Actionplay, after being commissioned by the Onassis Foundation and as part of the Foundation’s donation to the Municipality of Elefsina, proceeded with the renovation of old and the creation of new sports facilities with the aim of revitalizing the area and enabling the Municipality of Elefsina to give its residents sports and play opportunities .
Sports teach that participation and effort are important elements of life. Not an effort by any means, but with respect to the rules that the ancient Greeks summarized in the definition of “ef agonizesthe” (“fair play”). Both individual and team play, each with its own benefits, greatly influence a person’s development. Both are the result of the innate tendency to observe and socialize and are considered an integral part of development, especially of the young. At the same time, culture is the daily friction with our neighbor, our fellow citizen; it is the way we communicate. Accepting the winner and respecting the loser promotes sports culture. The combination of all these are the ultimate goal of this renewal.
Upgrading sports infrastructure in schools of the Municipality of Elefsina
It all started with the interventions to upgrade the sports facilities at the 2nd High School and 2nd – 4th Middle School of Elefsina. The works carried out concerned the restoration of the sports floors of a basketball court at the 2nd High School of Elefsina, a basketball court and a volleyball court at the 2nd – 4th Middle School of Elefsina with a special anti-slip carpet.
Skatepark construction
The new skatepark, in the outdoor sports area on Marias Kiouri Street in Elefsina, consists of a wonderful Bowl with a Quarter pipe, which in itself is a track that all skaters dream of, a simple Quarter pipe and a straight rail. The park has been tested and certified according to the EN14974:2019 standard by an accredited certification body. The completion of the construction was followed by another initiative of the Onassis Foundation by inviting the graffiti artist GERA 1 to transform the specific area with color.
THE LIBERATION OF PERSEPHONE (Evangelia Naka Art Historian – Curator)
“GERA 1’s brand new work on the floor surface of the Akropolis skatepark in Elefsina, which took 16 days and around 120 liters of paint to complete, attempts to highlight the modern physiognomy of this great city, without neglecting its rich and intense past .
Drawing inspiration from Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s well-known baroque sculpture, which represents the abduction of Persephone by Pluto, the artist dares to reinterpret the well-known myth and illuminate a new interpretation of it, emphasizing the moment of Persephone’s intense effort to free herself and her desire to remain in the upper world of the living.
Through an explosive polychrome, Gera places at the center of his composition the figure of Persephone, identifying her symbolically with the figure of every young woman: possibly every Persephone, who is capable of bringing rebirth, spring and the advent of a new joyous reality , as Elefsina has always represented with its etymology and myths. The forms and composition of this new work are in a dynamic movement, they claim their living existence today and give a new meaning to ancient but also timeless concepts”.
BEFORE
AFTER
The Municipality of Elefsina was the European Capital of Culture for the year 2023 and was in the center of attention of many. Thus, the renewal of this perennially industrial city came to give a new breath and a better quality of life to its inhabitants and especially to the new generation.
Therefore, young and old, who love specific sports, are invited to enjoy the new sports facilities in the Municipality of Elefsina!