An installation by Angelos
Spartalis on the wetland of Almyros in Agios Nikolaos, Crete. The work, a
totem-like sign, consists of a text and seven
photographic stills from the latest animation film by Spartalis “192
Nausiêaa”(Greece, 14 minutes, 2021).The twenty-seven
original sketches that have been scattered around the area, freely available
to the public, are also part of the installation and all together form the
very
short filmfound on top of this page. All
of the above were installed on the
wetland on Saturday April 3rd, 2021. This work is the first of three public
space interventions by Spartalis in the
broader area of Agios Nikolaos as part of the
public art festival “The
spirit of the stairs” curated by Theofilos Tramboulis and Eleni Koukou.
THE TEXT ON THE SIGN
3…2…1…
Duckturn babyyyyy!!! That’s what my family an I use to yell every time we
drive past this very spot, and we often do, usually three
times a day. On another tone, even though we often have Duck à l'Orange on
Sundays, we see those ducks here differently, more affectionately let’s say.
And we don’t like seeing them being run over by a car.
However, these last few weeks, they seem to
have been under a weird spell
because they keep on wandering on the motorway
instead of swimming in the wetland. Therefore, after a couple of them became
victims of road rage, a caring soul installed a makeshift
totem-like sign that
reads: “ATTENTION, DUCKS” (you can see
this signapproximately
150m away from the “duckturn”
heading to Sitia. I was so moved by this person’s
act of kindness that I decided to build my own totem. And so, here it is!
The images
I have included in the totem are
stills from my
latest animated short film, “192
Nausikaa”
in
which princess Nausikaa nurses the ingenious
Ulysses with the help of her friends-maids. The film was shot with real
actors, and then every frame was hand-painted. The
washing of Ulysses by the maids was shot here, in
the wetland of Almyros, where, for reasons of
historical accuracy, the legendary beach bar “Blue River” (A) was transformed
into an ancient temple of
goddess Artemis. That’s all.
INSTALLATION
DIARY
Saturday
April 3rd, 2021 (1st day) I
left my Vathy estate
at 10 a.m. and by 3 p.m. the
installation had been completed. The first
visitors were a couple of young cyclists followed by a group of three people
on a walk.
They showed mild to almost brave interest; we
talked about art in general and about the
installation
in particular. No one dared to
remove one of the available sketches but they all
did so after my prompt. There was also a girl who systematically feeds the
ducks with leftovers she collects
from the area and loves the ducks as if they were
her own children, which was nice but also funny. Later on, I was interviewed
for the local newspaper “Anatoli” by my friend, journalist Nikos Trantas.
Sunday April
4th, 2021 I was so anxious when I arrived
in the wetland installation at noon.
It was the second day of the installation and I was wondering what might
have happened to my
small
artwork… Everything was in place! The sign had not
been knocked off by the wind.
In any case, I had
brought some wooden supports with me to enhance
its stability. I installed
them
with a little help from a passerby who was also a
fanatic supporter of the ducks. From the 27 available sketches only 10 were
missing; people become embarrassed when it comes to stealing art, if it were
cast steel
manhole covers or bronze sculptures they would
have disappeared
in a flash. Then -surprise! - another girl
appeared who cursed the ducks as non-endemic
species who need to be “wiped out with a
speargun” otherwise “bye-bye
wetland”! I realized I was in trouble but I liked it.
Monday April
5th, 2021
The newspaper “Anatoli” came out with a full-page
article on
the installation and my
face on the front page.
My phone was ringing non-stop. The article by
Nikos Trantas
also mentioned that the installation is linked to
the public art
festival “The
spirit of the stairs” in Agios Nikolaos. The
reference begins with the stone
stairs which
lead from the randomly built buildings next to the old national road to the
mouth of Almyros River. The scene
in my film “192
Nausikaa”where
Ulysses
is bathing was shot there, and we had to
digitally erase the
“Blue River” beach bar and create the temple of
Artemis (see
photo).
The idea behind the work however doesn’t relate to the stairs, not even
to the ducks but
eventually we shall see. Things are going well. A
good friend
of mine, Sophia, sent me a
picturevia
messenger with the first duck-sketch in a frame,
so we are all very excited.
Tuesday
April 6th,
2021
After 3 days everything
was still in place. The
totem-like sign
was there, steady as a rock. The red letters on
the sign that
reads “ATTENTION,
DUCKS” seemed a little faded so I
coated them over with red acrylic paint and now
they are shining. Only seven out of the twenty-seven original sketches
were left on the wooden fence;
soon I will be replacing them with the second part
of the series (27
more works).
I intend to renew the works on a regular basis. I
also installed three QR-coded
signs near
the installation, so that visitors can
scan them using their smartphones
to be automatically
redirected to this very page. I
coated over the letters of the
original “ATTENTION,
DUCKS” sign (the
one that inspired me) with white acrylic paint;
the original letters
were black on dark blue background
and could not be read very easily, now they
are shining.
Wednesday April 7th,
2021 Only three sketches left. Tomorrow I’ll place the second
series of sketches (27 more). These new sketches are based on the same
drafts as the first ones. However, each one is unique given that they are
all hand-drawn. I'll also add an extra finish with a light varnish to
protect them against the forecasted rain. These past few days I have getting
around on foot because my car, the legendary BMW 318i which my father
brought from Germany back in 1989, is being used in the filming of the TV
series “Cartes postales” whose script has been written by my friend Victoria
Hislop. Victoria is really excited and she sent me a
photo of the car which
is currently being modified into a wedding limousine! So… now it’s just me
and my own two feet! I had to walk 7kms from the estate to Almyros in one
hour.
Thursday April 8th,
2021 Again on foot. I arrived at 3 p.m. and started hanging
the new sketches on the wooden fence of the wetland. A guy and his son were
flying two small drones and he said to me in a somewhat direct and harsh
fashion: “You do know that not all of us feel the same about the ducks.
Right?” he said. “Yes, I know. Do you know how the ducks ended up here in
the first place?” To set the record straight, these “ducks” that I keep on
mentioning are no more than 20 and 3-4 of them are not ducks but geese. A
dog passed and the geese attacked it, this is what they do, I didn’t know
that! So I said to the drone guy that the ducks were brought to the wetland
from the lake of Agios Nikolaos (lake Voulismeni) many years ago because
their droppings were soiling the tables and the chairs of the
cafés/restaurants. They made the wetland their home, it wasn’t that
difficult. After all, they were brought here and this “duck squatting” just
happened, it was not their fault. Anyway, regardless of what we think about
these ducks, the fact that they are being run over by cars is not nice,
right? Actually, the main problem of the wetland is not the presence of the
ducks. The real problem lies elsewhere and it is a grimmer one… Hoo-hoo…
Friday April 9th,
2021 It was pouring yesterday night but the varnish protected
the sketches. From the 27 sketches of the second series that I hung
yesterday on the fence, only 10 have been left. So I think tomorrow I’ll
bring the third series because during the weekend probably more people will
come for a walk. With the third series the total number of sketches
displayed would be 81.
Sunday April 11th,
2021 Indeed, a lot of people came to the wetland over the
weekend. I met two more people who feed the ducks. One lady who didn’t say
much and kept feeding them leftovers and a very talkative senior who fed
them corn. A lot of friends also came to the wetland although I had not
invited anyone because of the quarantine. I just stayed there talking to the
passersby. And there were many of them!
Wednesday April 14th,
2021 Today I stayed at the “duckturn” from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
More than 30 people came and I talked with most of them. All sketches had
been removed, so I placed the fourth series on the fence (27 more). There
was a guy walking with his son who told me that the municipal authorities
should feed the ducks and this should not be done by volunteers. “Why do you
think the municipal authorities should feed the ducks?” I asked him. His
response astonished me: “Because they are beautiful!”
Sunday April 18th,
2021 It's Sunday. The day on which many locals go for a walk
or on a bicycle ride. Today I will place the fifth series of sketches on the
fence. This would probably be the last one, we’ll see. In the meantime, the
installation is living a digital life as well. Online posts with photos of
the installation are getting more by the day. I selected two of those posts.
One by Manolis
Menegakis and
one by Giorgos
Makrakis.
Both of them are lawyers and good friends of mine (I hope I won’t need their
services though!). On their facebook profiles they shared photos and a small
text: M. MENEGAKIS: Ducks: Small-scale
(10X5cm) sketches by my friend Angelos Spartalis that have been placed on
the fence of Almyros wetland in Agios Nikolaos Crete available to anyone
(raising awareness on the problem of the ducks that stray onto the road by
the wetland). G. MARKAKIS: Duckturn babyyyyy!!!... In Almyros wetland… An
art intervention by Angelos Spartalis urging us to protect the ducks who
have got bolder because of the quarantine and stray onto the road. Nowadays,
due to the pandemic, there are only a handful of people who pass from the
wetland. We might as well protect the ducks… Make a brief stop and admire
Angelos’ artwork and if you get lucky you might take with you a sketch
painted by him.
Wednesday April 21st,
2021 This morning a very strangeroad sign appeared
by the wetland, just before the “duckturn”. I quote Theofilos Tramboulis:
“Ducks crossing… The artwork by Angelos Spartalis “Attention, Ducks” which
inaugurates this year’s edition of thepublic art festival The Spirit of the Stairs
has taken a surprise twist. A road sign has appeared in the area showing
ducklings crossing the road like school kids. Initially, Spartalis’ artwork
was his response to a makeshift sign that reads “Attention, Ducks” and is
related to the increasing number of ducks that live in Almyros wetland and
are being run over by cars. It seems that Spartalis’ artwork has served as
an inspiration to an unknown artist to create this road sign that most
drivers tend to overlook only to realise what they have actually seen a few
moments later. We hope this succession of road signs and ducks continues.
Monday April 26th,
2021 The image of the strangeroad sign that
was placed on the “duckturn” by an unknown artist has started its own
digital life. It was initially shared on the Facebook page of the Spirit of the Stairs
and then on numerous profiles and websites. There has been numerous and
different reactions on the issue. However, all of them help renew the focus
on the current state and the future of Almyros wetland. Some see
extraterrestrials on the road sign rather than ducks. A bolder friend of
mine, Pavlos Papadopoulos, suggested that the road sign portrays people
wearing long masks as protection against the current pandemic and that this
image reminds us of the beaked masks that
doctors used to wear while treating the plague back in the 17th
century. Nowadays, similar masks are seen during the Venice carnival!
Thursday April 29th,
2021 Finally‼ Our installation has become an international
sensation! My good friend Maria Blazogiannaki sent me a photo of
one of my sketches from Grand Place square in Brussels. She had asked her
cousins here in Agios Nikolaos to send her one of my sketches to Belgium. We
are exporting art, philosophy and politics to Europe, hurray‼ Meanwhile, we
are gradually entering the tourism industry: Another good friend of mine,
Marianthi Menegaki, posted an announcement on
the webpage of her beautiful “handmade” apartments urging her clients to
visit the installation. Other than that, life goes on… In the afternoon I
walked to the “duckturn” with my younger daughter Dimitroula and my niece
Maria Anagnostou and we placed the sixth series of sketches on the fence (27
more).
Thursday June 10th, 2021
All through May, everything went smoothly and in early June, I started
thinking that I should bring to a conclusion the installation. Today, after
having distributed 270 sketches in total (10 numbered series of 27 sketches
each) I have decided to leave. I wrote an
article, which provides a vivid description of my experience in the
wetland and my true intentions and I sent it to the local newspaper
“ANATOLI” to be published. Thus, that’s it for the ducks and me!
