Larissa of Street Art

“Underground” art is stepping out of the shadows of “illegality” and flooding the streets, filling the grey canvas of modern cities with color and imagination. In Larissa, as in other cities of Thessaly, colorful sprays and the unconventional creativity of “street artists” are transforming the urban landscape.

Within just a few decades, graffiti and its “tags” have evolved into “street art”, and what were once simplistic drawings have turned into impressive murals spanning many square meters. Increasingly, this once “marginal” form of expression is being recognized as an equal contributor to the contemporary artistic landscape. The impact of street art on today’s cities is so strong that, in many cases, “tours” are organized for visitors who wish to explore it.

Larissa in recent years has embraced this form of art. At the forefront of this effort are Project Hippocampus and the Deputy Mayorship of Culture of the Municipality of Larissa. Project Hippocampus, described by its members as a “Greenhouse of Artistic Ideas,” is an artistic collective active in all forms of underground art—comics, graffiti, music, and more.

Project Hippocampus

Under its “umbrella” operates a multi-purpose space dedicated to comics and contemporary forms of visual storytelling, “Ekdoseis tou Kampou” (Publications of the Plain), as well as the festival “Kampisioi Dimiourgoi” (Creators of the Plain). It also features its own mural, graffiti, and street art team (ETouKrou), which is active beyond the city’s boundaries, with its most notable example being the “Panta of Tempi” in Pyrgetos.

Over the past seven years, the group has co-organized and provided the artistic direction for the highly significant annual LAComicsFestival, in collaboration with the Deputy Mayorship of Culture, while in this year’s 8^th edition, the Region of Thessaly also participates. As part of the festival, renowned comic artists and internationally acclaimed, award-winning street artists are invited, such as Sako-Asko (Santiago Oliveros) and Taxis (Dimitris Trimintzios), who in turn leave their artistic imprint on Larissa with their impressive murals.

Among the most important murals that visitors to Larissa can admire are two works by Sako-Asko: “Medicine”, located at the School of Medicine of the University of Thessaly, and “Wheat/Bread” in the Frourio area, as well as “Delinquent at Heart” by Taxis. Meanwhile, ETouKrou leaves its mark with works such as “Chorio,” “Eros–Apollo–Daphne–Peneus,” “Fish Fauna of the Peneus,” and “Doodling” on the Peneus bridge, as well as in other “corners” of the city, such as the Mill of Pappas and the new playground on Aiolou Street, in the Agios Konstantinos district.

If artistic interventions in the urban landscape continue at the same pace, it won’t be long before we see the first “graffiti tours” in the capital of Thessaly!