From 1 August and for a period of two months, Agios Achilleios is transformed into an open site of contemporary visual creation, hosting works by ten artists from Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia, as well as a collective work by students of the School of Fine Arts of the University of Western Macedonia, under the supervision of Professor Haris Kontosfyris.

Visitors to Prespa will have the opportunity to explore the island of Agios Achilleios, encountering works created specifically for this year’s thematic axis of the festival, “Return to the Beginning.” Installations and interventions embedded within the natural landscape form an immersive route that engages with memory, landscape, and the notion of return.

Through a dedicated application, the audience follows a predefined circular walking route across the island, where the concepts of ending and beginning continuously intertwine, transforming the act of wandering itself into a ritual experience of transition and renewal.

In and around the Basilica of Agios Achilleios, Chilean composer Pablo Garreton creates, following a commission by the festival, an original soundscape combining artificial intelligence technologies with recordings drawn from the natural and human environment of Prespa.

The work unfolds as a continuous low-impact multichannel sound installation from 27 to 30 August, transforming the surrounding area of the church into a space of acoustic wandering and contemplation.