Κεφ. 5 - ΑΜΗΧΑΝΟΙ ΧΩΡΟΙ & ΣΥΛΛΟΓΙΚΗ ΜΝΗΜΗ - ΟΙ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΙ ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΧΩΡΟΙ

RUSTY SPACES AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY

PEOPLE AND SPACES

RUSTY SPACES AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY - PEOPLE AND SPACES

The material and symbolic importance of Elefsina’s old industrial buildings is strengthened by the ways in which former workers and residents interact with these buildings on-site.

Many of them pause when passing by their old workplace; others visit them to check out how they are currently used. For these people, the factories have not fallen to ruin, but live on in their various stories and recollections.

RUSTY SPACES AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY - PEOPLE AND SPACES

SOFIA KOSMIDOU

LIKE A
BEEHIVE

RUSTY SPACES AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY - PEOPLE AND SPACES

For Elefsina, industrial culture is more than the present and future of historical industrial buildings and facilities left in the wake of deindustrialization. The nature of its industrial culture has already been shaped by the collective memory of its people, a memory harking back to the industrial past, albeit without romanticizing or aestheticizing it.

RUSTY SPACES AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY - PEOPLE AND SPACES

The noise, dust, smell, workers’ struggles, gender issues at work, worker lifestyles, and modes of earning a living occur simultaneously with playing amidst the antiquities and in the sea, as contradictory and paradoxical as life in and around the factories.

The memories of Elefsina’s people are splendorous, and their contemporary narration reformulates the meaning of heritage left to the city through deindustrialization.

VOULA ANDREADOU

FOR A
WHOLE
YEAR,
I GOT UP
TO GO TO
WORK

Five or six months before I retired, I took my shoes out on the small landing, thinking “To hell with you, I’ll throw you off me”. On January 2, 2008, I got my papers from the union and applied for pension. The time had come to say goodbye to colleagues, wish them to be well, healthy, and to enjoy their families, children, and grandchildren, for those who had grandchildren. I left on the 31st of March. I would get out of bed whenever I wanted, go wherever I wanted (I mean that in a good way), complete freedom, and right after six months, I asked my wife “Where are my work shoes?” [To which she replied:] “What do you want them for?” [And I answered:] “I come and go all the time, being a pensioner is the worst thing in the world”.
GIORGOS ROKAS

RUSTY SPACES AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY - PEOPLE AND SPACES

Memory is connected to tangibility and materiality. Spaces, machines, or other objects related to the everyday routine of work function as links to the construction process and enhance memory. At the same time, the relationship with this material culture functions as a common legacy that connects the members of the labour community.

IRAKLIS MPEKAS

EVERY DAY
WE GUARDED
THE PLACE
SO THEY
WOULDN'T
GO IN AND
TAKE THINGS

VOULA ANDREADOU

YES, IT'S
STILL IN
MY WALLET

How do we see the machines? They’re what made the industry that put bread on our tables. [We see machines as something that] was unceremoniously abandoned, while it could still provide.
VAGELIS LIGGOS

PEOPLE AND SPACES

LIKE ABEEHIVE

FOR AWHOLEYEAR,I GOT UPTO GO TOWORK

EVERY DAYWE GUARDEDTHE PLACESO THEYWOULDN'TGO IN ANDTAKE THINGS

YES, IT'SSTILL INMY WALLET

LIKE A
BEEHIVE

FOR A
WHOLE
YEAR,
I GOT UP
TO GO TO
WORK

EVERY DAY
WE GUARDED
THE PLACE
SO THEY
WOULDN'T
GO IN AND
TAKE THINGS

YES, IT'S
STILL IN
MY WALLET