Peace Mural (Angelos Vlassis and Anna Palieraki, Peristeri)
Category: Visual Arts > Public space
| Artist: | Angelos Vlassis | Anna Palieraki |
|---|---|
| Year: | 1979 |
| Genre: | Mural | Graffiti |
| Host: | Peristeri |
| Place: | Athens |
Censorship incidents
| 1979 | Arrest and trial of Angelos Vlassis and Anna Palieraki
|
Description
On 16 March 1979, the artists Angelos Vlassis and Anna Palieraki were brought to trial on charges of ‘wall defacement’, but were eventually acquitted by the Peristeri Magistrates Court. Their arrest took place after a complaint lodged by a police officer which concerned their participation in an artistic intervention-campaign for which they would create murals as part of an initiative of the Cultural Department of the Hellenic Committee for International Detente and Peace, which organised a series of artistic interventions in different locations to mark the ‘Year of the Child’. Thus, in January 1979, groups led by artists and including students and young people proceeded to create large murals, intervening artistically on walls in various, mainly working-class, districts of Athens and Piraeus. Following the tradition of the giant murals of Latin America and using peace and children as their theme, these groups rallied under the slogan ‘Let’s change the city’ (Tachydromos). For each artistic intervention, the necessary permits had been obtained from the municipal authorities. The main purpose of the action was to engage young people, but it was also intended to make art accessible to the general public and to make direct contact with the artist possible.
The trial, which was also covered by Swedish television, was attended by the president of the Fine Arts Chamber, the mayor of Peristeri and the mayor of Haidari as witnesses for the defence. The president of the Fine Arts Chamber defended the artists involved, saying that they were popularising art, which could in no way be considered pollution, while the mayor of Peristeri claimed he was actually the intended victim of the police harassment, in light of left-wing views.
At the end of the trial, despite the artists’ acquittal, an appeal was lodged by the prosecutor.
Valia Tsirigoti
Sources – Bibliography
- I Avgi, 15/3/1979.
- To Vima, 17/3/1979.
- Eleftherotypia, 17/3/1979.
- Tachydromos, 01/03/1979.
- Ta Nea, 17/3/1979.
