A new artwork meant to serve as a “good luck” charm or mystical talisman for the Greek capital, has been set up on Alexandras Avenue. The artwork, by Angelo Plessas, aims to send out a feeling of love, hope, and optimism, and to serve as an antidote to a desolate world that’s ruled by an increasing sense of alienation, desperation, loneliness, and loss.

Set up on the façade of the building facing the Agios Savvas General Anti-Cancer Hospital, the new installation by the Greek-Italian artist is made up of eight symbols – a red smiley face at the center, surrounded by a circle of other symbols, including a green mushroom, a bluebird, a yellow yin-yang eye, a double pink moon, an orange hand, the Command key on the Apple keyboard, and a purple snake in a glass.

These, the Stegi writes on its website, are symbols used to refer to sacred or good luck amulets used in various civilizations around the world; images one may see on medallions, burial offerings, pendants or dyed threads worn by mystics during ancient rituals.

The work is the third of a series titled “Extropic Optimisms.” Plessas notes that “The Talisman of All Beings” is the result of research he conducted on symbols inspired by the ancient Greek, Mesopotamian, Lapponian, and Buddhistic iconographies, as well as symbols in today’s internet culture.

“Due to its vantage point in the city, the work may remind us of a colorful ‘talisman,’ while in parallel it will comprise the spontaneous unfolding of a story or the lifecycle of a being,” the artist says. “The ‘pasted’ symbols on the wall (moons, eyes, hands, animals, and so on) are related to primordial concepts, such as healing, wisdom, body rejuvenation, and contemporary terms, such as connectivity, reconciliation, equity, and ecology. The installation is further based on a color system, which reflects the aforementioned traits; for example, orange being the color for health.”

Plessas adds that his work can offer a sense of hope, optimism, solidarity and connectivity in its viewers – either consciously or not. “Even without knowing that the work is based on the idea of the talisman, I believe that the colorful rays of light and the slightly familiar symbols will subconsciously provide an instant positive aura to this rather emotionally charged area, which is surrounded by the General Anti-Cancer Hospital Agios Savvas, the Hellenic Police Attica Headquarters, and the football stadium of Panathinaikos.

“I was thinking about the cancer patients, the football fans, the policemen and the detainees, as well as all kinds of Athenians, the refugees, the LGBTQ citizens, the animals, the plants, and everything that exists and surrounds us in this city. That everything changes and we are all fleeting and that no one is immortal or safe from harm.”

“On the other hand, if someone believes that a certain mental fortification, either a talisman or a therapy technique, may protect or even cure them, then there is a high chance of protecting themselves by means of their own capacity to self-protect.”