By Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- French artist Chloe Moglia performed breathtaking acrobatics in front of the Greek parliament on Thursday as part of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, Greece's most prestigious summer cultural event over the past six decades.
At Syntagma square which in recent years hosted numerous anti-austerity protest rallies, as Greece faced an acute debt crisis, Greeks and foreign tourists watched a different sight: Moglia's impressive balancing act on a thin curbed bar set up some 6 meters above the ground, with no safety net beneath.
"Our lives are constantly hanging by a thread -- the thread of time. For Chloe Moglia, hanging in mid-air is a way to live here and now; a way of giving meaning and density to things around us," the Athens and Epidaurus Festival introduced the 40 year old artist in a welcoming note.
Having studied ceramics, trapeze and martial arts, Moglia introduced the audience in the centre of Athens in a unique art form which draws from her background and is not limited to traditional circus acrobatics.
Through her show entitled "Horizon" she urged spectators to ponder about vulnerability and strength, action and rest.
"The condition of being suspended in mid-air and hanging on for dear life generates a world of contrasts -- above and below, the trivial and the tragic," the Festival's note stressed.
Speaking to Xinhua after her performance, Moglia said that she has been working on this show over the past five years, touring the world and seized the opportunity to interact with Greek people in the heart of the city.
"It is a suspension performance. It is different compared to the trapeze I was doing in the past. In suspension performance you are suspended mid- air. It is a great feeling discovering things in this situation, this feeling is great," she said.
Thursday's show was part of the Greek festival's campaign in recent years under the motto "Opening to the city" to bring Art closer to people out in the streets.
In addition to the performances of internationally acclaimed artists inside historical venues, such as the Odeon at the foot of the Acropolis or the ancient Greek theater of Epidaurus in southern Greece, over a dozen shows are hosted in the open air across the city centre with free admission.
The Athens and Epidaurus festival opened on June 1 and will close on Aug. 18.