• Athens: A Work-in-Progress

    Author(s):
    Stephe Harrop (see profile)
    Date:
    2018
    Group(s):
    Ancient Greece & Rome, Greek and Roman Intellectual History
    Subject(s):
    Classical antiquities, Greek drama, Latin drama, Art, Greek, Greek drama (Tragedy)
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Greek archaeology, Athens, Democracy, Greek and Roman archaeology, Greek and Roman drama, Greek art, Greek tragedy
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6ZK3T
    Abstract:
    This provocation contests the familiar construction of classical Athens as an ideal exemplar of democratic politics through a focus on the city’s material fabric, its visual artworks, and the performances which took place within its public spaces. It highlights the city’s ongoing process of material re-building (particularly following the Persian invasion of 480 BCE), during which process many of its old artworks were appropriated or re-purposed to express democratic aspirations and anxieties. It also foregrounds the ongoing tensions given articulation through the city’s new showpiece building projects and performance events, including theatrical tragedy and comedy. The aim, throughout, is to challenge clichéd (and idealising) views of classical Athens as a unified and serene white-marble vista. Instead, this provocation cultivates an alternative vision of the democratic city as unfinished, insecure, and frequently disunited: a permanent “work-in-progress” in both a material and a political sense. In conclusion, the Athens of the fifth century BCE is re-positioned as a timely (though not a “timeless”) reminder to today’s politically-engaged artists, educators, and activists that democratic self-definition and practice can only be sustained through a vigorous, ongoing, and open-ended process of debate, confrontation, and contestation within the civic and creative spaces of the city.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. Date:
    2018
    Journal:
    Kritika Kultura
    Volume:
    30/31
    Page Range:
    129 - 137
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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