Timber, Turbines, Timbre is an ongoing sonic research project exploring the ecological, historical and acoustic transformations of Mount Vermio in Northern Greece.

The following text was originally published on TBA 21 Ocean Archive as part of Journeys of OCEAN / UNI: bárawa.

A lesser-known story of British colonialism on Greek territory is that of timber extraction in the Vermio mountains in the North of Greece, where Millars Timber and Trading Company Ltd was cutting and transferring beech logs from the forest across the Mediterranean Sea in the 1910s. Scattered traces of the operation can be found today around the forest: a small tunnel, ruins of a watermill, a house.

In the past few years, a group of locals has put effort into maintaining hiking trails and natural pools, naming the rocks and ponds after ancient Greek nymphs and legends. A local poet regularly organizes community walks; one poem is carved outside a tiny refuge, titled “Listen.” A local archivist has tried to make the industrial history of the mountain better known; he begins one of his published texts by articulating the sound of the steam-powered train and the water-powered saws. Central to all his narratives is a phrase he remembers from one of his ancestors: “This forest was untouched since the creation of the world.”

Read the full essay →
https://ocean-archive.org/story/timber-turbines-timbre →

A podcast in Greek was produced in January 2026 and was selected for the NEXUS podcast section of the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival.

The piece explores the layered histories of Mount Vermio through narration, archival material and sound recordings from the mountain landscape.

Listen / view the podcast →