The Photos!!!

Windows In Paris!

There are some  problems with the photos, they can't be uploaded ... Coming soon

Last weekend I visited Paris. Everything was Christmasy and really magical. But the most impressive of all was the windows at the big shopping centers. These are just some still photos from the windows who can't in anyway describe the reality. Each window had another theme and it's purpose could be either highlighting a cloth or just decorative. All these, up to now sound really regular. The irregular element of these is that every single one of those was mechanically supported so the model-dolls or the decorative dolls were all mechanically moving puppets who would walk, dance, run or whatever. Additionally each one of the windows was accompanied by music or sounds specifically selected for the theme that the window would represent.

Those windows, as they informed have an audience. People go there just to see as if they would go to an art gallery or a performance. Then they discuss and write critiques in the papers and the magazines and if something is considered to be inappropriate - for example- the audience can demand to be changed. These made me return to all these thoughts of mine about the connections between theatre and installation. Should we add marketing somewhere near those as well? What do they have in common and what not, because, after all the do use the same materials and the same means of communication. A simple window can be considered as a set and these windows now can be considered as installations maybe.Is the difference between those that they serve a different purpose, that they are just decorative, they try to promote a product by impressing their ''audience''? Yes maybe, but I think that lots of installations in galleries and lots of plays have exactly the same characteristics and the only aspect that might change is that the product is the artist. 

But anyway... they were just windows... Marry Christmas!

About Station House Opera's Mind Out

The Station House Opera is a company founded in 1980. Their work varies and it could be characterized as theatre and site-specific performance at the same time.

Last Thursday, for the first time, I had the chance to finally attend to one of their plays,called Mind Out at the Battersea Arts Center, London and I am really glad to finally say that I went to the theatre to see something and I totally loved it. 

The play was a five character constant game that made you think how it could be if you did not have a mind of your own, but someone else always telling you what to do and what you want to do.

In an extremely "clean" set -at the begging at least-you could see clearly the separation of the body, the mind and the inner thought of each performer/character. But what started as a nice game, as the time went by it started transforming to a "spooky" mess were the joy and the safety would gradually disappear to give their place to an unsafe feeling, a mess and sometimes even fear. Why? Because when you feel like somebody else controls you, like somebody else gives you orders you might feel safe or unsafe depending on your character. But even if that starts to break and everything around you is uncertain and you have no idea who is controlling who and what, this is nothing. And nothing causes fear. To me at least.

All these were presented in the simplest way. With a set that passed from the same stages as the characters. From clean and tidy to messy and dirty. With costumes that were absolutely ordinary but successfully chosen for each one of the characters. And three musicians that appear from nowhere that were playing with your temper in you didn't know if you wanted to laugh with them or just start shouting at them to stop the music!

So simple,so full of meaning, so full of tense. Just like that! :)

i need to blog...

What happens when your thoughts are like this fjgueyqgfMSAXCIREUHUIHDHVHhjkhuhufhiuhvcjkjdivjiuhre30892t758ygfdjkn cmvhf3u4t8ruhmxufhjdoiuxj48y7t3yqp3uwn3i5cyntughvbmpi30c98u5rfekdscii5huihtc faxmdgruhf uhebfhbihuch4iwq;epokf and  you feel the need to blog? I suppose you just do it and you come back after two days to explain what you wanted to say...

About DV8's To be straight with you...

A week ago I went to see DV8's ''To be straight with you'' and after that I was thinking a lot... they describe their work as ''a poetic but unflinching exploration of tolerance, intolerance, religion and sexuality ...''. And indeed that was their work about. I was fascinated from the start. The multi-ethnic cast was really interested, the dancers were all great and their movements were so polished, the set and the projections (although based in a 90's graphic aesthetics) astonished me, the music was loud and the play was flowing and I got to be informed about the sufferings of the homosexual community around the world in an entertaining way... for the first thirty minutes. What changed after that? I got over the enthusiasm and I started thinking. Because the thing is that, if I wanted to see well trained dancers doing difficult staff,I could go to the circus. If I wanted to see a magnificent high-tech set design, I could go to Disneyland. If I wanted to feel the bit of loud music, I could go to a club and if I wanted to be informed about homosexuality, I could (and should) read and research about this. By these I don't imply that this was not a nice way to achieve all these at once but... at some point it made me feel that this was not theatre. It felt like those people wanted to say and share some information and they found a pleasing way to present them to an audience and that way they came up with, affected the structure of it. I was thinking at some points that they had a story and they were thinking " ok, how can we present this one now?" and something like this leads to the loss of meaning and point. What if someone does have an important matter to deal with and a great budget to help him make it happen, if in the end the result is a "well dressed" informative show? Is this the meaning of creating plays?

I do think that whenever we have all the means to do something we can easily loose control of what we want to communicate and  even if our subject is of great importance, if we just make a show about it's not important any more. (but the audience simply loves it...) 

The moving Castle + Mirror in a Mirror

What is this project 1 about after all?What was i working for for the past 3 weeks?For me it is a reality, an every day reality of people including me. I got very interested in this when I realized that every day, whenever I have to go back home or to the university, I follow the same paths. Up to now,I follow paths without noticing what is next to me, and I really believe that I am not the only one who does this... I only notice the space around when I think that I am so into this routine that I have stopped observing the world around me. This made me think what would happen if I start working somewhere and stay in this job for years. Stop taking advantage of the fact that I am still young and even if I want it or not, every year finds me in another place and gives me the chance to create my new paths, my new routine. What is going on with all those busy people that we see everyday running into the big public buildings as they go to work. Do they see?Do they notice who else is with them in the elevators when they go up or down? How the time goes by for them? Don't they fell sometimes trapped in time and space by following this routine that they choose because they wanted to but they can't change it easily... because let's be honest this happens or will happen to all of us because all of us have to work and act in this way if we want to survive in the big or small cities of the world. Up and down every day. My moving castle transformed into an elevator. Up and down. The Never ending story gave its place to Mirror in a Mirror. Up and down for ten days in an elevator. One actor and many people going to their jobs using the elevator. Are they going to see? Are they going to react? Maybe some day we will get to know...