Ifigeneia Kokkali, The Open Orchestra Project In The Public Spaces Of Athens: An Urban Utopia With Transformative Power? 36th AESOP Annual Congress 2024 Paris, France “GAME CHANGER? Planning for just and sustainable urban regions” TRACK 08: PUBLIC SPACE Planning for cultural diversity, peace and the experience of places The Open Orchestra project in the public spaces of Athens: an urban utopia with transformave power? Ifigeneia KOKKALI, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Planning & Development, University of Thessaly ikokkali@uth.gr ORCID: 0000-0003-4851-787X Abstract The Open Orchestra is a group of about 150 professional artists and amateurs, founded in spring 2021, in Athens, Greece. Its establishment is directly correlated to the Support Art Workers Action Group that has emerged during the pandemic of Covid-19, as a way to resist to the depreciation of culture and art-workers themselves, many of whom remained unemployed and with no support from the state, during the long quarantines imposed as a protection measure 1 . Even more importantly, the Open Orchestra comes as a continuation of the Paris Occupation of Odeon, when, on March 27, 2021, during the Agora organized by the occupants of the Théâtre de l'Odéon, professionals from the French Symphonic and Lyric Orchestras, musicians from specialized orchestras, occupiers of the Odéon, and students formed a large orchestra of solidary musicians 2 . Following this line, in spring 2021, the Support Art Workers Action Group gathered in Propylaia, Athens, sang and played the piece “El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido”, exactly as did the solidary orchestra at Odéon, Paris, a couple of months earlier. This has been the starting act of the Open Orchestra (O.C./ A.O. in Greek). Which started rehearsing once a week, at the Filopappou Hill, in a central public park of Athens, yet derelict and merely abandoned by the Municipality of Athens. It is called Open Orchestra, because anyone who wants to rehearse with it can do it at any time: there is no limitation on artistic level or degree of commitment (one can enter and leave the Orchestra at any time). Organizationally, there is a solid core of 100 people, who rehearse every Sunday. There exists a coordination group, yet decisions are made through open circles organized regularly, in which the whole group participates. This is particularly relevant to the organization of different projects. Every one or two months, rehearsals take place in a deprived neighbourhood of Athens (Victoria square, Perama, Amerikis Square 3 , etc.), 1 hps://thepressproject.gr/anoich-orchistra-pano-apo-150-kallitechnes-enas-chronos-zois-seira- kallitechnikon-polikon-draseon/ 2 hps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNOrtTaZnOs&ab_channel=OccupaonOd%C3%A9on 3 hps://long-stories-short.org/2022/02/12/anoich-orchistra-sn-plateia-amerik/ Book of Proceedings : 1400 / 3553 Paper: 1 / 15