2nd Thessalonink & 7th Street Mode Festival - Interview with the founder of Street Mode Festival Giannis Efstathiou

On September 4th, 5th & 6th, the port of Thessaloniki and Warehouse C in particular, will be filled with numerous people that will be attending the 2nd tattoo festival, Thessalonink, and the 7th street culture festival, Street Mode Festival. On the occasion of the two anticipated festivals, their partnership and realization, HeartbeatInk Tattoo Magazine spoke with the founder of Street Mode Festival, Giannis Efstathiou, and provides you with all the necessary information for the upcoming three day period.

Interview by Ino Mei.

What were the reasons that led you to the synergy of Street Mode Festival with Thessalonink?

These two festivals have too much in common, as well as common origin. Many guys from the two organizations are the same, and partly the street culture represented by the Street Mode Festival exists in the tattoo and vice versa. I believe that a big part of the audience of these two festivals is common. Likewise a great number of the artists is common, as many tattooers are former graffiti artists. So why not?

What are your expectations from this partnership?

Our expectations from this synergy is for the world to see a festival that will not have seen before; a busy schedule that includes tattoo, graffiti, street art, breakdance, street dance, flatland bmx, freerunning (parkour), live performances, fashion shows and of course all these accompanied with a lot of good music!

What is the philosophy of Street Mode festival and when and how it took shape?

Street Mode's philosophy is what the name says, to come into the "situation" of the street; the lifestyle and expression of the kids that hang out in the square! A combination of punk with hip hop, and when I say punk or hip hop I am not referring as much to the music as to the culture. It is the culture of "the street", the one with which we grew up, and it turned out to be good for us. So in 2009 we made the decision to communicate this philosophy to the world, which until then was either unaware either misunderstood it. And of course it started from a square. For five years Street Mode took place in the square of Thermi. When the square could no longer accommodate us, we moved to the port of Thessaloniki, which since last year is our new square!

How did the objectives of Street Mode evolve the seven years of its existence and what are its ambitions?

Year after year the objectives change, perhaps because we achieve our goals and we are constantly looking for new ones! For example, some of the initial objectives of Street Mode were to show that graffiti is art and not vandalism, or that if a punk concert takes place in a square that does not automatically mean that we will all go out on the streets throwing molotov bombs... Now that the time has passed, all these may sound incredible, but back then it was not... We gave a fight for some things to happen that now are effortlessly done.

We also showed to a large audience some things for the first time. I remember in 2010, when we first included breakdance in our line up, above half spectators saw it for the first time or they'd seen it somewhere randomly but did not believe that there was such a good level in Greece. We did the same in 2011 with street dance, in 2012 with freerunning (parkour) etc. So as you understand the objectives are numerous and vary according to the season. This year is obviously the year of tattoo!

Do you believe that Thessaloniki is currently a "pioneer" city as far as the youth festivals are concerned?

It is true that it's been many years that some fairly well organized festivals are taking place in Thessaloniki. In some scenes Thessaloniki is a pioneer and in some it follows other places. It is logical.

With such an abundance of artistic events, and with such a strong music line up, are you prepared to face a potential "sold out"? How many thousands of people can be hosted by Thessalonink and Street Mode festival on a daily basis?

I can't really predict because it has never been done this way. Very roughly, each of the two festivals last year attracted about 10,000 people. We are expecting something similar or greater.

How is the state treating these two big festivals?

There is support from the Municipality of Thessaloniki and now for the first time by the Region of Central Macedonia as well. Among the regulators there are good people with good intentions, but unfortunately there is still the familiar political party issue and the famous civil service matter. So you know...

Given the difficult situation of our country, how do you see the current existence of the art of tattoo and street art, as well as their practical side through tattooing, graffiti, action sports (bmx, parkour etc.), street dance and breakdance?

Despite the bad state of our country, the young people involved with all the above do not seem to be intimidated, perhaps because this phase was always in an amateur level in Greece - except tattooing - so nothing really has changed for them. There is a good mood, even the rise of some actions such as street dance and parkour. If we look at it from a professional level, tattoo has things to give and it can offer a decent income. Regarding street art and street dance the room for a professional career is much smaller and for action sports is almost non-existent...

Click HERE and HERE to see photos from the 1st Thessalonink.

Like last year, both festivals will be presented by George Mavridis.

ΑΝΑΛΥΤΙΚΟ ΠΡΟΓΡΑΜΜΑ:

2nd Thessalonink Tattoo Convention

Παρασκευή - Σάββατο - Κυριακή
12:00 - 20:00 · Αποθήκη Γ

Πάνω από 50 καλλιτέχνες ταττουάζ από όλη την Ελλάδα και το εξωτερικό εκθέτουν την δουλειά τους και δημιουργούν ζωντανά έργα τέχνης επάνω σε ανθρώπινους καμβάδες! Οι καλλιτέχνες διαγωνίζονται επίσης για τo καλύτερο τατουάζ στις εξής κατηγορίες: Black & White, Colour, Portrait, Japanese, Tribal, Old School, Best of the Day, Best of the Show, Best Artist (Visitors Choice).

Αναλυτικά οι Tattoo Artists με αλφαβητική σειρά:

Ane (Vida Pirata), Alex Fraser (Body Art Tattoo - Cyprus), Anna Karagkouni (Beautiful People), Bruno Aiello (Primitive Art - Italy), Bue 2530 (Lacrimanera Tattoo - Italy), Chris (Moth and Rose), Christos Galiropoulos (Black Line), Dimitris (Walk The Line), Dimitris Aronis (Dermagraphics), Dimitris Chatzis (Nico Tattoo), Dovas (Tattooligans), Drone (On The Road), Erevos (Erevos Tattoo), Filippo Bart (Gipsy Caravan - Italy), Fiona Fraser (Body Art Tattoo - Cyprus), George Michalakis (Gspot Tattoo Studio), Giannis Bogatinis (Tattooligans), Ilias Papadimas (Proki Tattoo), Inya (Gipsy Caravan - Italy), Jen (Vida Pirata), Jim Vasiliadis (7th Sense), John Maxx (Radical ink - Romania), Jorz Kalaitzis (Germany), Kostadin Dinev (Oska Tattoo - Bulgaria), Kostas Baronis (Proki Tattoo), Kostas Prive (Prive Tattoo), Lazaros Brone (Ritual Tattoo), Lefteris Toulis (Toulis Tattoo), Magaret (Magaret Tattoo Story), Manu (Dermagrafics), Meni Kisz (Proki Tattoo), Minas Trim (On The Road), Nast (Tattooligans), Natalie Nox (Dr Pepper), Nikos Katsoulis (Nico Tattoo), Ovi (Proki Tattoo), Ozone (Nico Tattoo), Panos Georgoulias (Polis Decay), Paul Senkalas (Extreme Ink), Petros (Nico Tattoo), Petros Karagiannis (SkinWorks Tattoo), Raiden (Dildo Tattoo), Raul (Open Mind Tattoo), Sifou (Sweden), Sivak Denis (L. O. V. E. - Ukraine), Takis (ThirtySevens Tattoo), Teo (Delos Tattoo), Teo (Skinetic Tattoo), Tass (Dr Pepper), Thomas Gramm (Nico Tattoo), Tzenio (Dildo Tattoo), Uncl Paul (On The Road), Vasilis Exarchos (Madusa Tattoo), Yiannis Agios (Tattooligans).