"One who works on the dream
Starts from the street of Asklipiou."
Charis Kontu, The Rivers of the Centre
Walking through the streets of Exarchia, 1 a district in the historic centre of Athens, one comes across gatherings, both organised and spontaneous. What brings these people together? In the first instance, the myth: Exarchia, surrounded by universities, has always been frequented by artists, intellectuals, left-wing groups and anarchists, as it still is today.
A slogan painted on a wall: "Creative resistance against the decline of the same," sketches out the atmosphere with a palpable singularity. Graffiti and political posters cover just about every wall, creating an informal dialogue often described as "the conversation of the posters." Cultural venues, publishers, immigrants, LGBTQ+ as well as addicts, are all part of it and contribute to the atmosphere; "Exarchia open to all" is displayed in capital letters on the wall of a central street.
Designers sell "handmade" items directly, putting into practice the slogan, "Small businesses build relationships, not just transactions." Alternative bars and restaurants are becoming a steki for everyone. Steki, a word that is difficult to translate, is a gathering-place [lieu-repère] where people come to tie personal bonds. There's no need to say what your favourite drink is: the owner remembers it, knows your first name, addresses you informally, catches up on your news. The same goes for other customers. You often come alone, knowing that you will probably meet friends or simply chat with others.
"Steki-a"2 are places formed around a characteristic, a claim, or an ideology. The list remains open, as new collectives continually emerge under new signifiers or communal ways of enjoying. The horizontal operation of the network means that anyone can take part in its activities, or just turn up. Some of them focus on "the development of the public space": "The neighbourhood belongs to its residents," they say. The meetings, often with other neighbourhoods in Athens, provide a forum for exchange and action.
At any point you can might come across and take part in artistic happenings, clothing swaps, outdoor film screenings and open discussions on a book or musical improvisations. It's all happening at the same time. It's impossible to map the events exhaustively as there's always something new and random going on. There is no single mode of making connections at Exarchia. This multiplicity in the modalities of encounter within this socio-political-cultural movement seems to function as a substitute for the sexual relation that does not exist. The people who meet there speak of an "Exarchia community," an original creation in the face of the radical exile of the sexual non-relation.
La communauté d'Exarchia, patchwork de lien social © 2025 by Theo K. Mavraganis is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
[1] Asklipiou is one of the border streets of Exarchia. Perhaps it is by chance that psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic centres, oriented by the School, have set up there, contribute to its very special atmosphere.
[1] The plural of steki is Steki-a.
