Culture Matters

If you are in Athens these days there is a very interesting photographic exhibition presenting Monuments/Sites of World Cultural Heritage of UNESCO in regions of Balkan Peninsula named "Culture Matters" held at Michael Cacoyiannis Foundation. In the officail site of the exhibition says:

The exhibition CULTURE MATTERS presents images of a journey to 18 monuments/sites of world cultural and natural heritage from 18 different countries of Southeastern Europe that form part of the cultural heritage and are considered of ecumenical value by the Wold Cultural Committee.

CULTURE MATTERS is an initiative of the Austrian Government.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. The Cultural heritage sites presented in the exhibition belong to all people of the region, Europe, world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located.

Official opening of the Exhibition: 4 February 2011 at 19:30


The exhibition will be inaugurated by the Ambassador of Austria Dr Μichael Linhart.

Mrs Ekaterini Tzitzikosta, President Hellenic National Commission for UNESCO, will make an address on behalf of Unesco.

IN CURATOR’S WORDS

Culture Matters was a project for me that meant everything about connection… a touch, a look, a word, a sense of feeling human in a world that seems confused –a world that seems to be lost in the process we know as life. Culture has boundaries that man attaches to it. Identity is important because it seems to give meaning and purpose, but I was forced to ask the question if that is where the journey ends, and the miracle was that I discovered through the people I met, the places I saw, and the experiences I had that the answer is NO! I was granted the privilege to come close to people from a passionate region though I was an outsider who basically never set foot into their existence. I realized through this connection that no matter what language you speak, what country you come from, what religion you believe or what culture you have the heritage we all share is feeling and being human in all the tragedy and comedy. If I have to walk away with a single phrase that sums it all up it would be Humanity Matters, because no matter how lost this world might be without each other we are nothing.

Salem Islas-Madlo