Carpe diem 2 narrates the phenomenon of war and weaves connections with other forms of violence in nature and interpersonal relationships. It contains scenes from online found footage from War Archives. It has been realized with the support of H.F.R.I. as part of my post doctoral research hosted by Ionian University, department of Audio visual arts.

Performance: Eleni Kolliopoulou, Stratos Papadoudis

Concept, Sound editing, Video: Eleni Kolliopoulou

Sound: Steve Reich (Drumming)
Allegri (Miserere) Iannnis Xenakis (Psappha)

‘’Möbius strip’’ is a bittersweet embodied poem that wishes to offer a bit of light and hope in this dark historical period that we are going through. The performance focuses on the effects of war upon ‘ordinary people’ who suddenly find themselves amid a crisis that urges them to reconsider their values and discover dormant truths. The audience witnesses the existential and psychosomatic changes of the performers, as they go through different stages/experiences; initially (dis)connecting, fighting, and separating from one another “in wartime” but finally coming close together. After a long process of reciprocal destruction in the name of ideals that prove to be broken and fake, they end up realizing that suffering caused by war is revealing their vulnerabilities and the humanity (fragility) laying underneath their actions.

‘’Möbius strip’’ takes place alongside the experimental film “Carpe-diem 2” which narrates violence as a phenomenon that occurs in society (civil war, military conflict between states, refugees), in nature (power relations between animals), but also in the self (abandonment, regression). Violence is a twisted skein coiled to itself, a blind force that has no ending and no beginning. Its disentanglement must happen with care and persistence. The disentanglement of the skein finally extricates the imprisoned threads of life and frees us from the bonds of derelict short-sighted ideologies.

Full length article on the performance:

https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/chor_00056_1?originator=authorOffprint&identity=33333697&timestamp=20240803000140&signature=2f2241f24830004a6c4cdbf5c9294396

Carpe diem  is a short film (20 mins) that wishes to elaborate on the topic of war. War is a complex phenomenon that we encounter not only among countries but also in animals, interpersonal relationships and our relationship with the self. The film aims to give a poetic and idiosyncratic view upon violence and the ways that it can be  manifested. Carpe diem entails found footage of historical archives of war.

Escape is either a state of mind and an action of the body. Especially during lockdown all of us have had this urge to run into the wild…One can physically try to escape to any other place in the hope that the thing we are escaping from is left behind. If the mind does not perceive this objective as being achieved, the physical displacement is rendered irrelevant to the cause. Ultimately, it is the mind that decides.

Escape is a journey of the mind and the fight to escape reality. Unfortunately, we can’t stay in this state forever and so it is inevitable that reality will return to us and will need to be dealt with and addressed. We always look forward to the time that we can escape again however short, the two states of mind are always connected and in balance.

The film was created in collaboration with two composers Stephen Gardner and Bill Campbell under the topic of Escape. The project was funded by Arts Council Northern Ireland Stability and Renewal Fund and commissioned by New Horizons Music CIC.

Crossing borders (2020) explores the threshold between organic and choreographed movement. As I gradually collapse to the floor I am holding a white rose between my teeth and a sharp knife close to my back. Crow ling becomes a difficult mission as I pass  through the gaps left by the participants.  Once arrived to the final destination, I attempt the impossible: to divide the water full of sparse rose petals inside the bucket.

Footage of this video was collected during the summer of 2010 in the Greek island of Lefkada and in a village of fishers near Volos (northern Greece). During my permanence in this area, I walked around and visited places like shipyards now abandoned that I have heard contain strong emotions of melancholy and tragedy. The video adds a pinch of humor when necessary, through the focus on individual elements always filmed in their natural context.

With this work I would like to make a portrait of Greece, focusing mainly in rural than in urban landscapes.

Without is an sound installation project. The installation elaborates on the experience of solitude and isolation with reference to the lack of physicality which has been accentuated during the Covid-19 era. The piece wishes to reflect on the question marks, levels of despair and hopelessness that arose in each of us. The audio is in fact fragmented, intimate and melancholic. ‘Without’ would like to point out and interrogate the embodiment of the current situation by enlarging the absence of physical presence. ‘Without’ materializes the silent lament that we hear inside ourselves.

Formally, the installation is articulated as a succession/ promenade through 3 different rooms/ spaces. Each room includes an object with an audio system incorporated in them. Rooms should be as bare as possible and pretty spacious. Good audio system (audio speakers) is required in order to reach the visitor from all corners of the room.

The audio system is fixed in such a way that is invisible by the visitor. Sound comprises three separate audio files that alternate each other in a loop: hence the experience of the visitor is carefully crafted as a walk through those three rooms in a succession. In a way, the audio acts as a call/ invitation for the visitor to move on.

Audio has been edited by the artist and includes ambient sounds mixed out with HIVE vocal improvisation performance on ‘Lessness’ by Samuel Beckett (1970). Hive is an experimental choir based in Belfast SARC (Queens University) in which I take part. I am fascinated by the way Beckett in this piece adopts a non- linear way of a narration of the inner life of the character. The attempt is to create a delicate and fragile atmosphere around the visitor of the gallery space.