THE ANTIGONE PROJECT: THE SILENCE OF EURYDICE
(here the picture of a work by Eser Kececi)
(“Formation” : Eser Keçeci – Ceramist
Photo: courtesy Eser Keçeci)
Antigone is not allowed to bury her brother
Eurydice hears of the death of her son
Fragments from Sophocles’ play are being performed as part of a research project on either side of the buffer zone - outdoors and indoors – at sunrise, midday and sunset in a bi-communal inter-arts project organized by Echo-Arts, Nicosia.
You are invited to the final Performance/ Installation/ Exhibition at: theARTspace, 31.Pigmalionos Str., 1010 Old-Nicosia. 7.54 p.m. (sunset) on Saturday 29th May.
With the kind permission of the artists of the building, the performance will take place on three floors. It will begin with an introduction to the project in the courtyard of the ground floor at 7.54 p.m. (sunset) and it will continue on the roof - first floor - and ground floor. The audience are free to move between the three spaces, and to create their own links between the material presented.
The event will last about an hour. Please join us at the end for a discussion and drink in the courtyard on the ground floor, if you’re able to.
RSVP echo-arts@cytanet.com.cy
Thanks
We are indebted to the United Nations Committee on Missing Persons for their thoughts, experience and knowledge: Christophe Girod and other UNCMP committee members, and their assistants Mr Kallis and Mr Umar, as well as the psychologists. We are also indebted to Father Paraskevas (Director of the Office of the Bishop of Kykkos and Tilyrias ) and Usten Imsel (Director of Funeral Services, Turkish Municipality of Nicosia). There are many other persons including Ruth Keshishian who have helped us with their support, encouragement and knowledge way beyond the call of duty.
In particular we would like to thank the relatives of missing persons who have consented to meet with us.
Further information
The Silence of Eurydice is a small scale pilot project which aims to explore ways in which creative artists can contribute to a growth in understanding between peoples of different faiths and cultures.
It is part of an ongoing investigation with Echo-arts into the notion of a ‘new aesthetic’ for creating performance in a conflict zone - this notion being something that came up amongst creative artists in a European Off Network Conference in Vienna 2008.
It is what we call a practice as research project, and so has very specific points of concern. Therefore, the performances within it are intended to be investigations, rather than commercial productions.
i. The content we are looking at is based on fragments of text related to the character of Eurydice who appears briefly at the end of Sophocles’s ‘Antigone’, and is unable to speak on hearing news of the death of her son.
ii. The processes for creating performance are a continuation of methods that we’ve been evolving since we first started working together in 2003.
iii. And the performances arising within the project will hopefully involve multilingual text (Greek, Turkish and English), perhaps written or projected, and presented as a series of micro performances spread over three weeks in outdoor sites and also in an indoor space.
Form
The form of the performances is based on the idea of a triptych - this idea echoing Eurydice’s appearance in the play: first outside the palace, then her disappearance inside the palace, and then her reappearance outside again, as a dead body. The micro performances in the first and second ‘panels’ of the triptych will be presented in outdoor sites on either side of the buffer zone, and in the buffer zone itself. The
central third panel of the triptych will be presented indoors as a performance/installation/exhibition.
Creative Artists
The creative artists involved include Arianna Economou (Director, choreographer, dancer, Echo-Arts), Horst Weierstall (visual artist/The Art Space) Peter Hulton (video artist/documenter, Arts Archives), Ilker Kaptanoglu (musician/composer), Dorinda Hulton, (Director/dramaturg), Eser Keçeci (ceramicist), Chrisanthy Christoforou (video artist) and Aggela Chimona (video artist).
Video Documentation
The micro performances will include solo performances by Arianna Economou representing the figure of Eurydice. As a contemporary counterpoint, in the indoor performance, we hope to include video documentation of first hand testimony by individuals from both sides of the divide who have some direct experience of the missing persons’ issue.
Dorinda Hulton, May 2010