What Simply Happens

What simply happens is an exploration of the hills of Athens.
An integral part of the city’s landscape yet not exactly a part of its urban form. The Lofos – as they are called in Greek – are at once in the city and apart from it. Athenians are free to roam around and use them as they please. There is a tacite understanding that the hills do not belong to anyone; that they are not watched over and are not enclosed. They are therefore very naturally used in various ways ranging from the banal to the bizarre. Rock-climbing, drug use, picnics, both temporary and permanent housing, sex, car drifting are just some of the uses that can be found in these hills. These spaces strike as being nothing like those one could encounter elswhere. They resist designation or being put into any existing category. They escape rules and regulations in a way that would be unthinkable in many countries. Yet they attract a great diversity of the city’s inhabitants, they are an essential, organic part of the urban whole.