“The language given to me was Greek·
                                     My house poor on Homer’s shores.
            My only care, my language on Homer’s shores”

ODYSSEAS ELYTIS

Axion Esti, Psalm Β΄

The language is not just a tool of understanding or a means of communication but also a carrier of culture and an expression of ideas, values ​​and meanings. For the community of people who share it, it also functions as an element of identity and strengthens the feeling of belonging, since it constitutes the common pool of representations, images and concepts that govern the core of identities. The Nobel-laureate poet recalls the image of the Homeric beach as a tangible and recognizable symbol for the survival of ancient elements in the Modern Greek language, while the image is interpreted and decoded by each of us according to our personal perceptual codes, experiences and perceptions.

Not only poetry works with its own codes, but also every form of art, whether based on verbal communication or not. The visual artistic expression condenses, shapes and transforms the human experience by offering an authentic and irrefutable testimony to culture and human history, based on the functioning of perception, senses and memory, while giving meaning through the shape, the color, the light, the composition and the spatial dimension of the visual work.

The National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum, occupying a leading position in the cultural life of the place, contributes with the treasures of modern Greek art, which are included in its collections and are inextricably linked with the birth of the new Greek state, the historical awareness, and the cultivation of national consciousness. It is a museum of national self-awareness, an artistic ark that preserves the visual memory of the nation. It invests strongly in the culture of synergy and extroversion, seeking to strengthen cooperation with other cultural and educational organizations in Greece and abroad, in order to bring its collections and its history in contact with Greeks everywhere around the world and forge strong ties with them.

Looking to the challenges of the new era, we connect the preservation of cultural heritage with the cultivation of critical thinking and empathy. We encourage the osmosis of the arts, the cultivation of a critical eye, creative gathering and open communication with the public, with respect for free artistic expression.

Bringing into force the choice of synergy and the investment in the common cultural resources, we welcome the 10^th International Summer University “Greek Language Culture and Mass Media,” which is taking place this year in Boston, and we are especially glad to participate in the works of this very important event for the Greeks of the diaspora.