International webinar Waag: Technology as a means of preservation

Online, four heritage experts along with moderator Nicole McNeilly conducted an international webinar focused on how technology can be utilised to preserve heritage crafts. During the presentation, the audience learned more about the three Mingei pilot projects, on glassblowing, silk weaving, and mastic growing, which will create tools for heritage craft presentation and guide future research.

The Mingei project platform and different technologies like 3D reconstructions, used to preserve and represent heritage craft, were also demonstrated. Following the presentation was a panel on various topics like the inclusion of AI in craft preservation, how the Mingei project can serve to pass on informal heritage craft knowledge to a broad audience, and how this knowledge of the past can serve to inform our future.

rewatch the webinar

Local session Waag: Fashion as a thread between past and present

At Waag, creative Director Dick van Dijk provided an overview of the Mingei project and introduced the attendees to keynote speaker and renowned fashion designer Antoine Peters’ work, saying that it ‘looks into the past and provides new context’ for the future. During the keynote, Peters discussed several of his projects including his collaboration with the Zeeuws Museum. For the museum, he reimagined a traditional nineteenth-century garment from Zeeland, the yak, as a modern garment: the Jaktrui. In creating the Jaktrui, Peters ‘wanted to communicate something from the past to the now and translate it in my own way’. The zero-waste folding technique was then used for economic reasons, but now is very relevant from a sustainability perspective.

Following his presentation was a workshop on the craft of repairing clothing. This workshop was designed based on the Reflow project aiming to share knowledge on how to rethink, repair, and revalue your wardrobe. During this workshop, attendees were encouraged to rethink items of their own clothing focusing on both aesthetic and technique in clothing repair.

• Rewatch the workshop
• Watch the instruction
• View the photos of the workshop (photo credit: Jimena Gauna)
• An impression of the local sessions from the European partners will be published on the Mingei website.
   

How heritage can shape the future

So how does the Mingei project serve to connect the past, present, and future? Inspired by the Mingei movement in Japan, which originally served as a response to Western mechanisation in the mid 1920s, the Mingei project today focuses on the digitalisation and accessibility of heritage craft, both tangible and intangible.

Through use of modern technologies like interactive Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality, Mingei seeks to tell stories not only about the craft objects themselves, but about the rituals, practice, and knowledge that accompany these objects. The application of modern technology to heritage craft can then serve to build a bridge between the past and present.

In regard to the connection between past and present, Antoine Peters notes that ‘a design or a translation now always has this reference captured in it. So you have these little bridges – in storytelling or in the visual part’. When Peters was researching the yak, he found that no documentation existed detailing its construction proces – namely, how to take one piece of fabric and fold it to create the jak. Instead, he learned the folding technique from 91-year-old craftswoman Mrs. Vos.

This mirrors a challenge that was discovered during the Mingei project: during a glassblowing pilot in Paris, there was no documentation that outlined the movements and rituals of past glassblowers. Similar to the work Peters did to understand the historical process of crafting the yak, those working on the glass pilot had to find alternate methods to learn craft heritage techniques and movements and were able to reverse-engineer steps required for glassblowing. Both Peters and the glass pilot help to further an understanding of the past while contributing valuable knowledge to the future.

Through work like the Mingei project and Peters’ collaboration with the Zeeuws Museum, modern concepts and technologies can be applied to the past in a way that creates bridges between the past and present. When talking about heritage, Peters noted that the past and present cannot be separated; that ‘it’s all connected’. Examining these connections allows us to see the thread that connects the present day with the past and tells us stories that can be leveraged to imagine the future.

Exhibition CNAM Paris

CNAM organised an exhibiton where the worlds of academics and professional activity come together. It is the only higher education establishment dedicated to life-long professional training. A dedicated space at the cathedral which is part of the museum invites you to experience the craft of glassblowing and use actual glassblowing tools.

Local webinar FORTH – Greece

FORTH organised two webinars for Mingei Day (videos are in Greek).

Mingei Day Geneva – Reenacting 3D craft people

But Mingei Day is not over yet. On 9 and 10 July MIRAlab is organising a local session for Mingei Day in Geneva during The Night of Science. The partners main goal is to assure the perennity of certain gestures and attitudes when former people were doing crafts. Through digital simulation, we can preserve the intangible heritage.

Miralab intend to present videos of the “making of” of the digital craft people who are reproducing the gestures of our 3 activities: Glass, Mastic and Silk. As well as the setup of the three pilots.

In this third part of the series about a year in a mastic village, we’ll follow the journey of little Dimitris and his family. Together with Dimitris, we are observing and learning about the craft of mastic cultivation. Stay tuned for more!

‘Grandma, were you only singing at the fields while embroidering?’, Irini asked her the other day. ‘No, honey. Collecting the mastic was a joyful period too, which took place from September until mid-October, when hunting season began. You know, children, we were spreading white sheets near the mastic trees that we were working on. This way the hunters would notice that people were there, so they would not shoot’, Grandma said while smiling. ‘What were they hunting?’, Dimitris asked. ‘Rabbits and grouses, which were all around us!’, Grandma said enthusiastically.

Irini started wondering about their safety in the fields, and asked Grandma, ‘So, you women were alone in the fields with hunters strolling around? Wasn’t it dangerous?’ Irini didn’t realise that Grandma grew up in a different period of time when people usually felt safer. ‘Dangerous? No, dear’, grandma replied. ‘Quite the opposite. Imagine, the collecting season was also a courting season for the villagers. The unmarried women went into the fields, accompanied by their mothers and sisters, so the men had the opportunity to see them outside of the village and court them. Young men were leaving small pieces of paper under the rocks so that the young girls would find them while collecting mastic.’ ‘And what if the mother collected the love note instead of the daughter?’, Irini wondered. ‘If the mother did not approve the sender, she would go to his mother and complain. Good old times, my child’, Grandma said and moved her arm in a circular pattern*.

‘And what songs did you sing while collecting the mastic?’, Irini continued. Grandma paused for a moment and then said, ‘Well, this is one that a few older women of my age might remember. The younger women do not know it.’

Στο μάζεμα του μαστιχιού (While collecting the mastic)

Σκοπώνε τραγουδούσαν (They sang a song)

Τον άρεσε κι αρέσει τον (Τhey liked it and it was liked)

Όσοι κι αν τον εκούσαν (By any who heard it.)

Ο κάτω κόσμος μάτια μου (The underworld, my eyes)

Νάτος σαν τον απάνω (Here it is like the above)

Μον’ήθελα να παρακαλώ (But I only wanted to beg)

Γρήγορι να πεθάνω (To die soon.)

Όταν σε πρωτοείδανε (When you were first seen)

Τα μάτια τα δικά μου (By my own eyes)

Ήταν το στήθος μου ανοιχτό (My chest was open)

Και μπήκες στην καρδιά μου (And you entered my heart.)

‘Isn’t it a bit dark, Grandma? Why did she want to die? And what does death have to do with collecting mastic?’ Irini asked upset. ‘My child, don’t ask for interpretations. A song has different meanings for each person. It speaks about death, but also about love’, Grandma said to soothe her, and continued with a rather sad and tired tone in her voice, ‘Working with mastic is a very hard job, children. All year long you are either in the field working with the tree, and believe me, manipulating another living being is not an easy job, or at the house working with its product. After collecting the mastic, you know that the process of cleaning will start soon; another meticulous hand work. That’s why it is very difficult to automate mastic cultivation tasks. At the Association they have built machines to do some of the tasks, like a machine for separating mastic pieces according to their size. Nevertheless, pinching still needs to be done by hand. No machine can perform that task’.

Irini and Dimitris were skeptical for a moment due to the song and Grandma’s comments but the truth is, little Dimitris was more preoccupied with the custom of leaving love notes under the trees. For a little boy, he really seemed to like old-fashioned ways of living. Two weeks before, at the celebration of the Dormition of Virgin Mary, he was not able to find Eleni, the girl that he likes, but now the collecting period begins and he might see her in the fields. And maybe he’ll also leave her a note?

* This is a common way to express that a lot of time has gone by non-verbally in Greece.

This is a fictional story written by Danae Kaplanidi (PIOP), and is the outcome of archival and ethnographic fieldwork research in the villages of Mesta, Olimpi, Emporios and Pyrgi. The author would like to thank the research participants for their time and willingness to share stories about life in southern Chios.

In this series of short stories about a year in a mastic village, you will get to follow the journey of little Dimitris and his family. Together with Dimitris, you are invited to observe and learn the craft of mastic cultivation. This is the second chapter; stay tuned for more!

It is very early in the morning. The sun has just come out. The moment Giannis and Dimitris leave their car by the road, the sweet and distinctively rich aroma of the mastic trees surrounds them. Some trees are short, others larger, and the young ones just centimeters tall. Beneath all of them, at the bottom of their trunk, there is the leveled and cleaned soil with white powder, called the ‘table’. From June till November (when the rains start), one can simply identify the mastic trees from the white soil forming circular targets.

Giannis had already started explaining things to Dimitris since they were in the car. For example, that the young trees are not to be embroidered, only those that are more than three years old. Dimitris has heard some of this information before. He has been going to the mastic fields from a very early age, but back then, no one really explained to him what to do or not.

He used to observe with the curiosity of a child. Other kids at his age, and even his friends, did not really care to learn mastic cultivation. They were always bored every time their parents or grandparents took them to the fields. They would play around and complain that they were tired and wanted to go back home. But the elders had a reason to take them to the fields. The children might play around, but eventually they would start to observe because they would get bored of playing in the nature and little by little they started helping.

Dimitri’s Grandma said to him once, when he was younger, that in her time it was mandatory for the children to follow their parents in the fields because there was no one to watch over them. Back then, they did not have babysitters and the grandparents would also be on the fields. Thus the children were joining the adults from dawn till dusk.

She also explained that the task of embroidering (‘kendima’ as it is called in Greek) is a very precise work. One learns to embroider correctly a tree by staying close to an experienced mastic grower for years. By embroidering, the grower creates wounds on the bark of the tree. The tree is a living organism, so one must learn where to start wounding it and how deep. The purpose is not to wound the tree and destroy it, but to learn how the organism of the tree works; how it produces the mastic resin, when an incision is hurtful for the tree, and when it just scratches it.

It is not only the physiology of the tree that needs to be learned; the properties of the mastic resin itself are important too. Mastic resin is produced in liquid form, as any other resin, but unlike the others, it has the ability to dry under the right conditions and become thick as a rock. For this reason, embroidering takes place in August and September; a rain-free and warm but not completely hot period. Extreme heat does not help mastic resin to dry. Fresh air is also important and that is why Giannis prunes the trees every winter; to grow at the point of letting as much sun and wind is needed to dry the mastic resin.

In this illustrative video made by FORTH, we see the practice of dusting and embroidery.

Giannis and Dimitris are now in the mastic field. “Dimitris, did you collect any dried pieces?” Giannis asked. “Very few. There was not much mastic produced from riniasma,” young Dimitris replied with a rather sad tone in his voice. “Well, leave them to dry well and we will collect them next week,” Giannis relieved him.

“Now grab your kenditiri and come here. I will show you how to make proper incisions,” Giannis told him. “You make vertical or linear incisions not too long, up to 10 cm, but also not too deep, otherwise you will hurt the tree more than you want. See? Like this one,” Giannis teached him as he pushed a bit hard and pulled fast the pointy head of his kenditiri on the tree trunk to create an incision. “From which part of the trunk you start to embroider, you remember?” Giannis continued and asked young Dimitris. “From the bottom, because the resin starts to be produced at the bottom where the trunk is also bigger and by making embroideries often, you move upper and upper on the trunk, and the resin follows,” Dimitris replied enthusiastically. “Well done!” Giannis said impressed.

Late in the afternoon, back in the village, Dimitris, his older sister Irini, and their grandma are sitting in the living room. “Grandma, of all the stories you tell us, you never told us any old song that you and your esmichtes[1] used to sing?”, Irini urged grandma. “What song, dear? We only sung in the fields,”, grandma replied. “In the fields?!”, Dimitris asked with wonder. “Tell us some songs. You remember any?”, Irini stubbornly suggested to grandma. “You wonder if I remember, my dear? Of course, I do!”, grandma replied while laughing. “We were spending so much time in the mastic fields that we would sing and make picnics. Let me think for a second. Here is one we were telling while we were embroidering: [2]

Εμπρός παιδιά κουνήσετε, εχάραξεν η μέρα (Come children move, the day started)
Και θα τον κόψει η ταχυνή τον ψεσινόν αέρα (And the dawn will make yesterday’s wind stop)
Πιάτε τα τσεντηστήρια σας να πάμε στα πηξάρια (Grab your kenditiria to go to the mastic trees)
Αμέτε εσείς στο Ψάρωνα τσαι βω στα Χοβελάρια (You go to Psarona and me to Chovelaria)
Τσαι σαν κοντέβγει να γίνει ολόρτο μεσημέρι (And when high noon is almost there)
Η μια τον ένα γάιδαρο στη Βληχωνή να φέρει (The one –she- the donkey to Vlichoni must bring)
Κουνέλια να φορτώσουμε, κολάτα, κονταρούδια (Rabbits to load, kolata, kontaroudia)
Κι η άλλη ας φεύγει στο χωριό αντάμα με τα βούδια (And the other –she- can go back to the village with the cows)
Εμπρός παιδιά κι η εποχή ε θέλει χασομέρια (Come children and it is not a period to lose time)
Μακάρι που και νάχαμεν ακόμη δέκα χέρια (I wish we had ten more hands)

“That was nice, Grandma. But why it refers only to women?”, Irini asked skeptically. “I told you before, my Irinaki. Women were mostly going to the fields at my time”, grandma reminded her.

Summer goes by fast and it is already the 15^th of August. As in any village or city in Greece, the Dormition of the Virgin Mary is celebrated. Here in Pyrgi, the bond of women is very important and many social customs are led by women. For the celebration of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, women carry the sacred icon of Mary around the village, asking her to bless the village. On the way back to the church, the icon is transferred through changing on the hands of the local women. This tradition is performed only by women and Irini’s and Dimitris’ mother is taking part this year. Irini watches and wonders if she will perform too one day while Dimitris is looking around the crowd to find his beloved Eleni to wish her. He seems to be unlucky this day, but the young boy already has another plan on his mind to express again his feelings to Eleni and convince her. He learned something these days from his grandma and an idea popped in his head.

This is a fictional story written by Danae Kaplanidi (PIOP), and is the outcome of archival and ethnographic fieldwork research in the villages of Mesta, Olimpi, Emporeios and Pyrgi. The author would like to thank the research participants for their time and willingness to share stories about life in southern Chios.

References

In this series of short stories about a year in a mastic village, you will get to follow the journey of Dimitris and Giannis. Together with the young Dimitris, you are invited to observe and learn the master’s craft. This is the first chapter; stay tuned for more!

Α δε λαλήσει τζίτζικας εν είναι καλοκαίρι
If the harvest fly does not sing, it is not summer
(local saying of Chios island)

It is already late June, and Giannis decided to take young Dimitris on the mastic fields with him. Dimitris was waiting anxiously to help with the ‘kendima’, which means embroidering. He has grown up around mastic and wants to become a mastic grower. The fields of Giannis are near the village of Pyrgi, where they live. From the road, they can easily see those rather short trees with deep green leaves and with interesting trunks. On the southwestern part of Chios, mastic trees line the roads on both sides. The sun has started to come up, so Giannis and Dimitris must hurry if they want to finish their work before late noon. Otherwise the Greek sun will be unbearable.

“Dimitri, go find some branches and twigs to make a broom. We need to clean the soil under the trees,” Giannis said. “Ok, I’m going. Don’t start the ‘table’ without me,” Dimitrits replied and he started running immediately to look for branches. “You don’t have to run!” Giannis shouted after him. “Have some patience. I will wait for you.”

While waiting for Dimitris, Giannis looked at one of the older mastic trees. Its branches had grown so much that you could almost stand completely under it. When he was a child, he used to think that the trees were already very big, because he himself was small. While growing up, he learned that mastic trees are actually rather short trees, and it takes specific cultivation methods to make them bigger.

His grandmother used to tell him many stories about life in the past. How back then, they used to bring their children along at the field because there was no one else to babysit at home. Their main transport were donkeys and their saddles were used as baby beds. After taking off the saddle from the donkey, the women would turn it over and place a jute bag in it. Using a rope, they would then hang the saddle-baby bed from a strong mastic tree branch and leave the baby to sleep as if in a swinging bed.

“Hey Giannis, wake up!” Dimitris called him out of his daydream. “What happened?” Giannis asked. “Come on! Let’s clean and level the soil and lay down the white soil!” Dimitris answered full of excitement. “Okay, okay.. I wish I had that enthusiasm when I was your age,” Giannis laughed. Together, they carefully cleaned the soil with the broom they made, called ‘athrimba’.

“I will show you today how to make the first incisions on the tree,” Giannis said. “Today, Kendima? But isn’t it too early? June has not even finished,” said Dimitris confused. “No, it is not too early,” Giannis explained. “We always do the first incisions right after cleaning the soil, in order to ‘wake up’  the tree and start producing mastic. But be careful, we will only make some very few incisions on the bottom of the trunk of each tree. Do you want to know how we call this first kendima?” Giannis asked. “Sure!” Dimitris was excited to learn. “It is called riniasma,” Giannis told him.

Now they were ready to start. “Which tool are you going to use?” Giannis asked. Dimitris looked at the tools in front of them. “The kenditiri or baltadaki,” he answered. “Well done, you have learned all of them!” said Giannis enthusiastically. “Now let’s get to work.”

This is a fictional story written by Danae Kaplanidi (PIOP), and is the outcome of archival and ethnographic fieldwork research in the villages of Mesta, Olimpi, Emporeios and Pyrgi. The author would like to thank the research participants for their time and willingness to share stories about life in southern Chios.
Top image: Mastic field of the Chios Mastic Museum, 2019. Photo: Danae Kaplanidi

One of Mingei’s pilot studies involves mastic; a product from the mastic tree which exclusively grows in the south-west of Chios in Greece. The craft is highly localized, and the cultivation of mastic has historically shaped the local life. The 24 villages from where mastíha is harvested are known as Mastihochoria, or Mastic Villages – their name being an indication of the importance of mastic for the region. In order to explore and illustrate how the craft practice of mastic and its community have shaped the urban context, we created 3D reconstructions of the villages. How does the practice of crafts shape its surroundings and the local life?

The Island of Chios

The Island of Chios is situated opposite of the large natural bay of Smyrna, Asia Minor on the seaway from the exit of Dardanelles to the island of Rhodes or Alexandria. In 1571, the island passed from the Genoese under the rule of Ottoman domination. Both until 16th and the beginning of the 20th century, many visitors and navigators stayed on the island and passed down important texts and pictorial material over many generations. On the one hand, the rare product mastic, which can only be extracted from a common kind of a tree called “Skinos” on southern Chios. And on the other hand, the beauty and courtesy of women as well as their lavish costumes inspired foreign visitors to describe and represent the Island’s uniqueness.

At the beginning of the 15th century, Chios Island is mapped in “Liber Insularum Archipelagi” by Cr. Buondelmonti, which became a standard for the later maps of islands, such as those of B. Dalli Sonetti (1485) and B. Bordone (1547).

Nowadays, Chios is one of the largest islands in the Aegean Sea and is famous for the mild climate, the beautiful beaches and the variety of historical monuments. First and foremost, Chios has been well known throughout the world for the cultivation of mastic trees since ancient times. Mastic (μαστίχα) is a natural product collected from the bark of mastic trees, which exclusively flourish in the southern part of the island and due to this fact, the medieval settlements in that area are called “Mastichochoria”, as from mastic villages (χωριά).

The development of mastic villages

These settlements date back to the Byzantine Era and they are still Cultural Heritage monuments, although they have suffered disasters over the centuries. During the Genoese occupation (1346–1566), the mastic cultivation becomes progressively systematic and 22 mastic villages are founded in the southern part of the island aiming mainly at exploiting mastic, as a monopolistic product. Τhe geographical position of the villages was not visible from the sea and their layout reminds of a fortress, of which the aim was to protect the inhabitants from the frequent incursions in the Aegean Sea.

Latin architects, engineers and contractors oppressively had local farmers build the villages, according to the Italian architectural model of that era. In the center of each settlement, there was a tall rectangular tower, around of which there were houses very close to each other. The walls of the houses located circumferentially of the village formed an external wall with a cylindrical turret with crenellations on each corner to avoid invaders who tried to approach the center of the village by confusing them. This architectural draft gave masters the opportunity to close the gates in order for protection.

The houses of Mastic Villages follow the same architecture. They are stone-built, consisting of ground and first floor and are covered by semicircular domes called “Germata”. On the ground floor were stables and a storage room for agricultural products. On the first floor were the other rooms, which spread around a central outdoor space, the “Poundi”, which served to illuminate and ventilate the floor. The roofs of all the houses were about the same height, making it easy for residents to escape from the top of them in case of threat.

Τhe best preserved Mastic Villages are those that did not suffer major damage in the disastrous earthquake of 1881: Pyrgi, Mesta, Olympoi and less Vessa, Kalamoti and Elata.

To illustrate craft practice and community needs shaped the urban context we used aerial images of the Pyrgi, Mesta, Olympoi and Elata villages to show the densely-constructed houses which formed continuous external walls and the location of maximum security: the central tower in the village where mastic was stored and guarded during day and night. The 3D reconstructions of these villages are shown to illustrate and understand these architectural structures. It ought to be noted, that in later years, the towers in Mesta and Elata were replaced by churches. The location of the central tower for our four villages and the wall perimeter is shown. Can you find them in the 3D reconstructions?

Pyrgi Village

Pyrgi is a rich village for its folklore, archaeological and linguistic importance. The village is surrounded by a medieval fence that is formed by the external walls of the houses. There were only two exits from the village, which used to be sealed with two iron gates. The roads are narrow and the two or three storey houses are tall. The name of the village comes from the tall tower around of which the rest settlement was built. The Byzantine temple of Holy Apostles, with the well-preserved frescoes inspired from the Old and the New Testament, is situated at the village square. The existence of this church proves that the village was not constructed by Genoese for the first time, but several nearby settlements merged with the existing village during the Genoese occupation.

In Pyrgi the façades of the buildings have been decorated in a different and unique way throughout Greece. More precisely, this technique is based on the black sand of the roughcast, which is painted with white color and then it is scratched diligently. In that way, a variety of black patterns can be created on a white background, such as triangles, circles, semicircles, or rhombus. This technique is called “Xysta” and many walls of houses and churches have been decorated in this manner, giving an outstanding impression to the village. At last Pyrgi is a village of folklore interest and the only one of several villages that maintains many customs and traditions till today.

Mesta Village

Mesta is the most typical sample of fortification and the most well-preserved of the rest mastic villages, in the south of Chios. The village was built in a pentagonal form, which is perhaps unique in Greece, during the Byzantine Era, while later Genoases improved its fortification. Each house is built next to the other, without gaps but only two entrances to the interior of the village. The alleys are narrow and most of them are covered with arches, on which some residences are built. The layout of the village reminds of a labyrinth, aiming at preventing pirates from easily approaching the center of it.

The oldest monument of Mesta is the church of Old Taxiarches. It is a single-aisled Basilica, built during the Byzantine period. In the interior of which there are traces of frescoes, although most have been destroyed. The largest church in the village is the newest church of Taxiarches, built in 1868 on the site of the old circular castle tower. Next to it, there is the central, traditional village square with taverns and cafes. Nowadays, Mesta is a major attraction for many tourists, both for its unique architecture and the natural beauty of the area. The main occupation of the inhabitants is agriculture.

Olympoi Village

Olympoi Village lies in a small, treeless valley far from the sea. It is a medieval village of the 14^th century and has been declared a listed monument. The village maintains the form of the medieval “castle-village” quite well, enclosed by the exterior walls of the houses, which joined together. Those residences had no doors or windows, so as to deter their owners from seeing the outside of the village. The stone-paved streets of the village are narrow and lead to the main square. The functional character of the houses supports the village’s defense against pirate raids. The church of St. Paraskevi with its wood-carved iconostasis and the Trapeza of Olympoi, a two-storey building with long hallways preserved in a good condition since the Middle Ages, are of noteworthy interest. Just outside the village, near the beach of St. Dinami with the homonymous church, there is a cavern with remarkable natural decoration of stalactites. It was first visited in 2000.

Elata Village

Elata Village is located in a semi-mountain area, on a rocky hill in the southern part of the village where three windmills were built and are preserved to date. The position of the village is away from the sea, although there is a clear view of the Aegean Sea. The position and the architecture of Elata illustrate the dread of the inhabitants due to the frequent raids of the pirates from the Middle Ages till the Turkish Occupation. The “village-castle” architecture of Elata is still preserved to a certain extent. Seven older Byzantine settlements united to build the castle of Elata, probably around 1300 AD. At that time, the inhabitants of the village were engaged in the farming of a wild bird called partridge, which is not the case nowadays. The name of the village is thought to come from the Greek phrase “elate, elate” (=come, come) which was shouted at the inhabitants of the surrounding settlements to enter the castle when they were informed about the arrival of pirate ships.

To sum up, Chios island is a destination that invites visitors to discover it. Apart from beautiful beaches with clear waters, Chios stands out for the medieval villages in the southern part of the island, which are famous throughout the world for the production of mastic. This natural product is cultivated entirely by hand and is nowadays used in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and cosmetics. Mastic villages also display exquisite architecture and unique decorative elements on the facades of the houses, offering visitors the opportunity to travel back in time.

Want to learn more about the mastic villages? Go visit The Chios Mastic Museum! The museum is situated in the wider area of Pyrgi Village and aims at presenting the history of mastic cultivation and the processing of its resin, which integrates into the cultural landscape of Chios. The permanent exhibition of the museum lies emphasis on the mastic as a unique natural product. The first module presents the traditional know-how of mastic cultivation. The second module focuses on how managing the cultivation and its produce shaped the agricultural landscape and the settlements of southern Chios and the Mastic Villages historically. The third module is dedicated to mastic resin’s cooperative exploitation and processing in modern times, which marks an important chapter in the productive history of Chios. The museum guidance is completed with an outdoor experience, since the public comes into contact with the mastic trees and the natural habitat, where they prosper.

Written by Argyro, Polykarpos and Xenophon from FORTH, photography and video by Thodoris Evdaimon (FORTH)

Within the Mingei project, we collect the narratives of individual craftsmen and -women describing how they work. Besides those narratives, it is important to collect general descriptions of the craft processes that are used in each of our three pilots on glass, mastic and silk weaving. This is important because they complement the individual, particular knowledge and experience of craftspeople. How do we create these general descriptions?

From crafts to process scheme

Processes are a central notion in computer science, therefore there are many languages that have been developed to describe processes and to manage their execution in computer science. These languages typically address computational processes, that is, actions and events that occur inside a computer to accomplish tasks – such as processing an order in an online shop.

On the other hand, crafts are performed by humans and characterized by unforeseen events or situations, and each crafter has its own way of dealing with it. There are formal languages for detailing behavior up to any level of detail. These languages are mainly in robotics. However, these languages are not needed for Mingei. The purpose of Mingei is not to instruct a robot to be a crafter, but rather to transmit crafting knowledge to humans.

In order to transfer the crafting knowledge onto – for example – museum visitors, it suffices to use a language that allows us to outline the general steps of the process. Based on these outlines, we then tackle the difficulties and peculiarities of the crafting process by linking to additional information. This can be videos showing how a master does it, texts describing the step in natural language, images of the tools, and so on.

The activity diagram of mastic

Following a consolidated practice, we have adopted a de facto standard, namely Activity Diagrams of the Unified Modelling Language, also known as UML. The following picture shows the activity diagram that describes the cultivation of mastic, which is one of Mingei’s pilot crafts.

The diagram has three vertical “swim lanes” in different colors: each swim lane corresponds to a kind of plant and shows the activities that concern that kind. On the left side of the diagram, the time periods illustrate when the different phases of mastic cultivation take place.

The diagram has a beginning node (the circle on top) but no ending node, since the cultivation of mastic is a cyclic activity that repeats the same every year and, at least in principle, never ends.

During January and the first half of February, cultivators are busy planting new plants, irrigating young plants and irrigating, pruning and fertilizing adult plants. All these activities are performed in parallel, as the diagram shows by enclosing them between horizontal synchronization bars.

No other activity is carried out on new and young plant for the rest of the year. In contrast, adult plants require a lot of attention from March to mid-October:

• Plowing, in March and April
• Cleaning soil, in June
• Embroidering, in July
• Embroidering and collecting, in August
• Collecting in September until mid-October

The diagram has a graphical notation, which allows humans to understand the process, i.e. the steps that make it up and their relationships. Diagrams like this are developed by the technical partners after collecting knowledge from the cultivators and then they are shared with the cultivators in order to be validated by them. However, a computer cannot derive this information by “looking” at the diagram. After validation, they are transformed into symbolic expressions where steps and relationships are explicitly represented, using the Mingei ontology and inserted into the Mingei knowledge base. Afterwards, it can be displayed upon request and is preserved for future re-use.

Written by Carlo Meghini from ISTI CNR

From 9 to 13 September 2019, PIOP welcomed all partners to the Mingei Consortium Meeting onChios, Greece, where the Mingei pilot on mastic is deployed. With coordinated efforts, the valuable help of the Mastic Museum staff and PIOP’s excellent relations with the local community of Chios, we were able to organize a fruitful meeting.

Visit at the Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association

On Monday morning of 9 September 2019 , the consortium visited the Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association – which represents the entire community of Mastic cultivators on Chios – and had an interesting meeting with the president Mr G. Toumpos.  One of the main aims of the Association is  with respect of growers-associates labour and efforts, to stand by them as an assistant, by contributing to the upgrade of mastiha cultivation, to the improvement of its producing procedure and of course to the guarantee of the highest possible profits. The consortium received input on the needs of mastic growers, ranging from practical issues to strategical goals.

Visit at the Mediterra S.A.

In the afternoon, the consortium visited the Mediterra S.A. Company and had a meeting with Ms Marialena Kavoura. Mediterra was founded by Chios Mastiha Growers Association, with the main objective to develop, product, promote, and sale mastiha products worldwide. Mediterra is a company initiated by the Association and it has the role of a marketing tool for mastic products. Today, they are also building a research centre for pharmaceutical and medical uses of mastic.

The main concern of Mediterra today is to promote mastic in the markets of U.S.A. and Australia, among others, where mastic is not known. Mastic is nowadays considered a super food, thus the main marketing strategy for those new markets is the pharmaceutical and medical use of mastic. Major export countries include those where mastic is used in their daily routine, such as in Saudi Arabia.

Mastic cultivation and agritourism

On Tuesday morning of 10 September 2019, the consortium met with thematic tourism stakeholders and with Ms Boura, who is the owner of the tourist Agency named Mastic Culture, in order to provide the experiential presentation in the field, at the Mastic Museum.At the open air exhibition of the Mastic Museum, where pathways have been developed, as an itinerary through the mastic field, participants became acquainted with the special characteristics of mastic cultivation and the agricultural landscape of southern Chios.

Mastic cultivation steps, processes and practices were demonstrated to and performed by the participants, providing a first-hand experience of the labour, the dexterity and the required practical difficulties, as well as the consideration of efficient use.

Plenary meeting

On the first day of the official consortium meeting, Wednesday 11 September, all partners and guests from the advisory board (Ms Stavroula – Villy K. Fotopoulou and Mr David Fajolles) attended presentations of the progress of the project and discussed with the consortium. During the day, all participants viewed the motion capture process that was taking place at the mastiha trees of the museum.

A guided tour of the exhibition space provided the opportunity to become acquainted with the history of mastic, the process of the mastic cultivation and the architecture of the settlements. Everyone became familiar with the history of the cooperatives, the Chios Mastiha Growers Association, the steps in the mastic production Line, its uses and the products.

Keynote talk by Villy Fotopoulou

Intangible Cultural Heritage, Local Knowledge and Sustainable Management of Cultural Assets and Environmental Recourses

During her talk, Ms Fotopoulou provided insights in Intangible Cultural Heritage, Local Knowledge, and Sustainable Management of Cultural Assets and Environmental Recourses. Ms Fotopoulou provided guidelines on the policies for the preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage as acquired from the collaboration of the General Directorate of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage, of the Ministry of Culture and Sports – Hellenic Republic with UNESCO, regarding the inscription of elements of Greek Cultural Heritage in the Representative List of Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Keynote talk and guided tour by Manolis Vournous

The architecture of the Mastiha villages

In the afternoon of the first day of the meeting, PIOP had planned two architectural guided tours in the Olympoi and Pyrgi villages, by Mr Manolis Vournous, architect and former mayor of Chios. Mr Vournous presented his talk in the context of two guided tours at these villages. Mr Vournous elaborated on the architecture of the Mastiha villages and the way it supported the cultivation of mastic during the last 10 centuries, as well as the protection of threats to the local communities due to piracy and weather conditions. The group ended up at the central square in Olympoi, where we had the opportunity to relax and enjoy the dinner provided by PIOP.

Co-creation activities

On Thursday  of 12 September, we started the day with an update on the technological progress of the project by the technical partners. After that, we continued with the co-creation sessions organized by WAAG, which focused on the creation of mastic stories oriented to the museum’s spaces, both indoor and outdoor. All participants were divided into three groups and created stories that linked the history of mastic, its social implications, the chewing gum production line and the external pathways of the natural landscape with the potential needs of different group visitors. The great participation, the fantasy and the ideas of all partners showcased the charm and the impact of this unique product on everyone.

Keynote talk by David Fajoles

Why does the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage matter?

On the final day of the plenary meeting, Friday 13 September, we had the chance to attend the speech of Mr Fajoles, on the importance of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. During his talk, Mr Fajoles provided insights on the organisation and operation of UNESCO Culture Conventions and in particular the 2003 convention on Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, as well as the ways in which heritage is inscribed in the representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity or the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. Mr Fajoles presented in detail the function of Heritage Inventories, awareness-raising on international and national level, as well as the function and value of the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices of UNESCO.

The planning of the next steps and issues of the council put the epilogue to a productive but intense 3-day meeting. The next consortium meeting will take place in Paris, involving the glass pilot, upcoming December. Until then, the scent of mastic has remained strong in everyone.

Short bios of invited presenters

Stavroula – Villy K. Fotopoulou is a graduate of the Department of Archeology and History of the Athens School of Philosophy. She has been working in the Ministry Of Culture since 1996, where she was appointed as a graduate of the National School of Public Administration. She holds postgraduate degrees in Modern History (NCSR, 2008) and in Social Folklore (NCSR, 2011). She is the Director of Modern Cultural Heritage in the Ministry of Culture since 2014. She has represented the Ministry of Culture in International Organizations (UNESCO, EU), on matters of its competence.

David Fajolles is a Professor at Sciences Po – C-factor.tech Paris, in Cultural Policies and International Relations. He is a Former Secretary General of the French National Commission for UNESCO and has worked for the French Ministry of Culture as an advisor to the Minister and as a head of the department studies. He is the founder of Manufacturing of Curiosity, a European initiative for smart innovation in cultural and creative industries.

Manolis Vournous graduated in 1996 from the School of Architectural Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, and in 2000 with a scholarship from the Institute of State Scholarships he completed postgraduate studies in monument restoration at York University, graduating with distinction. His research interests relate to the architecture of Chios during the period of the Genoese and the Ottomans. With his publications and conferences he has dealt with issues, such as the vigils and fortifying architecture of Chios, the evolution of the post-Byzantine church in Chios and the creation and evolution of its settlements. From 1996 to 2003 he worked in Athens focusing mainly on studies and supervision of the restoration of buildings and the incorporation of new architecture into a historical setting. In 2014 he was elected Mayor of Chios.

Written by PIOP and FORTH

Man is constantly striving to seek beauty and incorporate it into his everyday life. Beauty is represented in works of art, ornaments and implements of daily use. This ongoing search for beauty is on show at “The Countless Aspects of Beauty” as of Wednesday June 18, 2019 at the Chios Mastic Museum in Greece, which will be the last stop of this touring exhibition.

Visitors will have the opportunity to admire fifty antiquities from the collections of the National Archaeological Museum, dating from prehistoric times to the Roman era. Several items, referring to some of the aspects of Beauty, are being exhibited for the first time.

A separate section, which however is not unrelated to the collection of antiquities, highlights the beauty of the women of Chios as seen through the eyes of travellers (16th-19th century), with exhibits and photographic material derived from the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece / National Historical Museum and the Travelogues section of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, respectively. Also on display are the multiple properties and uses of the unique product mastic, which is one of Mingei’s pilots.

Exhibition on tour

The major exhibition “The Countless Aspects of Beauty” of the National Archaeological Museum (NAM), was designed in collaboration with the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation (PIOP) to tour its thematic museums. It has been presented since May 2018 in the venues of the National Archaeological Museum’s touring exhibitions, a smaller version with the same title, presenting antiquities from the top museum of the country. The exhibition was presented successively at the Museum of the Olive and Olive-Oil in Sparta, the Silversmithing Museum in Ioannina, and the Museum of Marble Crafts in Tinos; it was visited by approx. 46,000 people.

The selection of the ancient artefacts was based on the themes of the PIOP museums to which they travelled. Thus, in the Museum of the Olive and Olive-Oil the focus was on body-care items such as oils and perfumes, in the Silversmithing Museum on fine jewellery, and in the Museum of Marble Crafts on marble figurines representative of the Cycladic culture.

The touring exhibition “The Countless Aspects of Beauty” is part of the policy of the National Archaeological Museum to create, in Greece and beyond, parallel versions, linked thematically to its central touring exhibitions. The ultimate aim of the collaboration between the two entities is that these exhibitions will function as satellites of the top museum in Greece in the various regions of the country, offering to local communities the opportunity to examine at first hand fine artefacts of great historical value derived from the unique collections of the National Archaeological Museum. Another aim of this two-year collaboration (2018-2019) is to link the cultural imprint of modern times with that of the past, showcasing the vitality of Greek culture in all of its expressions across time.

The exhibition runs from June 19 to September 8, 2019 at the Chios Mastic Museum, Rachi site (Tepeki), Chios 821 02. 
Opening hours: Daily except Tuesdays, 10:00-18:00
Closed on July 22 (local fair) and August 15

With the kind support of the Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association. 

Written by PIOP