Cinemas of Athens
A map guide for a walking tour of seven of Athens' historical cinemas.
Athens is a city of cinephiles. Numerous cinemas have operated throughout it’s modern history. Some of these continue to operate to this day, others have been abandoned, though still visibly present. Yet others have disappeared – been demolished or converted.
The purpose of this map is to introduce the user to the remnants of Athens' cinema-going era within a present-day context. The map guides it’s user on a walk through the Athenian neighbourhood of Patissia, which includes 7 stops at different cinemas.
Each of the cinemas has it's own name, presented on the building facade in a distinctive typeface. These name-labels were copied as outlines, and presented both within the guide, and as a montage on the front cover.
The map guide is in the form of a booklet. Each spread comprises a cinema in it’s present-day state to the left, and information about that cinema to the right. The text is cited from Dimitris Fyssa’s exhaustive directory of Athenian cinemas [«Τα σινεμά της Αθήνας 1896–2003»], and the additional information is also derived from the same source.
A flap of the back cover unfolds vertically to reveal the map of the walk on its inner surface. This can be held open throughout the walk and referred to continuously, while simultaneously turning the pages of the guide. A flap on the front cover serves as a bookmark and simultaneously frames the picture of each cinema in the fashion of a cinema screen.
supervision: Michalis Georgiou, Vakalo Art & Design College
text: Δημήτρης Φύσσας, «Τα σινεμά της Αθήνας 1896–2013» (Dimitris Fyssas, The Cinemas of Athens 1896–2013) [https://periodikotrypa.wordpress.com/συνεργάτες-και-συνεργάτοι/δημήτρης-φύσσας/]
photography: George Tsavalos [http://georgetsavalos.com]
