Mediterradio exhibited in Derry to mark the end of Ulysses project

The project – titled Ulysses European Odyssey 2022-2024 – involved reimagining the 18 chapters of the novel from 18 different cities. Tom was part of a collaboration in Athens, Greece, tasked with representing the novel’s first chapter: the Telemachus.

Working with colleagues in the Syrian and Greek Youth Forum (a creative grassroots collective based in Athens), Tom produced a radio show based on the chapter’s themes of youth and emergence, of sea-city relations and urban memory. The collective pieced together sound recordings from different cities around the Eastern Mediterranean – from Alexandria in Egypt, Nablus in Palestine, Damascus in Syria, and from Athens itself – hearing Mediterranean relations and histories in counterpoint and circulation. The radio show, called “Mediterradio”, is now part of the Ulysses Trail, accompanied by an essay Tom has written titled “A Sonic Geopoetics on Four Wavelengths”, and alongside pieces from each of the other chapters and cities represented in the project.

The Athens leg of the project also included a workshop with Athenian artists from various backgrounds to engage with the multiple geographical imaginations that gather in the city, as well as a block party in the neighbourhood of Kypseli, organised the Onassis Stegi cultural centre.

The trail runs from 8-17 June 2024 across 18 locations in Derry, with free entry to all venues.

More information

• Details on the Ulysses trail
• Information about the European Odyssey Project
• Visit Dr Tom Western's staff profile