Volax, earth and sky and me
towards a collective experience of spiritual immersion
Anna Tzakou and the Geopoetics group present the performance “Volax”. Four performing arts artists interact live with images of Volakas, an area of the inland of Tinos scattered with granite boulders that give the landscape a unique lunar character. By attempting an experiential mapping of the Cycladic landscapes, they create a network of proximity and affinity between themselves, the viewers and the present moment.
The project is based on the methodology of the research workshop Project Volax: Towards the Search for Soil (Geopoetics group, Tinos 2021), which explores the Cycladic landscape as a mode of existence, ontological process and practice of “being” and examines the ways in which we see, project and manifest our collective dreaming.
The performance is structured around a large-scale video installation based on the visual material of the on-site research. The height projections simulate the Tinian geological landscape with the neutral space of the KET and reproduce the archetypal time of the Cyclades as a field of pure experience and open awareness. Within this context and in interplay and reflection with it, the artists perform a living action and invite the audience to respond embodiedly, tracing their own inner path. In a hybrid “in-between” between digital and physical space, internal and external landscapes are woven into a multimedia narrative, creating an environment of immersion towards a collective Self.
Credits:
Research, concept, dramaturgy: Anna Tzakou
Video installation / Visual curator: Sofia Simaki
Music / Sound design: Thalia Ioannidou
Live performance: Despina Hadjipavlidou, Anna Tzakou
Lights: Melina Mascha
Assistant director: Konstantina Kontomanoli
Poster design: George Noukakis
Contact: Evangelia Skrobola
Research project “Project Volax: Towards Soil Search”
Concept, research, guidance: Anna Tzakou
Performers: Despina Hadjipavlidou, Anna Apergi, Anna Tzakou
Relational art / community research: rosanayaris (Rosana Sánchez & Aris Spentsas)
Cinematography: Christina Phoebe
Organization & production: ArtForm Culture Platform (Urban Non-Profit).
With the financial support of the Ministry of Culture & Sports.
* Limited number of spectators – reservations required:
www.more.com/theater/volax/earth-and-sky-and-me & 213 00 40 496
Anna Tzakou is a performer, director and practice-based researcher. She studied theatre in Thessaloniki and contemporary performance techniques in the US (Naropa University, Boulder, CO). In 2017, she obtained a PhD in performance practice (PhD in performance practice) with the title: Geopoetics, a theatrical methodology of mindfulness for outdoor space at the University of Exeter (UK). She has worked on theatre productions and performances at the Athens Festival, the Athens House of Arts and Letters, the Athens Biennale and the Cavafy Archive, Onassis Foundation. In 2012, she founded the Geopoetics group in which she directs topographical performances in urban and natural landscapes – in Aegina, Nisyros, Syros, Tinos or Athens (Heridanos Potamos, Syntagma Square, Lycabettus Hill, Neapolis Exarchiaeia), Thessaloniki (Yeni Mosque), Cyprus (Akamas). The group has been commissioned by the Experimental Stage of the National Theatre, the Paphos Cultural Capital 2017, the Athens Festival and Dimitria. Anna has published research papers in the US, UK and Greece and has taught at Exeter (UK), Fontys (NL) and DAI (NL). Since 2019, she teaches directing, acting and performance at the Department of Performing and Digital Arts at the University of Peloponnese.