introduced elevated safety, potters moved their workshops to coastal areas, near sheltered bays for straightforward transportation and commerce past the island.
On the peak of the trade, Sifnian pottery workshops had a well-defined division of labor, together with roles such because the “kladas” (wooden gatherer), “homatas” (clay collector), “moularas” (clay transporter), “kopanistis” (clay preparer), and the grasp potter together with his assistant (“pasperetis”). Famend for its top quality and distinctive inventive type, the affect of Sifnian potters prolonged past the island, with many migrating to different Cycladic islands and areas of mainland Greece, most notably in Attica (Maroussi, Halandri, and Agia Paraskevi), in addition to overseas, contributing to the unfold of their craft.
At this time, there are fifteen energetic workshops on the island, producing each conventional home items for cooking and storage and modern ceramics. Distinctive Sifnian pottery contains the “mastelo” (a big baking dish for making ready the normal meat dish of the identical title in wood-burning ovens), the “tsikali” (cooking pot), varied jugs, braziers, “kouroupi” (storage pot), jars, and “armeos” (vessel for milking). Most iconic, nevertheless, is the “flaros” (clay chimney). Along with these conventional gadgets, Sifnian potters additionally create ornamental objects and frequently experiment with new kinds and colours, mixing innovation with their wealthy heritage.
CAPTURING LIVING HISTORY
Archipelago Community’s challenge paints a complete image of Sifnos’ age-old pottery custom. The archival supplies reveal the technical and symbolic information amassed over generations, showcasing all the things from clay preparation strategies to the social and cultural lives of the potters and their households. Noteworthy items embody historic pictures of workshops, coloration recipes from the Sixties, and tremendous 8 movies documenting the day by day actions of potters.
Antonis & Giannis Atsonios | Pottery of Sifnos from Archipelago Network on Vimeo.
As talked about, a key element of the challenge is a sequence of 13 video portraits that profile the present exercise of energetic pottery workshops on Sifnos. These portraits interweave observational footage, archival supplies, and interviews, offering a vivid portrayal of the multigenerational historical past of the island’s pottery craft. The video sequence not solely paperwork the technical processes concerned in pottery making but in addition captures the private tales and cultural significance of this enduring custom. Featured potters embody Giannis Apostolidis, Giannis and Antonis Atsonios, and Nikos and Giannis Lembesis, amongst others.
Giannis Apostolidis | Pottery of Sifnos from Archipelago Network on Vimeo.
Cosmas Xenakis, an artist and architect, made vital contributions to the preservation of Sifnian pottery. His Crafts Assortment, compiled in the course of the Sixties when useful ceramics had been declining as a result of introduction of recent supplies and adjustments in client demand, consists of cookware and instruments donated by native workshops. This assortment, slated to turn into a core ingredient of the in-development Sifnos Pottery Museum, offers invaluable materials proof of the island’s pottery manufacturing throughout a pivotal period, earlier than the rise of mass tourism in Greece. Xenakis meticulously documented his assortment, making a system that categorized gadgets by their use and origin, thus preserving the historic testimony of this cultural custom.
Nikos & Giannis Lembesis | Pottery of Sifnos from Archipelago Network on Vimeo.
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
The challenge on the pottery of Sifnos is additional enriched by ongoing interdisciplinary analysis carried out in collaboration with curator Lydia Matthews (Parsons Superb Arts Program) and architectural historian Ioanna Theocharopoulou (Cornell College). Matthews’ analysis considerations the interplay between conventional craft and modern inventive apply by means of the lens of two long-term collaborations between visible artist Zoe Keramea and the Atsonios pottery on the one hand, and visible artist Diane Katsiaficas and the Lembesis pottery on the opposite. Theocharopoulou’s analysis deploys the Xenakis assortment of artifacts as objects that illuminate native intersections of panorama, constructed setting, and craft. Each can be printed as essays on AN’s web site, whereas additionally offering theoretical and sensible approaches to be built-in into the Sifnos Pottery Museum’s exhibition design in the long term.
By way of this complete challenge, Archipelago Community not solely preserves the historic and cultural legacy of Sifnos’ pottery but in addition ensures its continuity and relevance within the current day. By participating with the island’s previous and current potters, AN fosters a deeper appreciation of this vibrant craft and its enduring influence on the island’s distinctive cultural id.
Archipelago Community makes these findings broadly accessible by means of an open-access archive on their bilingual (Greek and English) web site, in addition to a forthcoming sequence of public occasions in Sifnos aimed toward constructing capability for the Sifnos Pottery Museum as a hub for training, analysis and coaching associated to conventional pottery of the Aegean.
For added data on this and different Archipelago Community tasks, please go to archipelagonetwork.org.
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