For my participation in the research project "post-nostalgia: design meets utopia" by the Vakalo Art and Desing College, I created a sound installation about the dynamic relationship between customs and nostalgia and their link to preserving national identity. Considering sound as an active carrier of memory, my installation consists of 4 sound stations composing the bazaar of Larissa.
The word custom defines an action established by a community's traditions and is repeated on certain occasions. The purpose of customs is to commemorate the existence of a "romantic" past that "ought" to be preserved in the present and future.
Marc Ferro, in 1986, wrote: "Whoever controls the past can define the present and the future". Since it is also through tradition that "a romantic conception of the nation as a "natural" entity is reproduced, based on a "national narrative" that recalls common memories and shared characteristics", tradition becomes indispensable for the preservation of national identity. Customs, beliefs, superstitions and legends are synthetic elements of a community's tradition. This is why institutionalised authorities preserve customs, reproducing ethnocentrism through nostalgia. The above scheme leads to homogenisation, necessary for the constitution and maintenance of the modern nation.
The bazaar of Larissa began as an urban market, an institution essential for the Ottoman model of urban economic development. Gradually, after the liberation of Larissa in 1881, it was transformed into a custom that is still preserved in the city today. The bazaar is now an integral part of Larissa's cultural heritage. It takes place once a year, at the end of September, and lasts 10 days. During the Turkish occupation, the bazaar was used to sell textiles, animals, metals and precious objects, while it was used to store citizens' inheritances, valuable assets and documents. Today, the bazaar sells clothing and footwear, books, tools, kitchen utensils, small appliances, toys, jewellery, etc., while amusement parks and canteens are also open.
