No man is an island entire of itself

VASISTAS theatre group

Temporary Exhibitions Space(-1)

Argyro Chioti
VASISTAS theatre group

“No man is an island entire of itself”
Five rooms | A wander

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 July at the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST)

Live art performance
Temporary Exhibitions Space -1
Time: 19:30 & 21:00
Free entrance with telephone reservation.
Maximum number of spectators: 10 people
Telephone number: 6906053267

“No man is an island entire of itself”, the new work by Argyro Chioti and VASISTAS theatre group, a performance-invitation to a mental wandering, will be presented at the National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST) from 1st until 5th of July.

In a series of absurd, dream-like rooms, ten spectators each time encounter their residents who converse, as museum exhibits, with their confined selves. Guided by a woman’s voice through their headphones, the visitors enter deeper and deeper in their mental wandering at Temporary Exhibitions Space -1 of the museum. Through the poetic encounters with these five people, they are invited to join in a personal, transcendental and meditative experience.

With light creating the setting and architecture, with intense audiovisual stimulation, with highly poetic text, a composition of literature excerpts and material devised during the rehearsals, the spectators observe the reality getting distorted and their perception gradually broadening. Each one will experience a lone journey towards a personal utopia.

The first version of the performance was presented online and live streaming at the museum’s website on 22, 23, 24 May, in the framework of the International Museum Day 2020. An unusual and uncharted theatrical experience that drew on material from the digital world, which imposes its own distinct logic and an uncanny scenic experience.

The second version, as a live-art performance with the actors on site, is presented in its natural space, in the museum’s building, as one of the first events after its reopening.

* The title of the performance comes from the poem Meditation XVII (1624), by John Donne.

Director’s note

“Last March, we started working on a new performance about isolation and life in an innermost world. An experiential installation-performance, each time for limited spectators, in a non-theatrical space. At the beginning of our rehearsals, the rapid events led us to an actual isolation. We decided to keep working, confined in our houses, with a daily encounter in front of our computer screens.

We composed, in this way, a wandering performance, which functions as a personal meditative journey. A song that leads the spectators to a mental elusion and reconnection, beyond the borders of physical confinement.

We do not believe that a digital performance can be compared or replace a live spectacle and its direct communication between actors and the audience. It suggests, though, a new scenic experience that can only add to the performance in the actual space that will follow. We invite the spectators to attend both the digital and the live performance, and take note of the distinct nature of these two experiences”.
Directed by: Argyro Chioti
Dramaturgy: Efthimis Theou, Argyro Chioti
Music/Sound design: Jan Van de Engel
Visual associate: Babis Makridis
Lighting design: Tasos Palaioroutas
Assistant director: Katerina Kotsou
Production: Stefanos Skoulikaris
Technical support: Manos Melissotis – AVolution AUDIOVISUAL

Performers: Georgina Chryskioti, Eirini Koubarouli, Ektoras Liatsos, Rita Litou, Kostas Sevdalis

Coordination: Anna Mykoniati, EMST Curator

No man is an island entire of itself
Live art performance
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 July at EMST
Time: 19:30 & 21.00 (duration 60 minutes)
Free entrance with telephone reservation.
Maximum number of spectators: 10 people
Telephone number: 6906053267

EMST complies with every regulation for the public safety and protection.
Wearing a mask is obligatory.

www.vas.eu.com | info@vas.eu.com

https://www.facebook.com/vasistastheatregroup/

Argyro was born in Athens. She works in Greece and France as stage director and actress. In 2005 she cofounded VASISTAS theatre group. She searches for scenic forms that look towards poetry, with intense chorality and physicality. Searching for dramaturgies that are not defined by a text-based logic or in a linear story-telling, she orchestrates «moving images» in detail, creating a rhythm for an experience, something like music choreography in present time.

Stage directions of Argyro Chioti:

Eau de Cologne, 2019, by Efthimis Filippou (National Theatre in Greece), The Libation Bearers, 2018 (Athens & Epidaurus Festival in co-production with Kavala’s Municipality theatre), The Divine Comedy, 2017, Onassis Cultrual Centre production (Athens) in co-production with Gymnase-Bernardines theatre (Marseille), Apologies 4&5, 2016 (Athens & Epidaurus festival), BLOODS (Emata), 2014 (Onassis Cultural Centre production), Domino, 2013, Spectacle, 2011, Premiere in Athens Festival 2011 in the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens (EMST, June 2011), Phobia: a spectacle, 2010, Co-production with the National Theatre of Athens, Silence, 2008-09, Little Red Riding Hood-me and my wolf, 2007-08, Get over it (Faedras), 2006-07

Other collaborations:

Faust by Goethe (for the National Theatre of Greece, experimental project of collective direction (2008-2009), Kassandra by Benedetto Marcello (cantata with the ensemble Latinitas Nostra – Markellos Chrysikopoulos) (2009), “ARPAGI” Performance in situ: as part of the exhibition of Stefanos Tsivopoulos “Future starts here” in Eleusina (June 2012), Faethon of Dimitris Dimitriadis | stage reading in the Onassis Cultural Center (October 2013), This! multimedia performance in collaboration with Via Negativa (Ljubljana, October 2013) and Bios cultural center (Athens, 2014), Different Choises Petros – by Efhtimis Filippou (monologue with piano in Theatre Technis Karolos Koun, October 2016), Prometheus Desmotes – University production in la Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille, with students of the theatre department of Provence University (April 2018).

VASISTAS theatre group received for Spectacle the honors distinction of National Association of Critics of theatre and music, (for innovating theatre play) (December 2011). In 2013 Argyro was awarded with “Eleftheria Sapoutzi” award for her artistic work.

SPONSORS

The performance is financially supported by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports

With the support of NEON Organization for Culture and Development
Supporting Creativity

Argyro Chioti and VASISTAS theatre group