This month we listen to Erica Scourti’s twelve-minute piece "Nea Oneira", or New Dreams in English. Considering the role of Lauren Berlant’s cruel optimism – when a desired future becomes an obstacle to your present – Scourti’s work dissects the dreams presented by Greek tourism and East London property developments. Fragments of audio collage Greek and English; property advertisements from London, taxi drivers in Athens and snippets from border patrol services, with 90s rave beats, elevator music and Scourti’s own narration. Together, we question the pursuit for authenticity, what ethical tourism can be, and story-telling within targeted marketing.

Erica Scourti is an artist and writer,  born in Athens and based in Athens and London. She has performed, exhibited and presented talks internationally, at spaces like High Line New York, Wellcome Collection, Kunsthalle Wien, Hayward Gallery, Munich Kunstverein, ICA London and EMST Athens; she recently participated in the 7th Athens Biennale (2021). Her writing has been published in Spells: 21st Century Occult Poetry (Ignota Press, 2018) and Fiction as Method (2017, Sternberg) amongst others, and she was guest editor of the Happy Hypocrite- Silver Bandage journal (2019).

Artist: Erica Scourti

Hosts: Nina Davies and Niamh Schmidtke

Music: Joe Moss and John Trevaskis

Producer: Flo Lines

Broadcast through Radio Thamesmead