Nostos. The journey of Kanenas through the constrasting landscapes of the Peloponnese

The current thesis topic will discuss the concept of a fictional journey through the eyes of a man. The vehicle of this narrative is a train which follows the now disused railway network of Peloponnese. Due to the limited resources of the country the route had to seize all operations in 2011, after having served the connection from Attica to Peloponnese for nearly one hundred and thirty years. The story is set in the 1960’s, when Kanenas, a French citizen begins his expedition through the contrasting Greek landscapes seeking his family routes and identity. Peloponnese, being the place where the narrative comes to life, is transformed into the generator of the myth. Nostos, is a term coined by Homer to describe the journey of Odysseus from Troy back to Ithaca. From this term emerges the concept of wandering, which in our story acquires a past, a present and a future, this time through the eyes of Kanenas. Being a modern traveler, he uses the train as a ship wandering the railway network, in order to compose his own narrative. The existing stations, are enriched with a series of six interventions, through which the train passes. These are the elements which attract or repel, guide or mislead, celebrate the conundrums to follow but at the same time mourn what is left behind. Through their closed boundaries they reconstruct their own scenes, galvanized by the aura of the Homeric epic. In this way, the journey highlights notions of movement and stoppage, beginning and ending, experience and knowledge, myth and reality, which gradually unlocks the mysteries of traveling with the train. The landscape, having its own architectural quality, and each interventions, with its unique character, form a puzzle, creating a palimpsest of experiences and memories.