Digital benches: A pilot program gives residents and visitors of Athens the opportunity to record their own stories or listen to the stories of other people. Six digital benches have been installed at different spots of Pangrati district in central Athens and are in full operation since a couple of days.
Aim of the project is to create an interactive “museum” in the heart of the city, a special “museum” of urban stories. Everyday people can record their everyday stories and listen to stories by everyday people of all ages.
All you need is an electronic device such as a smartphone, a laptop or a tablet, a 3G connection and headphones even if the latter are optional.
The stories are of a duration of maximum 2 minutes.
The interactive sound installation has been set up by Greek award-winning performer Elisa Soroga and Thodoris Tsirkas.
According to organizers, the digital benches aim to serve as a place of expression and socialization.
“The digital benches are recognizable through the visualization of the tictactoe-game painted around the selected benches along with the text “Benches tell their story.”
The dots based on the tictactoe-game were chosen to mark the visual identity of the project, as it is a traditional game more participative and simple to use.
The Six Digital Benches are in:
1. Evaggelismos Park
2. Spyrou Merkouri street
3. Pangrati Park (exit Eytixidou Street)
4. Ymittou Street (next to Palace cinema)
5. Mesologghi Square
6. Empedokleous & Archimides Streets (by Athens Stadium)
The action is being implemented within the framework of the This is Athens – Polis program and is part of the broader set of Re-Inventing Public Spaces actions.
The digital pilot program has a duration of one year.
Digital benches website: digitalpagkakia.gr where you can zoom in the map where exactly they are located.