levka ori creative encounters in crete

history

1980 - 1994

since 1980, the creative integration centre (cic), international association, a mainly belgian group, with different members every year, has been active in different disciplines: painting, sculpture, architecture, design, music, dance, poetry and even new technologies (frequently combined with technical experiments). when setting up exhibitions and events in different european cities, the group always aimed to harmonize art, technology and the natural environment. to achieve this goal, it always searched for open-air locations where these disciplines could be practised. when a site had been found, all the different local owners had to be contacted.

so the idea came to find a real free platform: an untouched, sunny and yet windy site, if possible with a harmonious and panoramic view, not too harsh but not too civilized either, easy to reach but far enough from the crowds, and not too far from accommodation: a place where you could feel free and where it would be pleasant to perform harmonious interventions in the landscape in agreement with the owners.

after many years and after visiting many regions of the mediterranean area, the canary islands, the azores, etc... a suitable location was finally found in crete in 1994, in the south-west of the island in the kandanos-paleochora-enneachora region.

1995 - 1998 : first creative encounters in crete

the first trial encounter was held around easter 1995, when the participants attempted to create a global land art project against the background of the snowy mountain tops of the levka ori. it became clear that a number of rules needed to be observed: although the little mountain trails were open to all comers, every gate that was opened had to be closed again, to prevent goats and sheep escaping. the greek farmers were very positive and welcoming to the international artists ("kallitechniki" in greek).
between 1996 and 1998 different sites in the region have been tried out, with varied success.
finally, the most suitable site was found in 1998: montziana. since then, participants have always expressed their approval and enthusiasm for this site at each encounter.

a book compiled from contributions by different authors entitled "levka ori, a scenic exhibition platform" was published and distributed by "cic, international association" in december 1995 (now out of print).

1999 - 2007 : the levka ori site: a scenic exhibition platform

in 1999, in the hope of combining new technologies with artistic expression, guest lecturers were asked to participate, namely a flemish professional land artist, alexandra cool and a german journalist specialized in new technologies, gottfried hilscher (in collaboration with 'transaltec' zürich).
until 2003, participants usually created one work of art together on location, and some participants came back for several consecutive years.
in 2004, the scandinavian countries were in the spotlight as a result of a joint effort between "land artonivo" of belgium and "land art crossing" of sweden. also a professional photographer was among the participants for the first time, and from then onwards, we have an excellent photographic record of the artworks created.
in february 2006, the 10th anniversary of the creative encounters has been celebrated by an exhibition in belgium under the name: "magnesia, plato's utopian city" [more...]
also an interaction site "levka ori forum" has been started under the name of "the magnesia effect" [more...]
in august 2006, audio art was successfully added to the programme by the "logos foundation". the collaboration of musicians with the visual artists braught the creativity to a higher poetical level, especially by connecting different sites by audio and visual signs.
in aug 2007, literature and poetry exchanges were successfully added

see some pictures of the previous encounter...