EDITORIAL

At times of social unrest, economic chaos and volatile political conditions, it’s quite a paradox to witness the emergence of prodigious art and to unexpectedly encounter enthralling intellectuality and groundbreaking creativity. MATAROA embraces this paradox believing that we mustn’t succumb to the slough of despond, we mustn’t bow down to fear and silence. We ought to be resilient and raise our voices above disgrace and apathy.  

Starting out from Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest metropolis, MATAROA aspires to introduce and showcase the most provoking and trailblazing achievements in the art world, whether it be music, art, theater, literature, dance, cinema, photography, or any form of artistic expression. The ambition of MATAROA is to spotlight the boldest and most enticing efforts of new artists, the ones who unabashedly communicate their personal world through their individual mark with new materials and unique styles, those who remarkably reveal fresh perspectives and shed a prophetic light onto the upcoming new world.

You see, significant art has always been prophetic. And we have a hunch that the work of these new and gifted artists casts a gimlet eye on tomorrow’s headlines. It’s a central tenet for MATAROA to promote and support these artists in spreading their own message and conveying their enigma about what the future holds. True, prominent and established names are of equal interest to us, yet our primary concern is to lend a helping hand to those upstarting artists who are inundated with multiple hardships in today’s uncertain economic and social climate. They will reward us by offering their work as a vehicle to reach a new sense of self-perception and self-awareness, towards a clearer understanding of the world and of ourselves, in finding a place of our own within the frenzied swirls of the planet’s forces.

During difficult times, innovative art becomes all the more essential. It guides us through confusion, aggression, conflict and prejudice.  The proactive sagacity of art with its infallible instinct lets us foresee what lies ahead and keeps us from making the same mistakes. Art bestows insight, understanding and love on us. Art is a shield against failures of the past.

MATAROA, from Thessaloniki, a 2,500-year-old city with the longest urban history in all of Europe, one with a boundless tradition of tolerance and ecumenism, is a pathway channeling this new art. And this art, emanating from all four corners of the earth, the more it delves deep, far and earnestly into the local ground, the more it heightens and exalts its ecumenical and worldly self.

MATAROA: Gazing at the world, through Thessaloniki.