Conflict, whether destructive, life-bearing, or both, is a fundamental state where different energies, forces, materials, humans, views, and cultures meet – an encounter that radically transforms all the involved parts.
Ergon ensemble presents three fascinating, modern musical pieces treating the theme of conflict, in a single narrative for piano, clarinet, cello, violin, and narrator.
The programme will feature the pieces Shattila (2004-05) by Samir Odeh-Tamimi, composed after the Sabra and Shatila massacre on 16 September 1982, Stalag VIIIA (2018) by Tristan Murail, referring to the Nazi concentration camp Stalag VIII-A, and Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1940) by Olivier Messiaen, a quartet written by the composer while he was held captive at the Stalag VIII-A concentration camp. These pieces will be combined with scientific and literary excerpts, poems, and original texts discussing conflict in the past and present, (and potentially for eternity), all curated, compiled, and presented by Paris Mexis.
The international performer Erini presents the music and dance performance “Malés,” in which the thematic axis of “conflict” is drawn from the Cretan “mantinada”. In the Cretan dialect, “Malés” means quarrel/fight, and in this particular performance, it challenges the audience to view conflict not only as a destructive force but also as a source of creation and inspiration that emerges from cultural osmosis. Erini collaborates with Manolis Manousakis (music director) and Aristoula Toli (dance director) and interprets traditional Cretan songs in interesting orchestrations of an ever-evolving tradition. At the same time, the performance highlights the interconnected relationship between music, song, and dance, the threefold event, a dynamic phenomenon with performative power that constitutes an integral part of the artistic and cultural expression of the local Cretan culture, while emphasis is given to the content and meanings of the words. The conflict and its various aspects are depicted, visualized, and questioned through the “female gaze” in Cretan music.
The production Why Did ‘Meliá’ Not Turn Into ‘Meléa’ based on a short story by Georgios Vizyinos, is a dance and theatre performance with a live music accompaniment. In the story, the author recounts an incident from his school years, addressing the Greek language dispute during a period when the whole of the Balkans was in turmoil. The Greek language question was a major point of conflict in the modern history of the Greek state, spanning from the start of the Greek War of Independence to the start of the post-dictatorship era, with significant political, social, and cultural implications.
The apple-tree (in Greek: meliá), which in Greek sounds like the word “speech” (miliá), takes on the role of Speech/Language in the narration. The language of theatre prose will clash with the non-verbal language of dancing, and together they will compose something new, using music as their common ground. They will become ‘Meliá’ and ‘Meléa’. They will portray the conflict of little Giorgis with his teacher, and will become the words that fight over which one will finally settle in the child’s mind and soul.
A Software’s Biography is the new multimedia project of visual artist Giorgos Drivas. It includes the projection of his new video work, which was produced using Artificial Intelligence programmes and will be presented with a live music accompaniment, especially composed with the help of similar AI programmes. It features and visualizes an individual’s effort to regain his lost memory, and by extension, to remember the life he has suddenly forgotten. It revolves around an audiovisual conversation with an intelligent software, which is used to retrieve digital audiovisual data from the past and reactivate the memory of a person searching for his lost identity.