The Spirit of the Stairs, the long-term program of artistic regeneration of the Cultural and Sports Organization of the Municipality of Agios Nikolaos, Crete, curated by ex situ -Eleni Koukou and Theofilos Trampoulis- invites artists to create original works in the network of stairs of Agios Nikolaos. It thus highlights the stairs as part of the city’s architectural heritage and makes them a place of artistic intervention and experimentation. The Spirit of the Stairs 2022 showcases the three works created during the pandemic.

Eirini Linardaki and Vincent Parisot present the site-specific collage of pieces of marble I cried a river over. The shapes and forms of this marble river – inspired by archeological conservation methods – invites us to look at the images that are created randomly, to think about what they remind us of and to make our own narratives.

The ceramics team of the rehabilitation center KETHEA DIAVASI, in collaboration with KETHEA ARIADNE, under the supervision of the artist George Tserionis, built its own library titled Unpacking my library, by painting the backs of emblematic books on the tiles that cover the stairs.

Alexandros Simopoulos (This is opium) made the mural Our Demands (sun, hugs, space) at the 4th Kindergarten of Agios Nikolaos. The work consists of kindergarten pupils’ enlarged drawings and raises questions about the hierarchy between children’s painting and public art.

Finally, on the stairs of Andrea Papandreou St., Vaggelis Choursoglou (Woozy) presented an imaginary landscape, a jungle of imaginary plants and various creatures.

The Spirit of the Stairs 2022 is supported by NEON.