All hand-clapping in the Greek Parliament from the announcement of the country’s resort to the European Stability Mechanism on April 23, 2010, until the official conclusion of the program on August 20, 2018

With Orestis Mavroudis

>Curated by Viktoras Iraklis

The Greek financial crisis unfolded through a series of sudden reforms and austerity measures that led to widespread impoverishment among the population, loss of income and property, and a humanitarian crisis. As a result, the political system was upended, social exclusion increased, and hundreds of thousands of Greeks left the country. This video presents every plenary session of the Hellenic Parliament from April 23, 2010, when the country announced its resort to the European Stability Mechanism, until the official end of the program on August 20, 2018. The archival footage is arranged in chronological order, with all content edited out except for the hand-clapping. The speakers at the podium and the parliamentarians in the amphitheatrical layout of the main chamber, engaged in this self-congratulatory ritual, make politics appear as a show in progress. The video is screened on a Fujitsu-Siemens 32” television set, a product which was launched into the Greek market in 2008, the year when investigations about the Siemens scandal began. Many Greeks watched the economic crisis unfold on this specific, best-selling TV model.

2010–2018

Video

Color, sound

3 hours, 2 minutes, 11 seconds