The Maids

 

The Maids (French: Les Bonnes) is a play by the French dramatist Jean Genet.

 

Solange and Claire are two housemaids who construct elaborate sadomasochistic rituals when their mistress (Madame) is away. The focus of their role-playing is the murder of Madame and they take turns portraying both sides of the power divide. Their deliberate pace and devotion to detail guarantees that they always fail to actualize their fantasies by ceremoniously "killing" Madame at the ritual's denouement.

Photos are from a Greek Adaptation of the play

ΣΥΝΤΕΛΕΣΤΕΣ:

Μετάφραση: Ερρίκος Μπελιές

Σκηνοθεσία: Έφη Μουρίκη

Σκηνικά- Κοστούμια: Τόλης Τατόλας

Φωτισμοί: Lato B

Βοηθός σκηνοθέτη: Νίκη Αγγελάκη

 

ΠΑΙΖΟΥΝ:

Κατερίνα Παπουτσάκη, Έφη Μουρίκη, Μάρα Μοτάκη

O or a fragment

Nikos Sepetzoglou : …O… (or a fragment)

"There is, with no doubt, something paradox in the idea of a logic whose conditions consist of scraps and fragments, traces that were left out of psychological or historic procedures, and sterilized, as traces, of necessity."   Claude Levi-Strauss, 1977.

 

Using the fragment “O” as an axis and a start, Nikos Sepetzoglou manages and introduces in his first solo exhibition the “fragmented” total of his recent work. The result is paintings on wood together with the use of axe, as well as objects – sculptures out of stitched wooden flakes.

From the creative thought – act, to the violent relocation, the materialistic and comprehensive substance of “figure” is reflected to the work as a continuous event, as a concluded choice, need and desire.

The space, the image and the object are being converted into conceptual tools. They are being composed, decomposed and transformed during the procedure of search of form, content and correlation of the artist with the everyday’s reality. The works, often of undefined dimensions because of their fragmented character, transform the grid of a singe installation, in an attempt to restructure and readminstrate the material.

Small Paintings 2011

“Small Paintings” by Zoumboulakis Galleries

 

For two weeks the guests of the gallery had the opportunity-despite the crisis-to admire, acquire or/and offer works of artists-colleagues.

King Elephant

 

King Elephant _at_ Bios

King Elephant recently released his homonymous solo album. These photos and video are from the presentation of the album at Bios.Athens

 

Who is King Elephant?

Drumming, mixing, producing and a big philosophical nothing. No money no honey, etc … member of Baby Guru.

 

He started music lessons on the accordion at age 5. At 8 he switched to the saxophone; piano and guitar followed, until he found his place behind the drums at 16.

In 2004 he started working on “homemade” recordings and productions until he decided to study sound engineering.

 

At the end of 2009 with two childhood friends they formed Baby Guru and in March 2011 they released their debut album.

 

A few words about his Album

Inner Ear invites you to an exotic musical journey through the exciting jungle of King Elephant. One of the three members of Baby Guru, who introduced himself to us in their recent gigs as the quiet force behind the drums, now comes with his first solo album, to confirm that creation and in his case, music is the best form of self-psychoanalysis.

 

At a time of his life when everything went wrong, King Elephant found refuge in his basement studio and like a true nocturnal devoted all his late night energy into a game with sounds and instruments (piano, saxophone, percussion), recording himself and creating infinite samples. Obi Serotone (Baby Guru) assisted on vocals and then began the adventure of editing.

 

 

Cutting and sewing countless samples, King Elephant began to build tracks, always with percussion as the dominant element.

 

The result is a colorful journey to sound, like a kaleidoscope of changing forms, which stimulates the senses and excites the imagination. Primal sounds and African drums, jazzy moods, meditation samples, melancholic melodies and psychedelic vocals co-exist in the kingdom of “King Elephant”.

 

 

The album “King Elephant” is released from Inner Ear in limited edition vinyl including cd.

[ more about the LP ]

 

More links about King Elephant: [ MySpaceLink ] [ SoundCloudLink ]

The American - Ο Αμερικάνος

Ithikon Akmeotaton theatre company, honoring the 100th death anniversary of Alexandros Papadiamantis, this year presents afresh the play “THE AMERICAN”.

A theatrical adaptation of the homonymous classic novel by Alexandros Papadiamandis that involves an actor and a musician reminds us the dimensions that human solitude can form as well as the “uncured” suspicion over against whatever unknown or the seemingly strange. The hero is “a stranger in his own world”. However he is neither a stranger nor an American.

He is a Greek migrant who following 25 years of absence returns back to his island but no one recognizes him. He wonders on his own alongside the port, the island’s alleys and faces his family house ruins. Only love is what he hopes for. “The American” could easily be the story of an immigrant, here, in Greece, today.

In the performance Thanasis Sarantos, as the narrator, performs a persona of Papadiamantis, looks curiously at the action and “shifts” into all the persons he narrates, with the contribution of the music and the sounds by the composer Lampros Pigounis.

A dialogue of Papadiamandis’exceptional writing with live music. The universe of ambient sounds which are produced by a different use of piano suites with all the variety, the power and the richness of the classic novel’s incredible language.

[ source ]

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Direction - Performance - Lights: Thanasis Sarantos

Music Composer: Lampros Pigounis

Musician on Stage: Lampros Pigounis

Stage Design Supervisor: Lina Motsiou

Assistant Director: Dimitris Kerestentzis

Photos: Marilena Stafylidou, Takis Vekopoulos

Sex in-and-with Art

 

σΕΞΑΡΣΗ (in Greek)

Η «σΕξαρση» είναι μία ομαδική έκθεση με θέμα την σχέση -ένωση ή διαχωρισμό- και των δύο γεννητικών οργάνων -πέους κι αιδοίου- στις εικαστικές τέχνες. Η έκθεση περιλαμβάνει 45 έργα από αντίστοιχο αριθμό διεθνών καλλιτεχνών σε διάφορες μορφές – όπως βίντεο, γλυπτική, εγκαταστάσεις, ζωγραφική, μικτή τεχνική και φωτογραφία.

 

Το θέμα που επέλεξε ο κ. Μεγακλής Ρογκάκος είναι σκοπίμως τολμηρό. Η «σΕξαρση» προέκυψε ως αντίδραση στην σιωπηρώς συνεχιζόμενη λογοκρισία της παρουσίασης των γεννητικών οργάνων στις εικαστικές τέχνες του 21ου αιώνα. Η έκθεση εορτάζει ένα μεγάλο εύρος στυλ με τα οποία κατάλληλοι εικαστικοί αναπαριστούν το πέος και το αιδοίο με πρωτόγνωρη αμεσότητα και διαφάνεια. Στόχος είναι να αποδειχθεί ότι η εικαστική αναπαράσταση πέους κι αιδοίου μπορεί να είναι επιβραβευτική γενικά για το φιλότεχνο κοινό.

Τα εκθέματα σκοπεύουν να γεννήσουν στους θεατές ποικίλα συναισθήματα – όπως αμηχανία, βεβήλωση, γέλιο, διαστροφή, ευθυμία, ζήλια, ηδονή, θάρρος, ίντριγκα, κατάπτωση, λαγνεία, μαζοχισμό, ντροπή, ξενογαμία, οικειότητα, πόθο, ρομαντισμό, σαδισμό, τύψεις, υστερία, φιληδονία, χυδαιότητα, ψάξιμο και ωραιότητα.

Prometheus Landscape II

 

Eleos & Fobos. Fear and compassion. The two main emotions which Greek tragedy attempts to convey. By confronting its audience with tragic heroes subjected to abominable suffering, the tragedy touches the innermost part of the viewer's psyche, binding his fate to that of the hero and thereby purifying him of the poisons of the body.

 

In his latest production, Jan Fabre once again goes in search of this tragic dimension. The adventures of Prometheus, as chronicled by the oldest tragic poet Aeschylus, represent the underlying current which flows through this work.

 

 

Prometheus was a mythological rebel without a cause. He revolted against Zeus, the ruler of the gods, stole fire from heaven and gave it to the inhabitants of earth. The fire-bringer, Prometheus is, for Fabre, a standard bearer of proud independence.       [ more info ]

The Other Globalisation

 

"Why do you do what you’re doing?"

For three years the photographer Katharina Mouratidi portrayed activists of the Global Justice Movement from 43 countries: farmers and workers, students, reindeer-breeders, native and indigenous people, scientists, Christians, atheists, citizens and revolutionaries. She asked all of them, including many internationally recognized, prominent personalities - like Peace Nobel Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchú and Nobel Prize Laureate for Economics Joseph Stiglitz - the same question:"Why do you do what you’re doing?"

 

In answering this question, the interviewed related a great deal about their own stories and personal motives for their engagement.

The answers Mouratidi collected are as exceptional as they are varied - spectacular and normal, aggressive, loving, full of longing, idealism and hope, but also moving, alarming, and thought-provoking.

Considered together, they have only one thing in common: the certainty that, for the survival of humanity and our planet, a change in consciousness - leading to another globalisation from which all people profit, as well as to a sustainable relationship with the environment - is absolutely indispensable.

 

This work has been traveling internationally since September 2005. [ more info ] . Photos are from the Athens' exhibition at Goethe Institute.

On The Path Of Good Intentions

Katerina Mertzani is presenting her 10th solo exhibition at ABOUT: titled “On the path of good intentions”.

The artist is presenting works on illustrated paper worked with glitter paint and gold dust, using collage from news photographs.

The concept behind these works is both imperceptible and suggestive. Are they images with purely artistic intention or skeptical attempts to euphemize the often bitter and prosaic reality we are surrounded by?

Greece 2012

2012 Is Here! Happy New Year Greece!

People (Will Be) Saying NO but doing YES

At least Parthenon is still there...