The white canvas stretches in front of the painter awaiting his creation. In the unpredictable self-discovery of creation, his subconscious capriciously manifests. The archetypal concerns that haunt the painter are unleashed in the dark space of memory and creation, producing a nightmare.

The demons of the nightmare are the three dancers White, Red, and Black, who personify aspects of the painter: the feminine, the seeker and the narcissist. Un- conscious images find room to project themselves as creation flows forth – setting off conflicts that leave the painter an invisible spectator. The demons interact between Chaos and Eros, as a flock of bodies react to the drama that unfolds.

White, Red, and Black were once people the painter close to the painter, but on the canvas only their essence remains in their absence. From absolute forms, they transform and disintegrate through their contact and the passage of time. In a process of abstraction and creation, they become distorted memories.

Atitlon, Figure Νo 3 is a figurative allegory of the universal imperative for man to create through the body. The memory embedded in the body dooms it always to look back. In the work, the dancers’ paths, their points of contact and conflict, are documented and mapped on the canvas in color through the traces they leave behind. Physical contacts and interventions leave their mark as remembrance of past events in the bodies themselves.

Atitlon, Figure Νo 3 is a work that remains in space and in the bodies as a re- minder that their metamorphosis is inevitable. They are memorialized in the final image of the composition that the painter eventually created. His experiences, ideas, and premises unconsciously overflow on the blank canvas as inscrutable integral forms – an incomprehensible chaos that, like nature itself, creates order. In the enduring pull between order and chaos, between conventional rules and the revolutionary tendencies towards abstraction, the painter accepts that chaos is his order, and his order is chaos.

“... At this point I must confess that when I close my eyes, I see the colors in a torrent painted by Iris. Red runs between black and white to bring them to life. It is a torrent of celebration and silent death that destroys and recreates. The colors are not mine. They are fierce dogs and mythical creatures that feed on my every thought to be faithful to me. They are allies who demand what they give me and speak to me with truth ... “

The Painter

Credits

Concept / Visual Space / Choreography:
Antonia Economou

Original music:
Constantine Skourlis

Music:
Vivaldi, “Pieta: Sacred Works (for alto)”

Assistant Choreographer / Production Assistant:
Xenia Tabourlou

Assistant Choreographer / Dramaturgical Advisor:
Iraklis Kotsarinis

Artistic Direction: Antonia Economou

Material elaborated, devised and performed by:
White | Xenia Stathouli
Red | Pavlos Lykoudis
Black | Periklis Skordilis
Eros | Chris Radanov Chaos | Nikos Tsolis

Birds:
Iro-Irene Daskalaki
Stella Pagiati
Spyros Christakis
Eleni (Elina) Demirtizoglou
Myrto Stolidi
Margarita Tontisaki
Danae Morfoniou
Chrysanthi Fytiza
Dimitris Tsikouras
Orestes Alexiadis
Iris Katraki
Petrina Giannakou
Konstantinos Katsoudas
Xenia Tabourlou

Costumes:
Elissavet Zacharaki

Make up:
Achilleas Haritos

Stage design and execution:
Giannis Theodorakis

Stage technicians:
Giorgos Papazoglou, Epaminontas Kitsios

Design:
Jason Faulter

Director of photography:
Andrianos Efthymiadis

Cinematography:
John Nelson Eskioglou

Light design:
Antonia Economou
John Nelson Eskioglou

Sound engineer:
Nick Kazazis

PR and Communications:
Aglaia Pagona

Rehearsal space:
Project 8