Workshop & Post- Valentine's fiesta in Omonia

What is a square, if not a meeting point?

Omonia, according to the dominant narrations, is a "transit place" - nevertheless, at the same time, is a meeting point for "Omonia's regulars" - mostly immigrants. Based on this aspect, we decided to claim visibility for Omonia serving as a meeting point: We organised a fiesta, one day after Valentine's day, as a declaration of love for Omonia square! A festive attempt to make Omonia the zero point of the city for a few hours- to point it out as a meeting point, a playful place of interaction and "Concord".

Under the midday sun, we set up an open workshop, defining our creative terrain through placing a big golden paper on the ground. We invited Omonia's regulars - adults and children- to draw all together masks for the upcoming carnival. Many of them responded enthusiastically and even the ones that weren't directly involved, but prefered to be observants, seemed to enjoy this small gathering.

And a moment that worths sharing: When one of the "spontaneous participants" .shared with us that he loves drawing and that this was the first time - after a long time- that he drew again.

When evening came, we prepared for the next phase of our gathering: the fiesta!

To make this fiesta happen we asked visitors to bring a piece of furniture or domestic item (chair/ pillow/ carpet/ flower pot etc), a torch or any other source of light that doesn't require electricity and some food or tea. We also had a small telescope that allowed us to explore the night sky.

Considering how unusual are festive gatherings on Omonia square, we can't wait for next Sunday and the Carnival to come!