Camper Van

“HOMMAGE’’

The moving consolation of art.

For regions stripped of their privilege.

Or: ‘Don’t you feel bad’

Camper Van was born from an inspired idea by Olia Lazaridou and took shape through the vision of installation artist Socratis Socratous. A luminous, mobile stage crafted from plexiglass, it first came to life in 2008 with Gelsomina, a performance drawn from Federico Fellini’s La Strada (1954).

The following year, it journeyed through Athenian neighbourhoods, such as Pedion tou Areos, Kolonos, the Korean Market – bringing with it the vaudeville spectacle A Gift of a Night, which was animated by the participation of numerous artists – while its route extended as far as Ancient Olympia.

This was an idea warmly embraced by the Athens Epidaurus Festival’s Artistic Director, Yorgos Loukos: a Festival unbound from its fixed venues, moving through the city’s fabric, reaching audiences beyond its customary circles. Everywhere it went, the response was generous, immediate, and zestful.

With Loukos’ departure, Camper Van – this marvellous ‘gadget’ of the Festival – gradually fell into disuse. Yet just before it fades into oblivion, it returns once more, casting its light across the summer nights of Peiraios 260, with the quiet promise of venturing beyond its bounds again next year, and taking to the road once more.