The Museum of Illusions in central Athens brings an amazing location for both socializing and entertaining.

A perfect place for new experiences and fun, there’s something for everyone: friends and family, parents and couples, grandparents and grandchildren!

Enter the fascinating world of illusions which will trick your confidence in senses, but amaze you by doing it; the world that will confuse you completely, but also educate you.

Let your imagination run free in the vast expanse of the Infinity Room, defy the laws of gravity in the Reverse Room, shrink to miniature size in the Ames Room… all while capturing you in the coveted, impossible photo.

Enjoy a collection of holograms, look closely at each optical illusion, and observe each exhibit. You’ll find that each is a brilliant, playful reminder that our assumptions of the world are often nothing but a spectre of illusions.

Amusing and awesome tricks will teach you about vision, perception, the human brain and science so it will be easier to perceive why your eyes see things which your brain cannot understand. Make sure you visit our playroom with intriguing and educational games and puzzles. These brain bashers are definitely great fun but tend to be frustrating as well.

 

With all the challenges we are facing in the last couple of years children have an increased need to feel safe and secure. I’m not referring to material safety. In her book “Understanding Childrens’ Emotions,” Isabelle Filliozat talks about children’s need to have a sense of security.

How do you cultivate that? Children want and need to trust their parents. In order to feel this trust, they need to be certain of their parents’ personal power. Unlike what some may believe, however, being a strong parent has absolutely nothing to do with being dominating. On the contrary, strong is the parent who expresses their feelings and gives space to their child to do the same. I bet that’s a definition of the word “strong” you hadn’t thought of.

Whether pleasant or not, our emotions have names and it’s significant to recognize them. By doing so we accept ourselves just as we are. That’s how we start to trust ourselves and how we become trustworthy.

When we acknowledge our emotions, when we are able to name them, and learn to tolerate them without criticism or fear we strengthen our personality. We also understand that our emotions alone cannot destroy a relationship or a person and that makes us feel more secure.

More than often though we adults tend to hide our emotions and don’t talk about them. As a result, without realizing it, that’s exactly what we teach our children to do. And when our children misbehave we take it personally and punish them.

What I would recommend doing instead is to take a step back and think about what may be the reasons for that behavior. They may be fighting about a toy or screaming about ice cream but the question is what lies behind the surface. What may be the possible emotions they are suppressing – unknowingly sometimes – and why?

We, adults, need to learn to decode the language children use – something “grownups” forget easily – and allow them to feel what they feel. “I understand you” is a very useful phrase. For example, “I understand you’re angry but I love you the same.” This is how we can help them to avoid feeling guilty and to start calming down. Knowing it’s ok to express their righteous anger allows them to have a sense of their limits and at the same time helps to strengthen their identity.

Expressing their feelings, even by crying, is a therapeutic process. We must allow them to “talk” and give them the space to live emotionally. Because the contrary, suppressing their emotions, may alter their personality. And this doesn’t make us strong parents.

Originally published on: itsmylife.gr

If there’s a topic you’re interested in and would like to learn more about you may contact me via email. For more information about me and my work check the XpatAthens Directory or visit my website. Because this is your life!

(Note, the website is currently only available in Greek.)

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Get ready for the first Meet Market of 2022!

We will be kicking of the spring season with our classic Easter edition Meet Market at Technopolis, City of Athens. Expect to find 120 plus stands of locally produced wonders from makers all over Greece – both inside our classic D12 venue and outside in the central courtyard and Mixanourgio courtyard of Technopolis. And they’ll be plenty of new participants too!

As usual, we’ll have dj sets, interactive games for kids, street food, cocktails, our classic Easter egg hunt and general good vibes, so spend the day with us. Its been a while and we can’t wait to meet again.

Plenty more info coming soon!

The zeibekiko dance and the popular musical instruments bouzouki, tzouras, and baglamas have been included on Greece’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage List, the Greek Culture Ministry recently announced.

“The zeibekiko dance, the bouzouki, and similar musical instruments identify with Greece and its folk tradition. They played a leading role in Greek folk music during the 20th century,” Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said.

According to Mendoni, the bouzouki, tzouras, and baglamas are the most renowned Greek musical instruments abroad.

The zeibekiko dance

The zeibekiko was developed in large urban centers of Greece, mainly port cities including Piraeus, Patra, Syros, Thessaloniki, Volos, Chania, and Kavala among others, and the eastern Aegean islands.

The bouzouki instrument

The bouzouki was brought to Greece in the early 1900s by Greek refugees from Anatolia and quickly became the central instrument to the rebetiko genre and its music branches. It is now an important element of modern laïko pop Greek music.

The tzouras and baglamas instruments

Also added to Greece’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage List are the tzouras and baglamas. The two musical instruments are both connected to Greece’s folk tradition and associated with the zeibekiko dance.

The tzouras is related to the bouzouki. It is made in six-string and eight-string varieties.

The baglamas is a smaller version of the bouzouki pitched an octave higher, with unison pairs on the four highest strings and an octave pair on the lower D. Musically, the baglamas is most often found supporting the bouzouki in the Piraeus city style of rebetiko.

To read this article in full, please visit: news.gtp.gr

Greek universities plan to expand the number of programs offered in English, aiming to attract students from the Balkans, other Mediterranean countries, South Asia, and China, as well as interested Greek students.

More than 200 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs will be added, most in 2023-24 but some in the 2022-23 academic year.

Universities are seeking support from EU structural funds.

Likewise, UK universities aim to attract Greek students back, after seeing an exodus after Brexit, by offering joint programs with Greek institutions.

Originally published on: ekathimerini.com

The The Hub for the Exchange of Music Innovation is proud to announce the launch of HEMI Incubator, the first music business incubation & acceleration programme in the region!

Do you run your own Music Business?

Are you developing a groundbreaking idea addressing the needs of the Music Industry.
Looking for coaching, networking and business development opportunities? 

Choose one of our programmes, apply (deadline 10/04), join our community, and take your chance to shape the future of the Music Industry, with us! 

FokiaNou Art Space is pleased to present a two-person exhibition with Ioanna Terlidou and Piyi Wong, artists who work in vastly different media but with a common delicate, light-weight approach, evoking ephemerality. Terlidou’s work in fabric, embroidery, crochet and weaving, injects transparency and a play of light, which reveals different aspects of the fabric at different moments; fleeting glimpses of human figures recall shadow theater. Likewise, Wong’s photographic botany portraiture has a direct and immediate quality in capturing fragments of time, expressing the transitory, momentary concept of ephemerality, inspired by Lao Zi’s philosophical concept of Ziran.

Ioanna Terlidou, originally from Thessaloniki, studied tapestry and drawing at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, on a scholarship from EOMMEX (Hellenic Organization of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises and Handicraft). Upon returning to Greece, she set up her studio in Pilion, where she initially worked with a traditional (seated) floor loom. She later moved to a vertical loom, which helped her develop a more personal artistic style. Terlidou has shown her work at E-Mi Gallery, Volos; Gallery 7, Athens; the Folkloric Museum of Larissa and the Archaelogical Museum, Volos, among others. ioannaterlido@yahoo.gr

Piyi Wong is a multidisciplinary artist/designer from a Chinese/Malaysian background. She earned her degree in Graphics and Media and graduated with Honours from the London College of Printing, part of the collegiate University of the Arts London. She has resided and worked in Greece for the last ten years, attending for 3 years the Athens School of Fine Arts as a visiting artist in the Graphics Lab (letterpress and book making) and the Photography Lab. She also worked as art director at the award winning Leo Burnet Kuala Lumpur and collaborated with the artist/photographer Justin Brice Guariglia. http://www.poieinpiyi.com

FokiaNou Art Space is an artist-run project space in the intimacy of a small apartment in an old building in the center of Athens. The space encourages collaborative creative efforts between Greek and foreign artists, thereby promoting and supporting the local art community. The space hosts exhibitions, workshops and projects under the direction of two artists, Mary Cox and Panagiotis Voulgaris. www.fokianou247.gr

Opening:  Thursday 31 March, 17.00
Duration:   31 March – 16 April, 2022
Hours:  Thursday – Saturday 17.00-20.00
FokiaNou Art Space, Fokianou 24, 7^th Floor, Pagrati  Metro:  Evangelismos