Tourism and the marine environment
Nature and art are on the agenda of the French Institute of Athens over the coming week, with one lecture tonight on environmental issues and another on Monday focusing on art and technology. Tonight’s lecture, titled SOS Mediterranean and starting at 7.30, will give an analysis of the effects of tourism on the marine environment of the Mediterranean, and also will propose preventive action against its future degradation both on a state and individual level. The guest speakers are: Lucien Laubier, director of the Marseilles Oceanology Center, whose research focuses on the effects of oil spills on marine ecosystems; Lucien Chabason, coordinator of the Mediterranean Action Plan, a program run by the United Nations; Michail Skoullos, president of the Mediterranean Information Office for the Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development; and finally, Evangelos Papathanasiou, the research director for the National Center of Marine Research. On Monday night at 7.30, the focus will turn to the future of traditional forms of painting in the age of digital art. In cooperation with the Frissiras Museum that is displaying the work of French contemporary artist Vincent Corpet, the French Institute will put the artist himself together with an arts magazine editor (Richard Laydier), an art history professor (Emmanuel Mavromatis), an art historian (Amelie Pironneau), a museum director (Manos Stefanidis of the Frissiras Museum), and another artist (Giorgos Harvalias) to debate the question of whether the advent of digital technology is a hindrance to artistic expression or a means by which it can be promoted to new levels. Virtuosos
