What piqued our interest, what did we like and what didn't last week?

The contributors to the magazine make their own account of current affairs and everyday life through the individual filter of each one.

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plus The individual painting exhibition of the Larissa artist Saitis Theodoros, entitled "Brigolore in a neighboring world", in the basement exhibition space of Wisedog (Skylosofou 3, Larissa). The exhibition includes the presentation of paintings and drawings from his timeless body of work, thus giving the public the opportunity to come into contact with the creator's paradoxical world.

In the parallel reality of the creator's world, the viewer discovers pagan elements that make up the trace of the concept of the term "bricolage". A process of dynamic paradox of an unorthodox design pattern based on the frames of "residues" of local producers. This paradoxical world and bricoler scenes provoke thought about the role of art in the search for truth, beauty and the complexity of the human experience.

*Bricolage: Originally, the term "bricolage" referred to occupations performed in an improvised and amateurish manner. But it has been used extensively to describe the postmodernist technique of creatively recycling scraps through making or creating a work of art from any material. 

minus The aggressive actions of climate activists in the field of art that hold well. Two Extinction Rebellion activists stormed the stage during Christie's Impressionist & Modern Works on Paper auction in New York, shouting: "No art on a dead planet!", prompting auctioneer Tash Perrin to walk out from the stage until security removed the protesters. Notably, as he was escorted away, they continued to chant "end fossil fuels now" and "we're in crisis", and a voice from the room replied "we are", causing many in the audience to burst into laughter.

Valentini Margaritopoulou

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plus The courtesy of Isidoros Zourgos. I met him and we talked a little during the presentation of his new book, "old and new countries", in Larissa last Saturday. When I told him that the end of each of his books is a small death for me, he apologized for the short length of his last novel. Of course, I didn't tell him, but I daresay he knows how the sadness of loss is mitigated by the anticipation of the new.

minus The trivialization of the country's political life, once again. The image of SYRIZA is sad, not for reasons of ideological identification or political sympathy, but because on the one hand it has left the country without an opposition and on the other hand the presence of its new leader causes negative connotations for the value and role of politics today. Pity.

Stelios Tsiftsis

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plus The accidental resignation of Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa. Costa resigned after being accused of involvement in a corruption case and called early elections. In the end the police turned out to have made a huge mistake. During the transcript of conversations recorded by the security services, Antonio Costa, the name of the prime minister, was recorded instead of Antonio Costa Silva, the name of the finance minister) in the conversations that. Crazy things happen elsewhere, let's not complain...

minus That in the US there is an annual "Banned Books Week" an institution for the freedom of reading and efforts to censor books in libraries and schools for more than 40 years. What do they need her for? In 2022, ALA recorded 1,269 requests for censorship of books and resources in libraries, the highest number since it began collecting data about 20 years ago and nearly double the 729 requests in 2021. Most titles were by or about LGBTI+, Indigenous and people of colour. 51% of the requests targeted bans on schools and 48% on public libraries. The state with the most requests and bans is Texas, which recorded 93 requests in 2022 and attempted to restrict access to over 2,300 books.

Evi Botsaropoulou

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plus A photo of the sky in twilight. I shot her a while ago during a storm. It is true that this world carries an unbearable ugliness about it. Is true. But it is also full of disarmingly seductive beauty. I see her in this photo. I see her in the twilight and in the violet colors of the evening. I see her in front of me, even if I close my eyes. I smell it and feel it all around me in the soil that has been watered by the heavenly rain. Even in this gray and hazy storm there was a sudden flash of light, a sunbeam flickering with the clouds, a nightingale singing softly in the air. And then suddenly, the gloom and darkness of the storm ceased to seem so stifling. Now they looked serene, velvety, colored with a mysterious playful mask that challenged you to pour out into the streets and stand in the rain.. until they drenched your bones, your flesh, every pore of your body down to your marrow.

minus That we don't have enough Blue Velvet days, as I like to call them. We need more rain, more lightning, more storms and lightning to calm the storm that is within human existence. Now that I re-read it.. it could be a campaign slogan against Climate Change!

Anna Zarra

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plus  The established weekday afternoon - without time pressure - in old bookstores on the left bank of the Seine.

minus The unpleasant surprises we can have when traveling by road and crossing borders of countries outside Europe. Doubtful bans and strange decrees that make us doubt whether the customs and border guards are honest or trying to take advantage of the situations. I am of the opinion that the second is probably true.

Giannis Achyropoulos

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plus One of the most beautiful news I read recently was that of two twin brothers who celebrated 100 years of life together. They and their families in England declared that they were and are always together and even today children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren are confused here and there about who is who as their resemblance is timeless...

minus On Friday, November 17, the Polytechnic uprising fell asleep throughout the country. Seeing that the SYRIZA youth excluded the party president Stefanos Kasselakis from laying wreaths at the Polytechnic reminds me of times when SYRIZA was the government and found closed doors from other leftist forces at the Polytechnic. It's funny and sad that they are treated the same way others treated them a few years ago. The only thing that is certain is that the polytechnic does not belong to anyone, it is a conquest of the people and there is no need for anyone to close the doors and create tensions in the name of himself and his fighters

Fani Durdura

*Cover photo: Unicycle: British inventor JA Purves tests the 'Dynasphere', an electric unicycle that can reach speeds of up to 30 miles per hour, on the beach in the British seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare. Purves developed the device with his son. / Fox Photos/ Getty Images