- Ikaria State of Mind takes place from August 9 to 23, 2025.
- Forget rigid schedules—activities happen where and when they want.
- Features soundscapes, DJ sets, art installations, film nights, open-air workshops, and not-so-secret pop-up events.
- Artists, musicians, and collectives, both local and imported, join forces.
- Venues include beaches, ports, schools, and monasteries (why not?).
- Program details will be released as the event approaches (patience is required).
- The festival is a living, breathing entity, not a faceless brand.
Some travel to Ikaria looking for sun and ouzo. Others choose August and hope to trip over an epiphany. Both groups will find themselves in the same predicament at Ikaria State of Mind 2025, which will materialize somewhere between organized chaos and deliberate neglect of tradition. Opening August 9, this so-called festival makes a sport out of sidestepping schedules, thriving on good intentions and better accidents.
Spyros, a veteran of last year’s gathering, will probably say something like: “I came for the party, stayed for the existential crisis. No one told me I’d leave knowing the difference between silence and boredom.”
The Anti-Festival
Descriptions usually come easy for most events, but not here. Ikaria State of Mind will transform the island into an ongoing parade of sound experiments, DJ sets at sunset, spontaneous workshops, sundown concerts, wandering film screenings, wine tastings in odd places, and performances that seem to start when no one’s paying attention. If this sounds unmanageable, that’s just the charm.
No timetables. No urgent hashtags. Just drifting from one moment to the next, letting the breeze—or the neighbor’s cousin—decide where to go next.
- Surprises, not announcements.
- Activities birthed by the moment—expect anything (especially the unexpected).
- Sunsets with soundtracks, long nights with louder music.
- Performances blending the sacred and the ridiculous.
- Encounters somewhere between the philosophical and the sunburned.
As regular Irini puts it: “I stopped checking my phone. I’m not sure if that’s freedom or if my screen is just broken.”
The Cast (Because Every Scene Needs Players)
Names might mean something, or they might not. Artists and collectives signed up so far include Stratis Galanos, Blip, Mario Visvikis, Alexis Retsis, Serafim Tsotsonis & Angeliki Tsotsoni, Ilias Gianniris, Constantinos Kyprianou, Dimitris Papaioannou, plus the likes of Anima Cyprus, Animasyros International Animation Festival, Ottawa Animation Festival, Glorious Grapes, and DJs tangled in the ISOM Collective.
Venues Even Locals Argue About
Nothing stays put on Ikaria. Events will transplant themselves to beaches, old schools, port towns, monasteries that people only pretend to remember, and groves just shady enough for philosophical disputes. Visitors will find themselves wandering from Karavostamo to Angellivada, shore to slope, pebbles often stuck in their sandals.
Anna, who should know better by now, says: “You blink and the concert’s moved. But so has the entire crowd. At least the goat had directions.”
Schedule for People Who Detest Schedules
Don’t expect precision. Take these as rumors with a shot of reality:
- August 9 (Afternoon): Kick Off Party at Sunset Beach Bar, Kyparissi—opening acts: Piccadilis, KOOkY, Kirchoff, Papaioannou.
- August 9 (Midnight and beyond): Full Moon Secret Party with Icaria Music Festival. Location hidden, lineup unpredictable.
- August 12 (Pre-sunset): Calma with Dimitri Papaioannou at Evdilos Port.
- August 14 (Afternoon): Crash course in Ikarian Wine at Skaravan, Karavostamo Beach. Music from the ISOM Collective.
- August 17 (Night until sunrise): Sound Vigil at Monastery of Evangelistria. Blip, Marios Visvikis, Constantinos Kyprianou, Dadastrada.
- August 19 (Evening): Family animation and documentary screening at the school in Karavostamo, curated by Animafest Cyprus & Animasyros.
- August 20: Myths and Stories of Ikaria (Morning, Karavostamo), Aquasonics Sound Bath (Afternoon, Aggelolivades), Animation and documentary screenings at night—Ottawa International Animation Festival and works by Giorgos Zervas.
- August 21: Literary Workshop, part 1, at Ta Pataria, Karavostamo. Later: Walk on Mars (no, not literally), exploring land-use wisdom with Ilias Gianniris. Sundown: Ode to Slowness with Marios Visvikis (live) and ISOM Collective DJ set in Drydes.
- August 22: Afternoon concert on the rocks, Karavostamo Beach, featuring Serafim Tsotsonis & Angeliki Tsotsoni, Alex Retsis. All-day DJ-fueled beach dancing at Skaravan.
- August 23: Literary Workshop, part 2, at Ta Pataria. Closing party (Kind of Rave) at Sunset Beach Bar, Kyparissi, with Papaioannou, Pikatillis, Sotiropoulos, Kooky, Kirchoff.
Where confusion mounts, inspiration follows. Locals accept the confusion. Tourists learn to wear it like a hat.
Why August Will Never Be the Same on Ikaria
Ikaria State of Mind will not look or act like the festivals you thought you enjoyed. It will borrow the tempo of the island itself—a rhythm that cares little for clocks, sometimes ignoring entire days. Locals and drifters will cross paths, filling beaches, ports, abandoned schools, and monasteries with music, stories, laughter, and occasionally, a moment of uncomfortable self-awareness.
Some will claim ISOM is a festival. Others insist it’s a stubborn refusal to call anything a festival. Either way, it will become a chapter in any visitor’s memory book, written somewhere between “what just happened?” and “did I really see that goat dancing?”
Sophia, who has only missed one edition due to measles, sums it up: “The best part? You never know if you’re audience or performer. Most nights, you’re both.”
Those planning to visit Ikaria in August 2025 should prepare to lose their sense of time, make new friends in unexpected places, and return with stories that nobody at home will believe. The Ikaria State of Mind experience will linger, mainly because it never hangs around long enough to say goodbye.
