ENG:
Independence
is the main thematic core of the open hybrid programme of actions and
expanded visual media (performance, performative lectures, discussions,
interactive arts), which operates in two parallel axes entitled Soma Independent and Spirit Independent,
to be implemented in the year 2021-22 at the space ‘ΥΛΗ[matter]HYLE.
The programme is curated by the new team of collaborators of
‘ΥΛΗ[matter]HYLE; Lydia Antoniou, George Bekirakis, Alegia Papageorgiou,
Stefania Stouri, Monika Szczukowska and Agapi Harmani.
‘ΥΛΗ[matter]HYLE
is a semi-public / semi-private space in the centre of Athens that
brings together art, politics and science with practices of
unpretentious co-construction. Within this goal, Independence, a program
that invites curators, artists, scientists, theorists and activists to
participate in artistic actions and debates around the theme of
Independence, also operates. Through the (semi)public nature of the
‘ΥΛΗ[matter]HYLE art-studio, the two routes Soma Independent and Spirit
Independent, are organically shaped through research and dialogue, and
aim to strengthen research and artistic practices and develop an
extended circle of friends/viewers, without exclusion and
discrimination. The notions of dialogue, collaboration, ecology,
feminism are elaborated through the programme and become the foundations
to build the experiment and effort of the project. The interactions
between research and practice create the relationships of dependence or
independence. The relations of dependence between them highlights the
need for independence from social differences, oppressions, prejudices,
fears, and any limitations to expression and co-creation.
Soma Independent
Soma
Independent axis draws its characteristics from the artistic practices
that work with the artist's own body, using the body as a carrier and
medium of memory of history and social trauma. The structure of this
axis emphasizes on performance works that negotiate the representation
of the body, education and collaboration, and artistic feminist
practices. The programme is structured through hospitality, exchange and
public discussions, with the aim of an open dialogue and collaboration
between artists, students and audiences from different generations,
experiences, and social contexts. The Soma Independent axis includes the
project Performative Encounters, a research curatorial workshop by Lydia Antoniou and George Bekirakis with a duration of six months, which comprises of: (1) the public presentation of the performances "Dichotomy" and "Sjimon Says" by the invited young artists Elissavet Sfyri and Despina Charitonidi. (2)
The second part unfolds with the two artists introducing questions in
the form of a lively dialogue with contemporary artists in order to
re-examine their works through the critical gaze of the group. The
artists and curators hosted by ‘ΥΛΗ[matter]HYLE, aspire to create a
dynamic community through the durational workshop around performance
art. In the current socio-political context they contemplate on the role
of women, and how by utilising the specific medium of expression,
performance art, one can challenge stereotypical models of oppression or
change epistemological problematics around gender. At the same time,
during the whole process, an archival record of the encounters and
discussions is kept in the form of a performative diary, through
writing, video, sound and photography. The aim of the two curators'
research is to construct contemporary protocols of collaboration in
artistic production through dialogue, cooperation and education. The
works of the performance artists in ‘ΥΛΗ[matter]HYLE space will trigger a
public discussion around the material and immaterial nature of the
works, the contents and themes they address, the questions raised by the
works, and issues related to the medium of performance itself. The
research will observe and record methodologies of implementing dialogue
between the artists and the transformation of the works of Elissavet Sfyri and Despina Charitonidi through these encounters. (3)
The result of this research will be the emergence and presentation of
the new works of performances that will emerge and be presented at the
end of the workshop. Throughout the workshop, the research material will
be made public on the electronic platforms of ‘ΥΛΗ[matter]HYLE. We also
expect that this research will ensure the continuation of this
particular method of curation in the future with the collaboration of
‘ΥΛΗ[matter]HYLE with other artists and organisations.
Performative Encounters will commence on 14 October 2021, from 8-10PM where the public presentation of the performances "Dichotomy" and "Sjimon Says" will take place.
Elissavet Sfyri participates with her work Dichotomy,
which she initially presented for the first time in 2018 at the Centre
D'Art Contemporain Geneva and subsequent iterations in different venues
in London. The starting point of the work is the Greek habit of
smashing plates or glasses during celebrations. In 1969, the dictator
Papadopoulos banned this practice. Therefore, the celebratory-joyful act
became an act of process and resistance. The political situation of the
time was also reflected in the music. Rembetiko, a music that
fascinated Greece from the beginning of the 20th century to the early
1950s, was a kind of blues, usually dealing with themes of exile, loss
of family, wandering the streets in the dark, abuse, unrequited love,
imprisonment and death. The music and the forbidden custom of breaking
dishes captured the longing for something that no longer exists, which
may lie in the longing for the motherland, family, love or the past.
Through this piece she is confronted with the turbulent history of
Greece as well as her personal nostalgia for the country she grew up in.
After the economic crisis and political problems, the Greece of today
is different from the country she recalls from her childhood and this
longing corresponds to her experience of immigration.
Despina Charitonidi participates with the performance Sjimen Says,
which she first performed at Studio Volante in Rome. In Sijmen Says the
artist deals with the theme of "building", exploring the concept of
construction in all its meanings, examining the possibilities implied by
"foundation" and the inevitable consequences it entails. It uses brick,
the symbol of construction par excellence, as a tool. Sijmen Says for
Despina is a work in which the individual builds a pedestal for herself
while trying to balance on it. Each time a brick is added, the pedestal
becomes higher and more unstable. For her, through different approaches
to performance art, she explores concepts such as effort, ambition,
physicality, perseverance, and ultimately the fall as a foundation.
While her research is developed in the studio, her performativity
unfolds from relatively intimate spaces in the public sphere. Her
sculptural background contributes to her understanding of space and the
production of different environments. The fundamental characteristic of
her work lies in the study of the properties of different materials and
the traits they evoke in the viewer. In her performances, the basic idea
starts from the human act, where the presence of the artist challenges
the audience in an intense and interactive way. Since physical
communication almost effortlessly and immediately provides a shared
understanding, most of her interpretations treat the body as a tool of
limited possibilities, uncontrollable fragility and imitation through
repetition.
For further information please contact us at +302114106439
