Teaser from Performative encounters at Hyle (Georgia Sagri)
Curated By Lydia Antoniou and George Bekirakis
Dichotomy - Elissavet Sfyri | Sijmen says - Despina Charitonidi
Dichotomy is a sound sculptural performance. The first presentation of the project took place at the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva (MAMCO) in May 2018 (TO CAMP).
The first part took place at the museum's emergency exit, with the breaking of dishes from the fourth floor on the steps of the perforated metal staircase. The debris penetrated the floors creating different levels of sound, which ended up in a ‘pool’ filled with water, lit with LEDs - depicting the Greek islands and the Aegean. The second part included a costume made of broken pieces of dishes that I wore, creating sounds through the rhythmic movement of the body.
The concept of breaking dishes corresponds to the wearing of the self in a metaphorical sense. A plate is a tool for the parent to control a child's alimony. Apart from the main goal of development, growing up and the emotional meaning of care, culture, manners, customs, origin, social status, messages are conveyed through food. The image of a plate falling and shattering can depict a political fallout, a change of status, a metaphor for a way of life, even migration. What does it mean to break or break a plate, the container in which food is served? What does it mean to leave your family home or your country? What does it mean to make a choice?
In this piece, I explore the cultural heritage that embodies us. My goal is to research culture and how it evolves when we move to other lands. At the same time, the viewer participates in the observation of rage, for the desperate situation of the people, who crumble their own dishes, expressing a rupture with their relation to them and what they mean, or crushing them violently by losing contact with the containers of focal food, interrupting their continuity in a place, a situation, see war, invasion, terrorism.
Through this piece I try to reflect the turbulent history of Greece as well as my personal nostalgia for the country I grew up in. Fighting against the economic crisis and political problems, as Greece is different from the country I remember from my childhood and this longing corresponds to my personal journey, as well as the life journeys of many people.
