Passages in translation The Centre for Creative Arts, Cultures and Engagement (CREATURE)

This CREATURE Lab marked the fiftieth anniversary of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s murder on a beach in Ostia. In this event, his poem Athens was reborn in many tongues. A group of artists, researchers and practitioners gathered in London to read the poem to a live audience. Athens was an enigmatic piece, the memory of a place in times of uncertainty, possibly on a summer evening, or spanning centuries. Each voice carried an excerpt in their own language – Yoruba, Farsi, Sudanese Arabic, Tagalog, Polish, Maltese, Basque, Greek, alongside the original Italian – recalling regions and continents Pasolini had once filmed in or written about.

After the reading, the contributors reflected on the process of translating the poem, which had sparked conversations about themes that felt current: religion, family, sex, war, life in urban neighbourhoods. In searching for the right words, the performers rediscovered their own stories of living between languages and places, belonging and not quite belonging.

The reading session marked the publication of Ektoras Arkomanis’ relevant research Passages in Translation in VIS Journal (Issue 15, March 2026), with contributions by the other participants.

Ektoras Arkomanis is an artist and writer. He teaches history to architecture students in London Metropolitan University. Ektoras is currently working on a film about the Eleonas refugee camp in Athens, which incorporates poetry by Pasolini and others.

With translation and reading contributions by:

Adeyemi Akande is a researcher with interest in the material culture, religion, and visual art of pre-20th century West African societies. He lectures on history of art and architecture in London Metropolitan University.

Mina Boromand is a multidisciplinary artist, originally from Iran. She teaches critical creative practices to Art students in London Metropolitan University.

Davide Bugarin is an architectural designer and artist working with film, performance and installation to explore architectures of shame, sound, and colonial afterlives. He often collaborates with Angel Cohn Castle under the name Bugarin + Castle.

Ania Dabrowska is an artist, curator and lecturer in London Metropolitan University.

Nina Gerada is a Maltese artist who works with clay, landscape, and the body to explore embodiment. Her processes are durational and intuitive, frequently centring the body as both subject and tool. Migration, memory, ancestry, and land are central concerns in her work.

Lucia Medina Uriarte is an architect working across practice, research and education between London and Zurich. She is currently working on a book about self-organised forms of architectural education and practice.

Niside Panebianco is an artist and visual researcher working with photography, archives, and time-based media. Her research explores matters of identity, memory and migration through collaborative practices and the use of mixed media.

Mae Shummo is a British Sudanese multidisciplinary artist and curator. Her curatorial research focuses on indigenous cultural production in a global context.