ATHENS – With many of the Greek capital’s buildings defaced and some walls nearly totally covered with graffiti, the Athens Partnership, a non-profit group founded by Mayor Giorgos Kaminis has the ambitious goal of ridding the city’s center of so-called tags and street art.

This is Athens – Polis, the name of the scheme, has issued an open call for artists to help with the project, said Kathimerini, similar to a plan two years ago which cleared some 8300-square meters (89,340-square feet) of walls, the creation of six pedestrian streets and seven abandoned buildings being brought back into use and 30 art events.

The current project is sponsored by the A.C. Laskaridis Foundation, Beat, Constantine M. Logothetis, Cosmote, Ionian Hotel Enterprises and Lampsa Hellenic Hotels, with a goal to clear another 20,000-square meters (215,278 square feet) of walls, some of which form part of buildings designed by architects such as Ernst Ziller and Panagiotis Kalkos.

The walls will also be treated with anti-graffiti and hydrophobic materials, to prevent new illegal posters being affixed and to make the cleaning of new tags easier with a goal of ridding any new vandalism within 48 hours.

To add some color to the streets, about 100 of phone company Cosmote’s cable terminals in the area will be decorated by local artists, who are now asked to send in their ideas.

Any ideas are welcome, and artists may provide more than one suggestion, the paper said. The artworks will be treated as permanent installations, covered with the same anti-graffiti material as the walls.

Entries should include a resume of 150 words, a description of the idea up to 150 words and one or two sketches on a scale of 1:20 sent to [email protected].