🔵 🔴 🟡 Course description

The course examines the history of performance in Greece. Chronologically, the historical retrospective extends from the late 1960s to the present day, focuses on visual creation and includes a performance with a live presence of actions in front of an audience or a video performance recorded by visual or acoustic means. We focus in particular on the functions of the body, the relationship with space, communication with the audience, as well as the hybrid character of performance as a genre that combines various arts. In the course, performance in Greece is also integrated into a political and social context with an emphasis on its anti-systemic functions during the period of dictatorship and the post-dictatorship. Greek works are correlated with developments in the field of art internationally, in order to assess their importance. Works by important artists such as Leda Papakonstantinou, Maria Karavela, Theodoros, Dimitris Alithinos, Thanasis Chondros and Alexandra Katsiani and younger ones such as Georgia Sagri, Angeliki Avgitidou, Mary Zygouri are studied.

After the successful completion of the course, the student: 

• gets to know the work of the most important Greek performance artists from the end of 1960 until today

• knows the general context of the history of art of the specific period in Greece in relation to abroad

• can understand the place of the performance in the social and political context of the time of its presentation

• is able to discuss and apply the components of performance to artistic creation

🔵 🔴 🟡 Theory (2 hours)

1. Introduction I: Historical and socio-cultural context of the era, 60s-70s

2. Introduction II: Definition of performance + translation issues + "other spaces" outside visual arts (theatre, dance, music)

3. Introduction III: The origins of performance art + the use of objects in performance

4. Minimalist and Conceptual Art

5. Performances in the dictatorship and post-dictatorship: issues of national identity 

6. Political Activism and Performance for the History of Place I : Dimitris Alithinos 

7. Political Activism and Performance for the History of Place II : Maria Karavela

8. Political Activism and Performance for the History of Place III : Georgia Sagri, Political Commentary in Art Today 

9. Feminist art, diversity, identity, the sacred and mystagogy : Leda Papakonstantinou & Aspa Stasinopoulou 

10. Private – public spaces: galleries, foreign institutes, discussions about a museum of contemporary art (Theodoros)

11. Student performance based on the work of Greek artists I

12. Student performance based on the work of Greek artists II

13. Institutional criticism, historicization of performance, the importance of archives: Per Art Archives (Evangelia Basdeki & Margarita Kataga) cultural institution for the recording of performance in Greece, Thessaloniki Performance Festival

🔵 🔴 🟡 Workshop (1 hour)

1. A series of individual and group activities and projects, which gradually introduce the student to the art of performance according to the theme of each lesson. 

Review language: Greek

🔵 🔴 🟡 Evaluation method:

• Public presentation (50%)
• Written presentation (50%)
• Oral briefing of the student

• Face-to-face
• Use of PowerPoint and audio-visual examples (13 lectures)
• Support of the learning process through eClass with weekly provision of audiovisual material, links, photos, extra bibliography and related information (exhibitions, cultural institutions, etc.)

https://eclass.uop.gr/courses/PDA167/ 

🔵 🔴 🟡 Course Textbooks [Eudoxus]

• Eleni Saroglou (ed.) (2005) Leda Papakonstantinou, Performance, Film, Video 1969-2004, Athens: Cube Editions
• Nikos Daskalothanasis (2012) The artist as a historical subject from the 19th to the 21st century, Agra Publications
• Angeliki Avgitidou, (2023) Introduction to the Practice of Performance in the Visual Arts, Kallipos e-books.

Extra Bibliography

• Gerogianni Irene, Performance in Greece, 1968-1986, Futura Athens, 2019. 
• Chondrou Danae, Artistic Actions, Futuristic and Dadaist Roots: Happening: Event: Fluxus: Body Art: Aktionen: Performance: Josef Beuys: The Artist's Body: Visual Actions as a Monument, Apopeira, Athens, 2006
• Angeliki Avgitidou and Ifigenia Vamvakidou (eds.), Performance Now V. 1: Performative practices in art and actions in situ, Athens: Ion Publishing Group, 2013. 
• Irene Gerogianni, Christoforos Marinos and Bia Papadopoulou (eds.), Maria Karavela, Athens: AICA Hellas, 2015. 
• Bia Papadopoulou (ed.), The Years of Doubt. The Art of the '70s in Greece, Athens: National Museum of Contemporary Art and futura: 2005. 
• Modern-Postmodern, prakt. syn., Athens: Smili, 1988. 
• Locus Athens (ed.), 7 performances and a discussion, Athens: futura, 2006. 
• Tina Pandi and Stamatis Schizakis (eds.), Dimitris Alithinos, Retrospective, Athens: National Museum of Contemporary Art, 2013.
• Areti Adamopoulou (ed.), The language of the body. Notes on the performance, conference proceedings, School of Fine Arts, University of Ioannina, Ioannina 2014. 
• Fay Zika, Question arts and thoughts work, Philosophical research in contemporary art, Athens: Agra, 2018.