{…} the ceiling fan stirred, without freshening it, the vitiated air,

sending back upon them {…} their own stale breath and odors {…}

William Faulkner, “Dry September”, 1931

Vitiated air as a metaphor for a stagnant society, narrow-minded, clinging to its established convictions and unwilling to allow in anything new. It may be fiction, but at the same time quite real, up until now.

Could it be that the mobility of ideas -thus of the people-, is at least one of the steps towards the solution of this fundamental problem? Regarding cultural professionals, what are the reasons for them to commute and the profits in relation to the production process and the creative output? The need for knowledge, the possibility of an “international” career, an access to foreign markets, new collaborations and a wider audience are certainly not the sole motives for artists to reach beyond their local environment. With the support of Outset Greece.