The production Lucky Luke Is Afraid, written and directed by Taxiarchis Deligiannis and Vasilis Tsiouvaras, uses the form of musical to enhance the hero’s inner struggle with color and poetic immediacy.
The storyline is as follows: Andreas (19 years old) and Antigone (17 years old) are in an online relationship using the nicknames Lucky and Betty, without ever exchanging their real names or photographs. Andreas is experiencing a strong internal conflict between his true, sensitive self, whom he only presents online, and his image of a restless, tough boy, which he only shows to the outside world. His love for Antigone gradually frees him from his fears and gambling addiction, enabling him to reveal his true self. Like Alcestis in the ancient myth, Andreas “returns” to the outside world, leaving the virtual world to which he had surrendered himself until then, behind.
The exhibition explores the concept of conflict through water’s transformative power. Highlighting the dynamics of its unifying function, it connects two cities, Thessaloniki and Rome, while inviting visitors to an experience that includes all senses.
The River, a grand-scale mosaic by Christina Nakou, is presented within a soundscape. The installation draws inspiration from the Roman mosaic floors in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. Through this traditional art form, it attempts to demonstrate handcrafting as an experience of lived-out time, sound as the vibrant imprint of the process, as well as the importance of touch in our connection with the natural world and other people.
The exhibition opens with two performances by Anna Pangalou, titled Voicing Water, which explore the mythology of water, giving voice to the present moment. The mythological narratives about fountains are connected to hydraulic technology, its role in creating musical instruments, and the natural flow of water.
Three mahallahs (Turkish word for districts) are situated in the three corners of a village, each one far from the others. Each one has their own square, stores, tombs, and festivals. And each of them naturally believes their own are the best, ensuring that the rest of the world is aware of this… In a dystopian village, a female singer accompanied by video projections and otherworldly or completely tangible sounds, is called to explore three communities, inside a mosque. Songs and images come together to clash, fight, and leave their pieces behind. The singer collects all that is left to create a new, harmonized, modern space, that nobody knows whether it will stand the test of time or not. In the end, are these mahallahs as different as they thought they were?
In the performance A Brilliant Elegy for Anthoula Stathopoulou, a poetess walks the fine line between life and death. As her end is near, she strives to hold onto the words she has served throughout her life. Giannis Soldatos and Efi Venianakis’ direction focuses on the meticulous handling and special accentuation of every word. Words turn into “stage props” and are pronounced with special emphasis, without mannerisms. The themes of human existential agony, decay, and death remain boldly relevant in this work’s poetic universe, as our era is also confronted with the same enduring questions.
Anthoula Stathopoulou passed away at the age of 27, in spring 1935, leaving behind a significant poetic body of work. In the exhibition accompanying the performance, the present day is linked to the past, through photographs from abandoned sanatoria, not as a realistic account but as a visual historiography. Their special identity leads them into the complex paths revealed by memory in 20th-century mythography.