Trikiklo delivers art in the 6th district of Athens, acting as an Ambassador of Victoria Square Project beyond walls. Trikiklo is a carrier of infrastructure, knowledge and joy. It activates three spaces of social significance, through art exhibitions, urban games, collaborative design, public and learning programs. Trikiklo activates a forum, an urban garden and a social center to be co-designed through collaborative processes creating new landmarks of an inclusive society.

6th District, Athens -Streets, St Panteleimon Square, ΕΠ abandoned Gas Station and ISAP urban field

Trikiklo addresses the urgency for contemporary art as a right for all, as a means of dialogue, and socio-political engagement. The widespread use of drugs, lack of inclusive public spaces and poverty suppresses any notion to put on the public sphere “privileged claims” for access to art, culture and creative expression.
Trikiklo works against public space exclusion and lack of public debate and participatory platforms through public programs. The majority of the local cultures are excluded from the public narrative and/or are projected under the score of an outdated and folkloristic image. Wounds from the past presence of Golden Dawn are still open while new ones are created by the looming post-covid crisis, fueling intense social conflicts between different communities.

We are doing it For and With our neighbors. Trying to transcend labels like “greek”, “refugee” or “immigrant” we refer to our people as “neighbors”, as we are all Athenians forming a collective contemporary identity. Our neighbors can be born greek, immigrant and refugee, women, men, queer, with or without disabilities, elderly, but our point of reference is that we all live in the same city, in the same neighborhoods, so our programs are open and planned for all. Extra care and focus will be given on the youth who are the future decision makes. Our long term collaboration with local schools and a large number of youth participation in our program, will strengthen this further step.

_Phase I // Trikiklo Says hello. Based in VSP located in Victoria Square, Trikiklo (the vehicle) is acquired and artistically modified. For two weeks it will simply move around the neighborhood, introducing itself to the locals through speakers, offering tea and lemonade as a first step towards building interpersonal relationships and a sense of community.

_Phase II // Trikiklo activates St Panteleimon Square bringing joy and festivity to a place which few years ago was a symbol of violent Golden Dawn attacks against immigrants. The large steps of the church are turned into an amphitheatre for public debate

_Phase III // Trikiklo turns an abandoned gas station into a social and exhibition spot and empty urban field into an urban garden where children's workshops on art and sustainability take place. These two spots are the two common actions done with the neighbors, creating two landmarks of our common identity.

_Phase IV // Trikiklo acquires its own public and artistic program taking place in the three public spaces and pops up in surprise stops co-designed with our neighbors, artists, architects and other experts.

_Phase V // Trikiklo asks for new ideas and new challenges, as well as people to adopt it and continue with sustainability for future actions. It also expands its events in certain small squares and pedestrian streets around the 6th District.

Direct
_Activation of 3 symbolic public spaces.The local different communities will be brought together and will have collaboratively co-designed 3 landmarks of unity in the public space to empower them.
_Trikiklo Community:100 locals from diverse backgrounds will have gained tools for active participation and debate and will have created a community, with Trikiklo becoming an ambassador all over the 6th district creating a link between fractured social groups.

Indirect
_A strong message for the need for active civic participation will be given both to the local population but also the local authorities who do not recognize their civic rights.
_The younger generation will gain self-confidence in reclaiming civic rights on the urban space and access to contemporary art & culture.

Through art and urban planning workshops, discussions and creative interactions, new tools will be developed both collectively and individually, slowly becoming a “common language of understanding” in decision making. Practicing direct democracy will give proposal making skills for new project ideas to be implemented. Participants connect in informal primal groups amongst neighbors,meet and discuss with local stakeholders and municipality actors giving them the chance to develop further their decision making and public speaking skills. Through our collaborations with schools, visual artists and Skasiarxeio, sharing the principles of deschooling and the equal use of public space from the children, they will gain collaborative, design and production skills.

Born and raised or just moved in the neighborhood, we are a team of twelve from diverse backgrounds including architecture, art history, education and curation, history and political sciences, museology, law and communication working in Victoria Square Project under the curatorial research question “Who is the Contemporary Athenian?”. The project initiator and coordinator is Marina Naki, an architect transforming the city into a game and a civic engagement playground.Our partners, commonspace co-op, Organization Earth and Skasiarcheio enrich trikiklo through their infrastructure, methodologies and practice in education, environmental issues and collaborative practices in the urban space, sharing our belief that art and public space belong to everyone to use and decide upon collectively.

Services (facilitators, project coordinator ) : 16000 EUR
Space rent (Gas station, permanent office) : 7700 EUR
Publicity (graphic design, printing, media, video/photography) : 3100 EUR
Vehicle (purchase, transformation, electric generator) : 8700 EUR
Production (workshop & space materials, equipment ): 7300 EUR
Extra (licenses, insurance fees, etc) : 5200 EUR
TOTAL : 48000 EUR