Activating spaces, performing archives: Thoughts on the creation of a participatory mural in Kessariani, Athens

The article offers a reflective account of a participatory community mural produced in the politically charged Kessariani district in Athens in 2024. The object of the study is the mural itself, conceived as a living archive that draws on municipal records, oral histories and local iconography. The aim is to investigate how participatory and artistic practices can reactivate archives, democratize historical and urban knowledge and foster new modes of public engagement with collective memory and heritage. Methodologically, the project combines archival research, oral history collection and collaborative design workshops with artists, students and residents, culminating in the production of a mural that functions as both artwork and performative archive. The article situates this process within theoretical debates on collective and cultural memory, post-structural critiques of archives and the politics of aesthetics, highlighting tensions around authorship, aesthetics and representation. It argues that the project demonstrates how co-creative, multimodal methodologies can challenge dominant narratives, generate dialogic forms of knowledge and transform public space into a site of ongoing negotiation and memory-making.