DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU in a black suit, the dancer (michael theophanous) naked. A large wooden artists panel and a long table, also black and white. The two bodies move in parallel and interweave each other like parts of a wall painting that cant find their right place. That cant sit still, cant get comfortable. The naked body is planed like a sculpture. Limbs are lost in a panel lined with black velvet, like fragments of an ancient Greek sculpture. The creator holds this primal matter, his creation, in his hands. A constant, never-ending dialogue, sometimes laced with humour and sarcasm, other times with suffering. In the end, the two bodies seem to become one. Black and white.Can the body articulate objections? Can it express the complexities of the situation at hand and the pressing need for a way out, a release? And all far from interpretations trapped in aestheticistic preoccupations and without the reproduction of stereotypes drawn from the isolated arts elite? Such questions, when set forth inside a gallery or on the stage, come with a safety net. But in life? How can such questions be couched in the reality that surrounds us and, moreover, how can they be answered? We are experiencing this crisis with all our senses. We are reinterpreting works in light of these new addenda, our thoughts deriving from changed living conditions. We are coexisting with art differently now; in more complex, more desperate ways. It has become our primal matter. Whether we think it doesnt concern us, or it infuriates us, or enchants us, art is there to help us build the world afresh on new foundations.(Kathimerini newspaper) DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU Born in Athens in 1964. Trained with the painter Yannis Tsarouchis. Worked as a painter, performer, comics artist, choreographer and director. A founding member of Edafos Dance Theatre (1986-2002), he conceived, directed and choreographed all of the companys productions. Conceived and directed the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games. In 2006, he created the work 2, and in 2008 presented MEDEA2. In 2009, he co-curated the HEAVEN LIVE exhibition at the 2nd Athens Biennial with Zafos Xagoraris, and inaugurated the renovated Main Stage of the Greek National Theatre with the work NOWHERE. He spent Spring 2010 in New York on a Fulbright Artists Scholarship. Returning to Athens, he staged K.K., a concert with video projections for 13 poems by Constantine Cavafy set to music by Lena Platonos. In 2011, he created the six-hour theatrical installation INSIDE. At the Athens Festival 2012, he presented his latest work PRIMAL MATTER, appearing as a performer for the first time in ten years. The work has since been performed in Thessaloniki, New York, Edinburgh and Moscow, and was presented again at the Athens Festival in 2013 for a run of 26 performances. He has been commissioned to present a new project at the Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens, to première in May 2014.(theartist)
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 19:46:07 +0000
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