A concert that, through the creative use of multimedia, John’s Revelation and digitally altered Fayum mummy portraits, touches upon the mental trauma of the age-old, constantly lurking destruction that is nowadays called climate crisis. The production includes multiple projections and a surround sound system, audiovisual digits created in real time, an actress performing with live music, debates between scientific discourse and sacred texts, multilingual accounts of liturgical rituals from across the world, as well as heretical speech delivery by the actress, along with an unexpected use of soundscapes by the musician and Studio 19st. The performance is grounded on the standpoint that man is not the centre of this universe but just a guest in it, and that the climate crisis is a huge chance to establish a culture of a Sacred Indestructible for our common home in the present day.
The Dancers of the North present Commedia Divina, a new production choreographed and directed by Tatiana Papadopoulou. Commedia Divina is a stage transcription of Dante’s journey across the three borderline destinations of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, seen through the prism of climate change.
The emblematic work of world literature, Dante’s Commedia Divina is a modern environmental allegory. It fascinatingly captures man’s unbreakable relationship with nature. The poet’s journey across the three Kingdoms of the dead of the Catholic worldview includes “travellers’ accounts” of the Underworld. Modern-day communities feel the rising environmental pressures and seek a way out, just as the poet is looking for an exit. Passing from the overheated Hell to Purgatory, where nature is “normalized”, he ends up in Paradise, the place of absolute harmonization, where man is reconnected to nature.
“And yet, the Earth moves!” said Galileo in 1610 and humanity had to come to terms with the idea that the Earth does move. In 2023, however, we must accept that the Earth trembles and reacts against human interventions.
At the crossroads of art and technology, visual and musical performance, GAIA produces a different narration about the Earth and the way we should be inhabiting it. Inspired by the rich theoretical work of Bruno Latour and Frédérique Aït-Touati, this new – visual and stage – narration about the Earth is both about man and non-human factors, without however putting aside the human element – as is often proposed by the meta-human discourse. Yes, we do experience a destruction. But that can be reversed. We need to produce a new world creation, by renewing our representations of the terrestrial, biotic and abiotic world.
A wandering across Northern Greece, guided by great geographer Strabo, with the goal of introducing us to the climate and the works of the people of his and our time. Climate change is characteristically described not by Strabo himself but by “Pseudo-Strabo”: “Oh, I’ve messed things up / I’ve been swept by the tsunami / And I will go about at home / with a mask and in a diver’s suit”.
Two actors and an onstage musician converse, sing and improvise on texts of the past and experiences of the present. A hyper-sensitive citizen with particular ecological concerns is the only person who applies for the educational programme “Lifelong learning, environment, climate change and health”. A renowned academician undertakes the difficult task of educating him with impressive consequences.
A variation of ancient myths aimed at awakening people to the climate crisis. Persephone, the goddess of the vegetative cycle, has been locked into a new labyrinth by scientist Daedalus, a representative of humanity, so that she can provide him with the absolute control of earth’s resources. Her second abduction not only prevents her from having contact with her mother Demeter, the personification of the Earth, but also from returning to her kingdom, the Underworld. Demeter, weeping over her daughter’s disappearance, is looking for her everywhere again, causing extreme and destructive weather phenomena in her wake. She will be helped by Caerus, a symbol of opportunity, who will reveal to her where her daughter is being kept. There, Demeter will attempt to convince Daedalus to set Persephone free, yet blinded by arrogance, he will remain unmoved. After that, the two of them will exchange accusations in a speech contest. Will reconciliation be achieved or will both of them be led to hubris and destruction?
The Thessaloniki Chamber Orchestra presents Antonio Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons, a timeless masterpiece praising the alternations of nature and circularity of time, in a concert that combines music with dancing. The goal is to reconnect audiences with the different sensation that each season of the year should have, through the filter of Vivaldi’s widely-known and emblematic music work.
This production has brought together twelve leading professional orchestra musicians and four music and dance soloists. The work includes what is known as “descriptive” or “program” music. In each concerto, the groundbreaking composer describes one season. The production combines two art forms, music and dance, with the goal of raising awareness on the destruction of the environment that results in the disruption of the natural balance between the four season. Audience members as observers listen to sounds of nature, such as birds chirping or the sound of a storm, and are able to visualize this sensation by watching its artistic manifestation through modern dance.
The Alcedo folk band, a company of acclaimed musicians founded in 2018 by Kostas Konstantatos (founding member of Encardia), presents an original audiovisual musical performance titled The Curse of the Pine Tree, based on Zacharias Papantoniou’s poem of the same title. It is a musical fairy tale that converses with inspired images and videos that will be accompanying the band’s original music and songs. Folk and sophisticated music with stories about nature and the environment from the Renaissance and the Middle Ages in the East and West to the technological world of today. The Alcedo folk band often appears unexpectedly in the videos too. The performance consists of twenty one images, just like Zacharias Papantoniou’s poem.
Giannis is a farmer working his land. He has identified his life with the life of a pine tree, planted there by his grandfather, and has been enjoying its rich gifts for years. However, at some point, he starts cutting the tree for its resin and then completely truncates it and sells the logs. After that, the tree takes revenge on him through its secret power…
Rare military camp exhibits are presented in the historical site of Kodra, in Kalamaria, Thessaloniki. With the help of an experienced guide, audiences will be guided through the different “room cemeteries”. Audience members will be requested to remain silent – the rooms reveal their secrets and desires only upon the condition of absolute silence.
The tour will be followed by the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is the moment when the “Unknown” Soldier will confess the unexpected end of his path to the unknown visitors. Next comes a short stop in front of Johann Sebastian Bach. The only exhibit in the camp that is allowed to talk to birds and barbed wire fences. The end of the trail signals the beginning of a new one. Our hope and wish is that art can cast away the negative energy of what’s dead and peacefully warm up human togetherness in those old military camps in the city that have been patiently waiting for it for years. The former military camps profess resurrection in the everyday eulogy of our cities.
Based on William Shakespeare’s poem of the same title, the performance The Rape of Lucretia(Lucrece) refers to the sufferings of the planet. Noble Lucretia is raped by the
ruler’s son. To save her honour, she invites her friends and relatives and tells them what has happened. Then she kills herself in front of them. Lucretia’s dead body is exposed to public view, the people of Rome revolts, the ruler is chased away and monarchy becomes replaced by democracy. Lucretia in the performance symbolizes the Earth that is constantly being raped by those holding the power and money. The musical and visual setting accompanying the poetic speech underlines the need to find a way to co-exist on the planet through the prism of responsibility, respect and awareness of the consequences of our actions.
The modern dance performance ACROSS TIME by Die Wolke Art Group explores the concept of conflict. Its building blocks are references to familiar images, texts, and sounds spanning from ancient to contemporary times, resonating with the audience.
The piece follows an original script, created by combining new texts with textual and directorial excerpts from works such as T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Euripides’ The Bacchae, and many other references across different time periods. Moreover, snapshots from cinema, music, painting, and mythology inspire the direction and choreography of the piece, adding an element that is equivalent to intertextuality in the performance art.
ACROSS TIME includes original music, a tetraphonic surround sound design, and surtitles with the Greek translation of the texts.