Greece’s largest “asphalt mural” improves road safety at the Outta Climate Festival
Image from CIVINET.gr by Studio Papamichali licensed under Contract with CIVINET Greece-Cyprus
“Using art as a tool towards Vision Zero”: this was the message that came out of the first Outta Climate Festival, hosted on 22 September 2023 in Agios Dimitrios, a municipality in the greater Athens Metropolitan Area (Greece). The festival is a new initiative led by the CIVINET Greece-Cyprus, with artistic contributions from the Jazz Solidarity Network, funded by the Greek Ministry of Environment’s Green Fund.
A highlight of the festival was creation of the largest “asphalt art” piece in Greece. Students fromthe 1st and 12th Primary Schools of Agios Dimitrios designed a mural on the ashpalt street with guidance from the internationally renowned artist SOTEUR. The result was astonishing: a 30 metre-long piece of art that covers an area of about 100 m2!
The location of the mural was not chosen randomly. It is located where a hilly road with high-speed cars passes by a primary school – in other words, it sits on a critical part of the municipality’s pedestrian network. This unique visual intervention aims to attract the attention of drivers, make them slow down, and thus facilitating safer pedestrian crossings. This summarises the purpose of asphalt art, a method brought over by the CIVINET Greece-Cyprus based on the experiences in the Americas and technical guidelines from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
In the afternoon of the same day, a music and dance event was organised at Asymatos Park, with the participation of student groups from the Agios Dimitrios Municipal Conservatory and the Alimos Music School, as well as three performances with Panos Iliou and the Stomping Ground, Great for Healing, and Modified Dog.
Between the performances, volunteers from Karditsa and Volos informed the audience about the situation in the area of Thessaly Region and the catastrophic effects of the climate crisis. In fact, this first edition of the festival transformed into a celebration of peaceful protest, and solidarity for the flood victims of Thessaly. “The Other Man” social kitchen, as well as other social organisations (namely: the Athens Bike Community, Hellenic Federation of Urban Cycling,Mothers in the Street & Friends, SOS Road Crimes Association, and Greek Community of E-scooters Users) were present supporting the festival and its message.
By making use of not one, but many forms of art, the Outta Climate Festival team sent a message about the climate crisis and road safety. The festival included a promise to bring these efforts to other cities, mountains, and islands of Greece and Europe that share the same values.
Author: CIVINET Greece-Cyprus
Multimedia Library
This is recommended related external content and can be viewed by clicking on it. By clicking you consent to the display of external content. This enables personal data to be transmitted to third-party platforms.
Read more about our privacy policy.
