Creative Leisure, a podcast by writer and curator Evita Tsokanta, starts with the observation and comparison of leisure activities in the public space of Leipzig and Athens. It is an exploration of how leisure has been defined in the past, the way in which it is socially determined, and how it is currently being repositioned during the new conditions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the massive changes in working conditions worldwide.
By applying Thorstein Veblen’s theory of conspicuous leisure and consumption, it attempts to demonstrate the distinction between the leisure class and the creative class and how the two have been connected historically and occasionally even confused as interchangeable. Through the study of leisure, the podcast attempts to clearly delineate the labor conditions of the creative and artistic professional while highlighting the central role of the notion of productivity, according to which it is measured and remunerated.
Related reading: Evita Tsokanta, “A Declaration of Common Sense,” Enterprise Journal, Athens, January 2019.
about, by, through, towards, despite is a podcast series on different aspects of the independent Athens art scene. Eleven artists, curators, and critics were invited to contribute their thoughts, experiences, and critical positions, each with a different. Produced for p o s t documenta: contemporary arts as territorial agencies, this series provides a multilayered imprint of the local scene in the aftermath of documenta14.
Evita Tsokanta works as a writer, educator and an independent exhibition-maker based in Athens. In 2019, she completed a writing residency in Leipzig supported by the Goethe Institute.