Athenian born, Brooklyn based photographer and musician Alexandros Lambrovassilis has been working on a sublime multimedia project of decay and degeneration in the machine graveyards of Athen’s now deserted Elliniko Airport.
This arid concrete wasteland was once the home and bastion to Aristotle Onassis’s Olympic Airways, and once a ward of the Greek Government. It is a curious equation to see a once thriving and industrious icon flailing under the passing of time and financial pressures. Though we are only talking about an icon that was birthed in 1957 it’s passing has somehow eluded the reshaping and heavy hand of corporations and governments, and in itself has become a relic of sorts, albeit a modern relic. Relics are something not unfamiliar to the Greek story, where heroic past is allowed to remain. The old is at once celebrated and at once left to the side, a weighty burden that is also a familiar and much loved fixture.
Lambrovassilis’ photography speaks to this, and in the Monkey Town exposé of his work during August the entwining of sound and digital also grow and again celebrate the historic monoliths of decaying aircraft… much as time has done to them. Lambrovassilis was granted rare access to Greece’s now-closed Elliniko Airport, the original home of Olympic Airways. He worked with musicians Chris Kuklis (electric-guitar+electronics) & Luke Damrosch (laptop), and video artist Astrid Steiner, on the multimedia performance. The project was also funded by the Museum Of Civil Aviation in Greece, which will provide a home to these unique & memory filled artifacts.