Events Calendar – British School at Athens

Online Friends Lecture

Dr Gordon Davies (Cambridge Museum of Technology), “Filming Archaeology in Hellas: Technopolis City of Athens (and beyond)”

ABSTACT: Experience a different side of Athens in a series of immersive-documentary videos: landscapes, cityscapes and soundscapes that explore filming the city’s industrial legacy at Technopolis City of Athens (and beyond). Accompanied with producer’s commentary and ‘making-of-video’ interviews with contributors that discuss (curious) connections between industrial architecture, Classical antiquity and the history of film-making. Offered as a ‘sequel’ to BSA Friends’ webinar Historical & Contemporary Archaeology in Greece (Thomas Gallant, July 2022) this video-webinar will investigate how:

• archaeology has influenced contemporary industrial-design in Athens (featuring: Κεραμεικός | Kerameikos Metro station)
• industrial archaeology belongs in Athens’ urban architecture (featuring: Γκαζοχώρι | ‘Gas village’)
• ancient topography, mythology and literary sources (such as Aristotle’s Poetics) can inform (post)industrial spaces
• archaeologists (of all periods) can harness film techniques for visual storytelling beyond linear (verbal) narratives.

Project context:
This research originated as a ‘twinning project’ between two industrial museums in the European Route of Industrial Heritage for presentation to an Association for Industrial Archaeology workshop (The Architecture of Industry, 2023) in co-operation with:

• Technopolis City of Athens (Hellenic Ministry of Culture | Department of Modern Culture and Intangible Assets) for site access
• Hellenic Vault of Industrial Digital Archives

Drone videography by Long Run Productions in co-operation with the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority. Project facilitated by the British School at Athens.

BIO: A lapsed ancient-worlder who has since spent a career in the technology industry, Gordon Davies has advised the British School at Athens Development Committee and also staggered around the Athens Classic Marathon (with a finishers’ medal to prove it!). This archaeological-videography project originated with the goal to ‘twin’ industrial museums within the European Route of Industrial Heritage.
The result was a video-documentary The Architecture of Industry presented to the Association for Industrial Archaeology (2023). Current research includes production of a video-essay: Industrial Architecture as Cinematic Stage to feature the ΑΗΣ ΦΑΛΗΡΟΥ steam-electric power-plant in Athens that hosted an episode (Cosmogony) of Chris Marker’s television series about the reception of Ancient Greece: The Owl’s Legacy.

Online only

image: Technopolis City of Athens (June 2022), Long Run Productions, commissioned by Gordon Davies, courtesy of Technopolis City of Athens | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International