Zig Zag Festival travels to a different regional destinations in Greece every two years, transforming lesser-known landscapes and communities into vibrant platforms for artistic exploration. Since its inception in 2021, the festival has showcased multidisciplinary practices, including visual art installations, performances, music, and site-specific projects, in locations such as Isternia on Tinos, Kissos in Pelion, and most recently Kypseli in the Tzoumerka region, highlighting the dialogue between art, local culture, and the natural environment. Rooted in CHEAPART'S earlier artist-residency initiatives such as the Open Art Residency program which brought over 90 international creatives together to engage meaningfully with place and process. Zig Zag continues this ethos by fostering global and local collaborations and renewed engagement with Greek cultural landscapes.
Discovering Kypseli Tzoumerka / Epirus
The village of Kypseli in Tzoumerka, Epirus, boasts pristine nature, diverse landscapes, and dramatic elevation changes—from alpine terrain to lush slopes, waterfalls, and lakes—immersing visitors in a vivid world of colors and sounds. Inhabited since 2000 BC by the ancient Athamanian tribes, the region’s mountainous terrain has seen conquests, devastation, and periods of prosperity. Its rugged landscape provided refuge for the Klephts and Armatoli, fostering a spirit of freedom that led to Kypseli being recognized as a “free capital village” during the Ottoman era. The village’s isolation shaped close-knit communities and inspired a unique folk song tradition. Formerly called Chosepsi, its name may derive from “chaos” and “opsis,” reflecting its dramatic setting between the Ambelia and Tzouma hills along the Goura River, or from “chosia” (ambush) and “opsis” (view), highlighting its strategic vantage point.
Discovering Kissos, Pelion
Kissos, a mountain village in eastern Pelion, Magnesia, Greece, sits at 500 m altitude, 48 km from Volos, 8 km from Ag. Ioannis beach, and 12 km from the ski resort. Pelion, the mountain of the Centaurs, is a lush, protected landscape rich in myths, legends, and cultural traditions. Kissos is known for its traditional architecture, sea views, and dense beech and chestnut forests. The 1650 Church of Agia Marina, a three-aisled basilica, features a rare wooden iconostasis (1700–1720) and frescoes by Giannis Pagonis (1802), blending biblical, apocalyptic, and natural-history themes. During the 18th-century cultural boom, several schools thrived here, including one where Rigas Velestinlis, a forerunner of the Greek Revolution, taught.
Discovering Isternia
Isternia, the whitewashed village perched on the mountain at an altitude of 310 meters, is located in the western part of the island, known in Tinos as “Exo Meria”. It is situated 25 km from the port of Tinos and 2 km from Pyrgos, the birthplace of Giannoulis Halepas (Yannoulis Chale- pas, 1851 – 1938, Greek sculptor and significant representative of Modern Greek art). Isternia is the second most important center of marble sculpture in Tinos after Pyrgos, from which many great marble sculptors emerged (G & I. Vitalis, L. Sohos, L. Lameras).