The Unsean

Home
Greece
Athens
The Unsean

The · Unsean
Unseen stories from the sea
People, places, faces, emotions. The Unsean refers precisely to this unseen, absent, matter.

From ahylo, ex nihilo (Castoriadis), to hyle, to life, the unseen is what is coming into existence from the absence. And we do know that something exists in absence, as Pierre Clastres, this intellectual giant of anthropology, once said. Born in the Mediterranean Sea, the Unsean was inspired by the Cycladic utopia, observing the anonymous and collective architecture, history and atmosphere of this

small group of islands which is spreading out at the Mediterranean archipelago, and for which Le Corbusier once said: “whatever architecture had to say, it is said here” – in Cyclades. We design with the ambition to represent the imaginary institution of society, of our (common) society, with a unique attention to detail, with determination and passion to deliver high-impact research on significant topics relevant to fashion, architecture, political and social issues, history of ideas, movements, photography and art. We are shaping and producing hyle, the material, the matter, what matters: limited editions and a premium magazine with reflections and atmospheres which arise from thoughts, emotions, love – the utopia of another way to collectively exist. And by doing so we believe that we are contributing to something vital for democracy and the demand for a better and beautiful world.

01/09/2024

Archipelago: the stuff of nostalgia
They rush into the salt water, into the ceremony. Cool water, dry walls, infinite sky above and around, the Meltemi blows. Every island alone, yet all together; a sign.

Yet now, what once was sacred is fading, as the tides of time and the waves of change wash over these shores. The ancient essence of the Aegean archipelago, untouched and pure, is eroded not by wind or sea, but by the relentless march of tourism and the lure of wealth. The cool salt water now tastes of something lost, the dry walls crumble under the weight of progress, and the infinite sky is clouded by the ghosts of what once was. Islands, once bound by solitude and unity, now stand divided by the price of paradise. What was, what is, and what will be – all vanish, leaving only echoes of a bygone era, whispered by the Meltemi, heard only by those who remember.

Stuff of nostalgia: what we remember, what we lived, what we think we remember, what we need so much that we relive it again and again.

Summer 2024.
Photos: Robert McCabe.

09/03/2024

You, me & Italy
https://www.instagram.com/p/C4StVQRIY9X/

01/03/2024

Portrait of a vanished era
Aegean memories, captured by Robert McCabe

04/12/2023

Elliott Erwitt (1928 – 2023)

An observer of the human condition (Arendt); a photographer not focused on capturing images, rather than capturing the unseen emotions that flicker accross faces and human relationships. "To me, photography is an art of observation", he said. "It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. The whole point is to live life and be". A life with open arms, a life with passion, a life with love.

02/12/2023

Grèce amour

I close my eyes to reminisce about old Hydra, Hydra of 1939 or even 1950. The beach was empty, a few fishing boats were resting and selling red fruits and tomatoes, which, near the sea, looked with their vivid colors like exotic flowers. Some chairs and a couple of tables at Papathanasiou's tavern, and two or three chairs outside Douskos' café, awaited a few, usually elderly or retired sailors, to have a glass of wine or a heavy sweet coffee and not...

Pericles Vyzantios
Photos: Robert McCabe, Hydra, 1957. Gazing at the harbor from above, on its eastern side. National Historical Museum-Historical House of Lazaros Kountouriotis.

22/11/2023

Stay forever postcard

31/10/2023

The Aegean Sea is a sea that has inspired poets and artists for centuries, a sea that has shaped the destiny of nations and the course of history. It is a sea that has seen empires rise and fall, that has witnessed the birth and death of heroes, that has heard the songs of sirens and the cries of sailors. A sea that is both friend and foe, that gives life and takes it away, that is both beautiful and terrible. It is the great teacher, the great guide, the great friend. It is the great lover, the great seducer, the great destroyer; the great joy, the great sorrow, the great ecstasy. The Aegean Sea is the great everything, the great nothing, the great mystery of mysteries.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzEFD-Qo1O7/

20/10/2023

U N S E A N A T H E N S
Beneath the light, towards the Mediterranean sun
Pre-order: https://theunsean.com/athens/

Despite its harshness, Athens is fragrant with the blossoms of bitter orange trees. The solemn city generously bestows the finest aroma of the Mediterranean: neroli. Sweet, intoxicating and, at the same time, delicate, unique. The lush bitter orange trees of the gray sidewalks scatter white blossoms on rooftops and windshields, on the saddles of motorcycles, on the worn marble steps of Navarinou Street. They disperse an ethereal oil that soothes tension and anxiety, dispels fear and pessimism, blesses faces and banishes wrinkles.

Here, everyone turns, eternally returns, and so do you, alongside drowsy shopkeepers, passersby who linger with a cup of coffee, astounded by the abundance of light and the blossoms of bitter orange trees that gush forth from the depths, from everywhere and always. Surface. A scent, a color and a gust of wind. In a moment, the entirety is revealed to you.

*

Contents

Athens: Beneath the light of a Sunday’s grace
Echoes from the past: The rise of the Athenian Modernism

The streets speak: Urban labyrinth, chaos after chaos
People of the train: Passing moments and onward Odyssey
Through the Athenian arcades: Dérive

Rushing with patience: The coffee explosion
Tasting Love: The soulful expansion of the Mediterranean eats
Bold and Elegant: The fashion boom

The struggle for Power: Behind every cape emerges another
Living by the sea: Beneath the light, towards the Mediterranean sun

Order yours: https://theunsean.com/athens/

15/10/2023

Portrait of a vanished era
Aegean memories, captured by Robert McCabe
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cya0jIsIYqZ/

06/10/2023

Stelios Faitakis, 1976 - 2023
End of an era - a farewell

*

The ephemeral

Stelios Faitakis rejoiced in the ephemeral nature of his astonishing frescoes.

"Everything in the material world is perishable. We, too, shall depart one day. And everything we see around us will one day cease to exist. I don't see a reason to preserve my works", he said.

And he departed one day, like today, at the age of 47... The modest, the great, the incomprehensible.

One of the greatest artists of our time, internationally. He made painting dynamic, captivating, rich, multi-significant, and open ― again.

This is how I felt in 2007, when I awe-struck beheld his titanic work at the first Athens Biennale. This is how I saw him as great in 2011 at the Venice Biennale, enveloping Denmark's pavilion with his Byzantine fervor. This is how I felt the admiration of the great historian Peter Brown when I presented Faitakis's murals at Princeton. This is how we will always remember him.

His indelible mark is deep, precious, universal. ― Nikos Xydakis

29/09/2023

In front of Serifos' cliff, when the sun rises, the cannons of all the great worldviews catch fire. Surely, some divine-scale love story might have preceded the tectonic pulses and rearrangements of waters, when the Greek archipelago was born. But it remains for us to learn: what is this light, these clusters of islands? Are we dreaming?

Odysseas Elytis – Nobel, Literature, 1979

Chora, Serifos – Spyros Plessiotis

27/09/2023

Despite its harshness, Athens is fragrant with the blossoms of bitter orange trees. […] The solemn city generously bestows the finest aroma of the Mediterranean: neroli. Sweet, intoxicating and, at the same time, delicate, unique. The lush bitter orange trees of the gray sidewalks scatter white blossoms on rooftops and windshields, on the saddles of motorcycles, on the worn marble steps of Navarinou Street. They disperse an ethereal oil that soothes tension and anxiety, dispels fear and pessimism, blesses faces and banishes wrinkles.

[…]
Here, everyone turns, eternally returns, and so do you, alongside drowsy shopkeepers, passersby who linger with a cup of coffee, astounded by the abundance of light and the blossoms of bitter orange trees that gush forth from the depths, from everywhere and always. Surface. A scent, a color and a gust of wind. In a moment, the entirety is revealed to you.

Athens Unsean, autumn 2023
Photos: Jean Moraitis

11/08/2023

Cyclades before Cyclades

Aegean memories, captured by Robert McCabe in 1960

06/08/2023

Archipelago: the stuff of nostalgia

Aegean memories, captured by Robert McCabe in 1955.

05/08/2023

Greece on film

02/08/2023

Lieux communs, lieux de sensibilité - Les Cyclades, Grèce

10/07/2023

Μ’ αρέσουν πολύ αυτοί οι άνθρωποι που μόνοι τους κλείνονται τη νύχτα σ’ ένα μουσείο για να μπορέσουν να θαυμάσουν μ’ όλη τους την άνεση, σ’ ώρα ανεπίτρεπτη, ένα γυναικείο πορτρέτο που φωτίζουν μ’ ένα κλεφτοφάναρο. Πώς, ύστερα απ’ αυτά, δεν θα μπορούσαν να ξέρουν γι’ αυτή τη γυναίκα πολύ περισσότερα απ’ όσα ξέρουμε;

I have a strong liking for people who lock themselves up at night in a museum to admire, in full comfort, at a time inappropriate, a woman’s portrait which they illuminate with a flashlight. Wouldn’t they, after all this, know about that woman way more than we do?

Andre Breton

Photo: Zacharias Stellas, 1965-75

22/12/2022

Memories from the archipelago

Robbie Lawrence

Address

56, Ermou Str
Athens
10563

Website

https://theunsean.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Unsean posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.