Nothing to do with Dionysos, 2013, 3' 40'', Athens, Greece.

In collaboration with Zissis Kotionis. 

Statement:
Nothing to do with Dionysos (2013) documents a public art event that took place at Plato's Academy, an archeological site and park located in a degraded multicultural area of Athens. It was the former site of Plato's school and sanctuary of Dionysus. Today, this partly excavated park functions as a place of memory and a leisure point for the "others" of the citythe migrant population. The event documented in the video was created in response to the current critical situation of the city of Athens, and to celebrate autumn and the vine harvest.
The temporary installation suggested a mnemonic reference to the ancient theater's structure. It consisted of a wine press for the orchestra, an open place with microphones for the skene, and an auditorium constructed of parallel rows of straw bales. The performance involved vine stepping and rhythmic public reading. Dionysus is considered to be the god of wine and represents the origins of tragedy. He has also been interpreted as the god of the other, especially appropriate for this location.

Credits
1. Event
Production: National Museum of Contemporary Art, Municipality of Athens, Hellenic Ministry of Culture
Grapes' Sponsor: Aggelos Rouvalis and Asprolithi Wine
Dramaturgy: Isabella Martzopoulou, Stergios Barres
Texts by: Dioskorides, Ossip Mandelstam, Anacreon, Homer, Friedrich Hölderlin, Marina Tsvetaeva, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Archilochos, Pier-Paolo Pasolini, Antonio Negri, Emily Dickinson, Magical Papyri
Performers: Stergios Barres, Yorgos Chantzis, Phoebe Giannisi, Yannis Grigoriadis, Orestis Davias, Katerina Iliopoulou, Nadia Kalara, Zissis Kotionis, Panos Kouros, Konstantinos Matsoukas, Iordanis Papadopoulos, Nana Sachini, Eleni Tzirtzilaki, Daphne Vitali, Adonis Volanakis
Percussions: Petros Kourtis and the ensemble Drumvoice
Cooking performance: Eleni Psychouli, Anna Maroulaki
2. Film:
Camera: Yanis Isidorou
Montage: Betty Gkoudani
Sound Design: Nikos Vamvakas
Studio Recording and Sound Procession: Lab of Environmental Communication and Audiovisual Representation (LECAD), University of Thessaly, Greece
Inside the video (besides parts of the public performance) we hear Fragments of the Homeric Hymn to Dionysos in ancient Greek
Voice: Phoebe Giannisi
Subtitles Translation for the Hymn: Hugh G. Evelyn-White (from Perseus Project)
Other Credits: Copyright For the Image of Dionysos Cup (Exekias-Schale, Dionysos Inv. 8729): Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, München

Special thanks to:
Anna Kafetsi, Director of the National Museum for Contemporary Art
Manolis K. for the boat people frames
Ifigeneia Charatsi for her technical support
Daphne Vitali for her curatorial support