Image
A nude man carrying another man wearing a black unitard while both hold a large piece of plywood on a white stage.

Primal Matter

Dimitris Papaioannou
Saturday, December 8, 2012 at 8PM
Studio 2

Against the backdrop of economic and social crisis stretching from Greece to the US, Dimitris Papaioannou embarked on an artistic challenge: investigating personal and national identity using the least possible means. The result is Primal Matter, where two bodies on the stage are the starting point for a journey that weighs body and soul to determine what is truly indispensable—what constitutes the essence. To create Primal Matter at EMPAC, Papaioannou and his artistic team erected a custom-made wall with built-in fluorescent light, and created an intricate live audio design using input from contact mics positioned around the set and processed in real-time and sourced to different outputs. 

Papaioannou is an avant-garde stage director, choreographer, and visual artist who has worked across the boundaries of theater, dance, and the visual arts; he drew international acclaim for his direction of the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Main Image: Primal Matter in 2012.

Media

Dates + Tickets

Dance/Theater
Performance
Commission
Primal Matter
Dimitris Papaioannou
Saturday 8
8:00 PM
December 2012

Season

Curator
Production Credits

Commissioned by EMPAC