Artist | Interior Designer | Dancer
My deep rooted
inclination for arts dates back to the age of five, when I started rhythmic
gymnastics and dance. I remember myself as a creative individual and always
busy with activities. I studied Visual Arts and Dance at Deree College and I had the opportunity to
combine more than one art forms and to take music and dance modules with my
visual arts major. This interdisciplinary way of study gave me a clearer and
more complete view of the fine arts and performance world. After the completion of my BA I decided to continue my studies with a Master's Degree in Interior Desigh in Glasgow School of Art which I completed this year. In
2015 I participated in Athens Video Dance Project as a choreographer,
dancer and creative director in a dance video "Oἰκιστικόν" in
collaboration with Lucas Oldwine and Andreas Zisis.
As an artist through my work I prefer to explore life from different perspectives. As a designer I am interested in focusing on how design can stimulate all senses and
at the same time to ensure that the design is indistinguishable from
its function. My work can take the form of 2D, 3D and 4D and my latest work
deals with installation and the relationship of the viewer with the
space. My influences are first and foremost everything I see, feel
and experience mostly through life, dance and philosophy. The mediums
that I use have references to femininity, dance and to textiles. I am
trying to achieve simplicity and geometry to most of my artworks.
30 September 2016
Inspiration
I visited the Benaki museum on September 30th in order to see the exhibition [OUT] TOPIAS and to get inspired by the artworks. I was impressed by the diversity and the amount of the dance videos and students' projects that were exhibited. There were two artworks that caught my attention, the first one was the Teatime Europe" is a performance directed
by Giorgos Zamboulakis which took place on the 29th of July 2014, at the delta
of the Evros River, at the border between Greece and Turkey. The Evros River is
one of the main gates of entrance for people seeking asylum in Europe. Every
day, thousands of desperate human beings are getting arrested, imprisoned, deported
or lose their lives trying to get away from the insanity of starvation,
poverty, violence and war. The Experimental Theatre of Thrace with this action
participates in a “dialogue” on this issue, which is one of the most important
problems of contemporary Europe, bringing out issues as hospitality and the
acceptance of the alterity of the other, as supreme human values. During the
performance, a group of people sits onto chairs in a circular form in
the Evros River, as the members of the European Union, drinking tea and
creating music using musical instruments with cups. The performance starts with
the production of improvised musical motives, which are gradually transformed
into classical music and specifically into a recognizable pattern of
Ravel which is reference to European culture. The performance ends with the
symbolic representation of a woman as a mother that is anxious about her child
and she sings a Greek folk song among drowned people who lose their lives trying to follow their dream
for a better life in the "civilized" Europe.
Image Frame, "Teatime Europe", Giorgos Zamboulakis, 2014.
Image Frame, "Teatime Europe", Giorgos Zamboulakis, 2014.
The second video that trigger my imagination was the "Departures" and is directed by Harrys
Patramanis. It was projected on a black big box in the center of a room. The
video shows travelers with no destination. They are waiting in front of
elevators that will never work again. They seem hypnotized, and move back and
forth. Because of humans’ presence it’s easy to forget that is an abandoned
building and it’s interesting to see how different a space seems without human
presence.
Image Frame, "Departures", Harrys Patramanis, 2016.
Image Frame, "Departures", Harrys Patramanis, 2016.
Image Frame, "Departures", Harrys Patramanis, 2016.
10 October 2016
Thoughts About the Concept
On Monday we visited again the Benaki museum to see the available spaces that we can use in order to perform our piece and where we want the audience to stand. The space for my performance I was thinking to use the main patio and the audience I would like to be placed in the second floor inside the Benaki museum that they can see the performance from the above.
Main Patio, Benaki Museum
2nd Floor
25 October 2016
My Concept
“Reshape and
Adjust”
My project explores the relationship of the human body
with the cube. The cube for my project symbolizes the life of a person that
tries to fit in a ‘box’ or suitcase when he\she travels to a new place for a
better life. It’s interesting to think that in hard times as in cases of immigration
a person has to choose the most significant things to take them with him/her. The
‘box’ is the connection between his/her past and his/her new life. My
choreography will consist of nine dancers wearing black clothes and I will use as
a prop nine cardboard boxes. The performing area is going to be the center
patio of the Benaki Museum. The size of the boxes will be big so that they can
fit a person inside. The boxes will be placed in three parallel and opposite to
each other rows, with gups in between them in order to create a grid. This
installation has references to the minimalist artist Carl Andre who is recognized
for his ordered linear format and grid format sculptures. The first task of the
dancers is to take their unfolded box, placing it in the space upon the stage that
each one will perform and construct their box in this space. The second task is
to start exploring the three dimensions of the box with their bodies. Then, the
third task, which has references to the society and social behavior, is to imitate
the movements of the other dancer next to them. At some point all dancers will
end up doing the same movements, which reflects in turn the society’s tendency
to share and adopt same behaviors. Finally, the last task is to fit in the box
and close it as a metaphor of their integration in the society. Part of the
performance will be also the moments when dancers will deconstruct their box and
leave the stage.
As far as the audience is concerned, I would like to
be placed in the second floor inside the Benaki museum where they can see the
performance from the above. In addition, the title of the exhibition is (OUT)TOPIAS
and I found interesting to think of the spaces inside and outside of the museum
and the relationship of the viewer with the performance. We will perform in an
inner patio and the audience will be out of this space but still in the museum.
The dancers will also interact with the inside and outside space of their
boxes.
FLOOR PLAN
Carl
Andre’s Installations
Reading and Thoughts
Space and Place
I found really inspiring and helpful the text ‘Space
and Place’ because it helped me think how my body maps the space and how the
environment affects my choice making in composing. In addition it made me realize
how a choreography when is performed in a different place that new dimensions
are revealed and how important are even the materials and surfaces of a space
for a dance especially for the contemporary dance because both face and body
touch the ground.
7-16 November 2016
These two weeks we were working on the Benaki Museum. The first days that I didn't have got my boxes yet I placed chairs instead of boxes in order to see the space and where I would place the boxes for the choreography.
On 14th of November my boxes were at Benaki museum and rehearshed all together with the boxes.
17 November 2016
On 17th we made a few changes in my choreography and for the final task we took our boxes and moved all to the center. The 9 boxes touched each other in order to create a bigger square in the center. Then every dancer was inside the box and closed the top of the boxes. While we were all inside the boxes we started producing sound by hitting with our palms on the surface of the boxes from the
inside. Then we stopped and opened the top of
the boxes. We got out of the boxes, we fold them and took our box out of the performance space.
Final diagram of the boxes for the final task
19 November 2016
The Day of the Performance
Photographer: George Kroustallis
Photographer: George Kroustallis
Photographer: George Kroustallis
Photographer: George Kroustallis
