The Old Sawmill, one of the few Williamsburg industrial buildings left in Brooklyn from the 1930s, stands out on this rainy day with a large exterior mural covering the façade. Renowned visual artist and activist Nick Cave, along with Bob Faust, worked with intense color in a graffiti aesthetic — the sign and symbol of the metropolis that spawned the fast-paced hip-hop movement — to smash their composition across the two faces of the former National Sawdust Company.

Journalists, Greek and foreign, protesters and an elegant crowd of New York art lovers fill the first floor of the building, which houses a non-profit organization to promote contemporary music and artistic creation. The rain closes us in, as does Aphrodite Panagiotaku, director of culture. Onassis Foundation, composer Paola Prestini, artistic director of National Sawdust, and both artists greet us from the steps leading to the second floor of the building. Hence the rich interdisciplinary program of the festival, inspired by poet K.P. Cavafyedited by Paola Prestini and creatively directed by Aphroditis Panayiotaku.

Thanks to the Onassis Foundation, the Alexandrian poet comes to New York exactly 160 years after his birth. The aura of cosmopolitanism of his time and city, the breadth of his spirit, the timelessness of his poetry corresponded here and now to the great metropolis. “Seeing so many different people from all over the world, so many different cultures gathered under the roof of the festival, I feel that the poet is among us. Such a complex personality as Cavafy, a modern resident of ancient cities, meets people who did not know him until now, while they, without suspecting it, were already so close to his spiritual heritage,” comments Ms. Panagiotaku.

The event was called “Wish Archive” and ran from April 28 to May 6. The festival is directly connected to the Cavafy Archive, which has been managed by the Onassis Foundation since 2012, which ensured its stay in Greece. The journalistic trip to New York began at 56 Amalias Avenue, where the Onassios Library is located. There we were met a few days before our departure and they gave us a tour of the literary and personal archive, rare in its completeness, which the poet systematically kept.

“A complex personality, a modern citizen of ancient cities, meets people who did not know him until now,” says Ms. Aphrodite Panagiotaku.

The Cavafy archive contains more than 2000 documents, it is digitized and freely available on the Internet (http://cavafy.onassis.org). On this tour, among other things, I first came across the handwritten diary – a fragile paper document – kept by the young Cavafy when he settled with his family in Istanbul. He called it with youthful enthusiasm “The epic of Constantinople.” In New York, I meet with Constantinople again. A stroke of luck, a touching performance at the National Sawdust by artist Sister Sylvester captivates the audience. Leafing through a handmade book, listening to her reading it in the warm light of small lampshades, to the live music of El Shazly, we begin our journey through time with the best omens.

The following days pass with activities that spread throughout the city. From Cavafy’s poetry to the wide sidewalks, we enter the Onassis Foundation’s ONX Studio, located in the Olympic Tower in the heart of Manhattan, where digital technology launches us into the future, experimenting with materials from the past, and Cavafy’s poetry is transformed into an artistic experience.

From Columbia University, we’re in the Bowery, St. Mark’s Church, where the sensuous side of his poetry meets New York’s dynamic queer community, and the groundbreaking New Museum. At each event, Cavafy becomes an inspiration to other creators such as the poet Robin Coast Lewis with her powerful political speech and the directors (Christos Sarris, Elena Park, Evi Kalogiropulou) who have worked for Visual Cavafy, exploring the cinematic dimension of its language. .

The culmination of the festival events was the big concert “Waiting for the Barbarians”. In the impressive St. Thomas Episcopal Church on 5th Avenue, Death of Classical organizes an evening where Greek and foreign performers are offered new pieces of music or new orchestrations. The program begins with star Rufus Wainwright performing his own composition “Chandelier (I’m Going)” and ends with Laurie Anderson. The great artist, whose time sharpens sensitivity and intelligence, performs her composition “Waiting for the Barbarians”, managing not only to sing Cavafy, but to understand him and make him truly her own, modern.

The work of this poet, who was ahead of his time, the Onassis Foundation seeks to preserve forever. Thus, in autumn, he activates two new spaces. In Athens, Frinichu Street 16 will house the archive and library of the poet, as well as a collection of personal items and works of art that relate to him. In Alexandria, the foundation is renovating Cavafy’s house. Two venues, in Greece and Egypt, will “talk” about content and action.