Céleste Boursier-Mougenot: clinamen

Hundreds of white porcelain bowls drift on circulating warm water, colliding gently to create a continuous, unrepeatable acoustic symphony inside the open-air court of Onassis Mandra. Renowned French artist and composer Céleste Boursier-Mougenot brings his internationally acclaimed sound installation clinamen to Athens, marking the very first time this meditative work is presented in an outdoor setting. Named after the Epicurean philosophical concept describing the unpredictable swerve of atoms that introduces chance into the universe, the installation transforms simple ceramic bowls into a living, organic musical instrument.

Having enchanted visitors at Paris’s Bourse de Commerce and New York’s Park Avenue Armory, the piece continuously adapts to its Athenian surroundings, subtly absorbing the light, breeze, and ambient city noise into its evolving acoustic score. Set inside a historic Belle Époque open-air theatre, a historic space at Dionysiou Areopagitou, it offers a remarkably serene pitstop during a scenic walk through Plaka. With a single-day ticket allowing re-entry throughout the day, visitors are encouraged to pause, sit back, and let time flow differently amidst this delicate choreography of water and sound. And if all those floating bowls stir up an appetite, worry not, that is the most Athenian feeling of all. Simply head towards the Koukaki end of the pedestrian promenade to explore some of the neighbourhood's best eateries and bars.