PARTICIPATION OF THE DEPT. OF PERFORMING AND DIGITAL ARTS AT PQ2023
Department of Performing and Digital Arts, University of the Peloponnese (UOP) participates at the Rethinking Cities: Performing Places and Stories of Resilience of PQ 2023 with two undergraduate student-oriented projects conceived and curated by Athena Stourna (and collaborators) and Bill Psarras; two Faculty Members of DPDA, as part of their academic/artistic courses during 2022-2023 academic year.
- Athina Stourna, Assistant Professor (Nafplion Blues: Prison Stories)
- Bill Psarras, Assistant Professor (Transient Luminous Events)
GREECE AT PQ 2023
GREEK STUDENT EXHIBITION AT PQ2023
The Greek student exhibition reflects multiple locations and agents through a diverse interdisciplinary perspective (4 cities, 10 participating departments). It highlights urban space as a shared performance space, rethinking cities as living archives of experiences and events, inspiration for artistic expression, public intervention and rich sources of local knowledge.
This entry is expansive in scale, scope and design focus, the result of a diligent and imaginative response to the open call for Greek student participation and the formulated theme: Rethinking Cities: Performing Places and Stories of Resilience. The rich and varied material offered is indicative of the many different pedagogical approaches to the study of scenography, ranging from architectural design and the visual arts, to theatre and performance art, as well as digital and cinematic approaches, and to sum up this panoramic perspective, it largely reflects an interdisciplinary and expanded philosophy and practice of scenography. Within this context, the exhibition aims to draw a performative mapping of the four historic cities in which the participating schools are based, which will provide a general spatial, narrative and dramaturgical framework.
With their distinct multiple layers and contesting histories, the cities emerge in their successive transformations. In the south of Greece is Nafplio with its neoclassical architecture; in the centre is Athens, an ancient palimpsest city in constant transformation and flux; to the north is multicultural Thessaloniki; and further west is Florina, a border city of rich contrasts. The performative use of space is equally important in the overall design of the outdoor exhibition space, the Tent Stage. This lightweight, assembled, polymorphic metal structure has been designed to act as an ‘umbrella’ – literally and metaphorically – housing various exhibits and performative actions. Each school will present their artwork (including live performance and/or video), using the tent structure and its surroundings in any performative way they can imagine. Both the theme and the design concept privilege local knowledge, the use of public space as performance space, flexible staging and a collaborative ethos, all of which we believe will be crucial to the sustainable future of the performing arts and scenography/performance design.
Transient Luminous Events 