Mani Through the Senses is a three-hour "walkshop" with short performance pieces and hands-on interactions inspired by Fermor's travel writing and the natural/cultural landscape of the Mani region in Greece.

During the walkshop, a group of sighted and partially sighted members from the local community were given prompts that focused on sensory observation, creative writing and story telling. At the end of the walkshop participants had a chance to share unique insights from their collectIve journey and reflect on their distinct forms of embodied knowledge.

After a series of in-situ visits and meetings with the community, curators and guest artists decided to work with a variety of tools including:

- found and natural sounds, which, in some cases, were amplified through piezoelectric buzzers in order to create an interactive installation (eg. in the main olive grove of the Fermor property as seen in the picture on the left, buzzers were installed on several tree branches),

- poetic audio description for dance interventions,

- recorded text and printed quotes/letters (also in Braille) for a collective poem exercise,

- storytelling inspired by existing structures, like floor mosaics, water fountains and tactile three dimensional symbols all related to Fermor’s travels.
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Project Curators: Fotis Flevotomos, Lydia Matthews

Guest Artists: Vassiliki Spachou, Fenia Papadodima, George Palamiotis, Eirini Steirou

Community Partners: Panhellenic Association of the Blind (South Peloponnese), “Nartura,” High School of Kardamyli

With the support of NEON Organization for Culture and Development

Fotis Flevotomos’s research in multisensory practices for 2021 was made possible by a grant from the Greek Ministry of Culture.

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