Performance Dates 2021 | International Symposium on Performance 

Concept, Curation, Organisation: Assistant Professor Adonis Volanakis, founder of Blind Date Arts Lab @ CUT | Cyprus University of Technology 

The Department of Fine Arts of The Cyprus University of Technology launches the first International Symposium Performance Dates 2021, focusing  on Performance.

The symposium signals the inauguration of the cross-disciplinary and interartistic  Blind Date Arts Lab @ CUT founded by Dr. Adonis Volanakis. The lab researches the interweaving of visual arts with contemporary dance, experimental theatre, poetry and music, and focuses on community-based social sculpture and contemporary art in the public sphere. It promotes the University’s connection (students, teaching and administrative staff) with the broader public and the artistic community.   

What. Symposium Performance Dates 2021 invites distinguished Cypriot and International artists and theoreticians in a lineup that includes lectures, artist talks as well as discussions with practicing performance artists originating from the visual arts, contemporary dance and experimental theatre, with an interactive discussion with the audience.

As a collective body of performance which includes artists, theoreticians, historians, academics, students, audiences and cultural managers, we are often invited to negotiate and to explain what Performance is. How do we define and understand Performance as a concept and as praxis?  What are the arts we can locate it within, and through which humanities does it engage in a dialogical discourse? How is it connected with communities and the public sphere?

Why? Whilst the last decades have seen a rise in Performance Arts in the Cypriot art scene, one could wonder what needs, themes, tactics, or questions draw the artists in this form of art,  which suggest the reflection of the relationships between body, space and the coexistence with the viewer/collaborator in contemporary art.

Which is the space of Performance? What is audience specificity? Are Performance Arts accessible to the general public? Is it a political act? A protest? An embodied communication? Is it self-referential or critical? What is its positionality today within a society saturated by spectacle and digital imaging? How does site-specificity define the audience's experience? Which platforms are supportive? Finally: What is not Performance?

When and How. On the first day, the Symposium features historian Dr. Irene Gerogianni, theoretician/ artist Dr. Ioli Andreadi and Dr. A. Volanakis who address the basic question “what is Performance Art” followed by a roundtable discussion with members from the arts community raising questions and sharing ideas in an open dialogue with the audience. On the second day, dancer/ choreographer Daphnis Kokkinos and artist Leda Papaconstantinou share their artistic practice through specific works. The theme of the discussion that follows focuses on the relationship between body, identity and the polis (city). The third day features artist/ choreographer Maria Hassabi and artist/ performer Karen Finley sharing their practices. The theme of the discussion that follows focuses on the relationship between body, space and logos (speech, text).

(For) Who. These open togetherings  are seeking  to create a community dialogue within the University in order to create a safespace for reflection amongst artists, students,  teaching and administrative staff and art-curious residents. The Fine Art Department is intending to develop a creative bridging between the Cypriot artistic community  and the  international one. 

Where. CUT | Cyprus University of Technology,  Amphitheatre 1, Tassos Papadopoulos Building, corner of Themidos and Ifigeneias str., Lemesos.

Participants attending all three days of the Symposium, will receive an Attendance Certificate.

Additionally the programme of the Symposium offers specialized seminars and workshops with Dr. I. Gerogianni and Dr. I. Andreadi, open to students and the local artistic community. The participants who will attend these will receive a Participation Certificate.

For information please send email to adonis.volanakis@cut.ac.cy and 25002040.

Programme

Performance Dates 2021  | International Symposium

1st-4th November 2021 at 19:30 EET

CUT | Cyprus University of Technology \ Amphitheatre 1, Tassos Papadopoulos Building, corner of Themidos and Ifigeneias str., Lemesos.

1st  November What is performance? (in Greek) 

Opening | Professor and Fine Art Department Chair Dr. Klitsa Antoniou 

Lectures | Visiting Researchers Dr. Irene Gerogianni, Dr. Ioli Andreadi and Dr. A. Volanakis. 

Round Table: Elena Antoniou, Evie Demetriou,  Marios Ioannou, Andreas Pashias, Elena Agathokleous, Eleana Alexandrou. 

2nd November  Body, Identity and Polis (in Greek) 

Opening |  Associate Professor and Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts Dean Dr. Antonis Danos 

Artists Talks via zoom: Leda Papaconstantinou and Daphnis Kokkinos.  

Discussants: Dr. I. Gerogianni, Georgia Doetzer, Melita Couta, Assistant Professor Nikos Synnos.

Interactive discussion with the audience. 

Parallel morning seminars and afternoon workshops with students and artists. 

3rd November Body, Space and Logos (in English) 

Opening |  Assistant Professor Dr. Gabriel Koureas 

Artists Talks via zoom: Karen Finley and Maria Hassabi. 

Discussants: Dr. I. Andreadi, Lia Haraki, Achim Wieland, Assistant Professor Dr. Yannis Christidis. 

Interactive discussion with the audience.  

Parallel morning seminars and afternoon workshops with students and artists. 

Attendance certification will be given. 

4th November. Afternoon workshops with students and artists.