The Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory,
The University of Texas at Austin, Classics Department
Fest Description
Nikos Samartzidis’ artwork conveys the words of Greek poetry from the late Greek Bronze Age to the present through the characters of the Linear B script, the earliest form of script in the history of what we traditionally define as ‘western’ culture.
This is a celebration of feeling and passion and humanity, the hallmark of Greek poetry from the Ur-song poems of the Greek Bronze Age that we catch glimpses of in reconstructed lines and then following the sweep of Greek poetry from historical Homer and Hesiod down to modern poetry and even the long-spoken Greek dialect of southern Italy.
Nikos will be in dialogue with us throughout and we hope to explore individual pieces and observe parallel techniques of making the past present through poetry, songs, poetic history, music and in other ways.
We will be looking at Nikos’ lifelong commitment to artistic humanistic expression based on the long tradition of song poems and poems in Greek—and at Tom Palaima’s special request even three songs of Bob Dylan—transformed into and conveyed through the Linear B script and Nikos’ imaginative painting, drawing, etching……
As much as possible we wish literally to celebrate and honor Nikos’ lifelong commitment to representing how human beings are in the world at different times through visual art and what they have to say to us. We wish for Nikos and his art to be the main focus as we bring to bear on his various pieces our own approaches to the past and the present of the human experience.
All participants are invited to use their own special insights to highlight the content and meaning of Nikos’ art and how it makes the past present through the use of ancient to modern texts communicated through Linear B signs.
If you are participating, it means that you know how to engage the past creatively and make it speak to the present (and future).
Fest Dates
Thursday, May 16, 2024 to Sunday, May 19, 2024
Fest Location
Waggener Hall, Room 116
Contact Information
Tom Palaima, Director of the Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory
Lane Flores, Graduate Coordinator
Sarah Roberts, Undergraduate Coordinator
Contributors
Nikos Samartzidis (nikos_samartzidis@yahoo.de)
Also see the Finding Aid for images of his local pieces of art:
2023 Samartzidis Finding Aid v1 TGP ed 2024
https://utexas.box.com/s/h302ql8932bhibnkt341wr4b00vlkiqm
And personal reflections online:
https://sites.utexas.edu/scripts/2018/02/28/paintings-and-poetry-in-linear-b-the-nikos-samartzidis-collection/
Tom Palaima (tpalaima@austin.utexas.edu)
https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/mes/faculty/palaimat
Mario Telò (mtelo@berkeley.edu )
https://dagrs.berkeley.edu/people/mario-telo
Josephine Balmer (balmerjosephine@gmail.com) Zoom
https://thepathsofsurvival.co.uk/josephine-balmer/
Ed Sanders (esanders2@hvc.rr.com) Zoom
https://www.thefugs.com/edsanders.html
Joe Goodkin (joegoodkin@gmail.com)
https://www.joegoodkin.com/
UT Classics Student Contributors
Lane Flores
Sarah Roberts
Cedar Etherington
Amanda Potts
Cole Smith
John Prado
Anthony Bronzo
Program Itinerary
Thursday, May 16
- 5 PM: Congregate on UT Campus
- Coffee & Meet & Greet in WAG 116
- 7 PM: Guest Dinner
- Old Thousand
1000 E 11th St #150
Austin, TX 78702
- Old Thousand
Friday, May 17
- 9 AM: Congregate on UT Campus
- WAG 116
- 9:30 AM: Nikos Samartzidis – Guided Tour and Intro to the Work
- 10:45 AM: Coffee Break
- 11 AM: Keynote
- Mario Telò – Dylanologies of Extinction
- Mario Telò – Dylanologies of Extinction
- 12:15 PM: Lunch
- 2:15 PM: Ed Sanders (via Zoom)
- 3:15 PM: Joe Goodkin – The Blues of Achilles
- 4:45 PM: Coffee break
- 5 PM: Thomas Palaima – Linear B & Recitation
Saturday, May 18
- 9:45 AM: Congregate on Campus
- WAG 116
- 10 AM: Josephine Balmer (via Zoom) – An Ache of Absence: Excavating Contemporary Poetry From Ancient Texts
- 11 AM: Coffee Break
- 11:15 AM: Lane Anthony Flores & Sarah Roberts, Intro to the Archive
- 11:30 AM – 12:20 PM: Undergraduate Presentations
- 11:30 AM: Cedar Etherington, Agents of Honor: Bella Injusta from Agamemnon to Bush
- 11:55 AM: Amanda Potts, The Forgotten Goddess: Mistress of the Labyrinth
- 12:20 PM: Lunch
- 2:15 – 3:45 PM: Graduate Presentations
- 2:15 PM: Cole Smith, Linear Bob Dylan: Dylan Meets the Bronze Age in the Work of Nikos Samartzidis
- 2:45 PM: John Prado, The Threshold Moment: A Liminal Paradox at Alcinous’ Golden Doors
- 3:15 PM: Anthony Bronzo, Reimagining the Art and Poetry of Mycenaean Scribes Through the Work of Nikos Samartzidis
- 3:45 PM: Coffee Break
- 4 PM: Musical Presentations
- 7:30 PM: Closing Dinner – All participants invited!
- ASTI Trattoria
408 C East 43rd Street
Austin, TX 78751
- ASTI Trattoria
Sunday May 19, 2024 (departure date)