Maria Lalou & Skafte Aymo-Boot

The Barbaresou Legacy, or The Cursed One

 

In 1871, Georgios Manolis Barbaresos signed his will, stipulating that his wife would inherit his residence at Pireos Street in the centre of Athens under the condition that she would not remarry, otherwise the village of Kastanitsa in the mountains of Arcadia, the birthplace of Barbaresos, would become owner of the building. Exactly that happened, and that was the beginning of 150 years of struggle to turn the building into a profitable asset for a succession of village committees set down to manage the Barbaresou Legacy. In the process the original mansion was demolished and an unfinished concrete skeleton was constructed in its place. The video unfolds the story using archival material, interviews, and video footage, accompanied by a display of documents related to the building.

 

The unfinished concrete skeletons of Athens are keepers of stories that are evidence of hidden strictures that define the Greek society: family, bureaucracy, finance. The work of Lalou & Aymo-Boot makes apparent how these unseen structures are ever-present factors that continuously influence how the city we inhabit is developing.

 

The exhibition coincides with the launch of the book [UN]FINISHED - Atlas of Athens' Incomplete Buildings - A Story of Hidden Antimonuments by Maria Lalou & Skafte Aymo-Boot, published by Jap Sam Books. The full story of Barbaresou Legacy or The Cursed One is included as one of the chapters in the book.