POLIS21 – ATHENS BETWEEN FILOXENIA AND XENOPHOBIA 7th November, Byzantine and Christian Museum 10AM - 3PM; FREE + Firday 6th November afternoon, public exhibition and artistic intervention on Monastiraki Square, don't miss it! The recent exponential increase in the presence and visibility of migrants in Athens is the focus of a day of discussions bringing together academics, architects, activists and migrants' groups. The issue is a fundamental one for contemporary Greek and European political life. Not only is the phenomenon of migration increasingly dominating the political agenda of the right and the far-right, but the urban texture of the city and the way this is navigated and negotiated by its inhabitants has been seriously affected, as the experience of the areas of Omonia-Psirri-Kerameikos-Metaxourgio in Athens shows. PROGRAMME 10.00AM : Introduction 10.30AM: First Panel: Between Filoxenia and Xenophobia The first panel addresses the contemporary reality of migration from a theoretical and political point of view, demanding what xenophobia means today, and what particular political instances and mechanisms of repression are faced by migrants into Europe today. With: Dr Maria Theodorou - SARCHA (School of ARCHitecture for All) Between Filoxenia and Xenophobia Olga Lafazani On the Greek border: migration movements, control policies and dominant discourse. Gemma Galdon Clavell Local policies: campaigning for migrant rights in the city Paraskevi Kourti Paraskevi Kourti has taken part in a research on the impact of migrant settlement in Thessaloniki 12.00 – 12.30AM: Break and Video Screening from the Research Walk (prepared by Panayiota Andrianopoulou) 12.30AM: Second Panel: Migration: What challenge for Art and Urbanism? The second panel focuses on the artistic and urban side of migration. In what ways is the phenomenon of migration transforming the way the city is inhabited and negotiated? Are we faced with new forms of urban exclusion, or could migration be seen as a liberating force is an often compartamentalised space? With Eleni Tzirtzilaki - Nomadic Architecture Network The historical centre of Athens and its refinement. Filoxenia, displacement and it's particularities. What is the role of art? Nikos Papastergiadis Cultural Translation or the Zombification of the Other; the transformation of the urban environment in postindustrial cities. Nelly Kampouri & Pavlos Hatzopoulos Discussion on the occupation of public space