The Omonoia Project

The Omonoia Project is a subsection of the project Definitions I. In the whole project, language is considered as a cultural platform and a carrier of idiomatic elements.
Is it possible for a language to keep all the elements and the pronunciations of words, when the residents of a country migrate and leave behind much of this tradition in an effort to adapt to new conditions? How does the meaning of a word sound from a man who lacks the state of the exact word and from someone who has forgotten its interpretations/ meanings?
The movement of populations and globalization are two reasons that make people to the use a common language as a communication medium. The result of this phenomenon is the elimination of those cultural platforms over the years. It is quite difficult to be able to keep the elements and the factors of a language from the previous generation to the next, because those elements are not parts of an everyday experience by the new users. The Definitions I is an audiovisual archive, where the recording of specific conditions intended to ensure preservation. Video has been selected as the mean to imprint in the same time the timbre and expression of participants –visually and vocally-.
The Omonoia Project section examines the contemporary reflection on the big phenomenon of immigration -illegal or not- and the uprooting of the inhabitants of a region under specific conditions. It consists of video recordings, in the Omonia square and the area of Athens historic center, of people resettlement in Greece. Thus, through these recordings briefly illuminated by the reflection of the basic human rights and the necessity of keeping a unique identity.
The video records just the words and not the overall discussion, without further comment. People recount the words that lack, a privation that led them to search for a new home for a single word, "Omonia / Peace"; starting from this small word, the immigration is investigated from the perspective of immigrant’s view who seeks this condition in new social contexts. Overall, the project relates to the identification of current social life to a humanistic base, setting as a criterion the prosperity or not of the percentage filling of these concepts.
Meanwhile, the term "Omonia" seems to have shifted from its original meaning in greek; the contemporary word’s meaning is mostly local and spatial determination of the Athenian region, despite social and psychological condition. Through the discussion with the participants, an extensive reference is focused on the term, seeking the Omonia square to acquire the qualities of its’ name.

* Thought Definitions I, an online library is sought to be created in the near future. There, words recorded by as many languages as possible and participants.