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| Dimitris Papaioanou, 'Inside', performance, 2011. Screen shot. |
Dimitris Papaioanou is a Greek stage director, choreographer and visual artist who drew international media attention with his creative direction of the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
In 2011 he conceived and directed 'Inside' as 6 hour stage work with no beginning, middle or end. Surprisingly, he presented it for a limmeted number of performances in a contemporary Concert Hall-music theatre in Athens, as opposed to some sort of a squad that one would expect for such an avant-garde, weird spectacle. Here it would be very helpful to consider a small part of the press release:
''... You can watch as much as you like, sit wherever you like, exit and re-enter as many times as you like. INSIDE is a work born where two situations come together: a performance that runs endlessly meets audiences who come, go and switch seats whenever they like. On stage the work constantly recycles itself. It makes use of the same material in different ways that are never repeated. A single simple series of personal, everyday actions is combined and superimposed to create countless compositions. A bedroom in the heart of a theatre transforms a personal place into public space. A theatre in the heart of the city opens its doors to the public and invites audiences to watch the action as if gazing at a landscape. INSIDE treats the theatre as an exhibition space, the work as an exhibit, and invites audiences to act as visitors.''
As far as concearns the performers they are all professional dancers. But, in each performance a limmted number of people from the audience are encouraged to participate in the performance with a short rehearsal before hand. Because, that kind of interaction makes sense and offers to the format of the performance the conceptual validity that needs and perhaps, it is designed for acquiring progressively. ''... a place in the performance has been set aside each day for one audience member. If INSIDE appealed to you and you can see yourself inside the room, talk to one of the ushers to sign up. We’ll decide together which day you’ll join us on stage. On that day you’ll rehearse with us for about an hour to learn the same sequence of movements that everyone performs. Then you’ll be ready to come inside. We’ll give you one free ticket for a friend to come see you, and a 15-minute DVD of your time on stage to remember us by when you leave.''
Nikos Georgopoulos,
London,
May 2012
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| Dimitris Papaioanou, 'Inside', performance, 2011. Screen shot. |
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| Dimitris Papaioanou, 'Inside', performance, 2011. Screen shot. |
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| Dimitris Papaioanou, 'Inside', performance, 2011. Screen shot. |
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| Interview with Dimitris Papaioanou about 'Inside'. |
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