Helping the revolution, supporting the creation of the Greek state: The unknown stories of 1821 · Observatory 1821

Title

Helping the revolution, supporting the creation of the Greek state: The unknown stories of 1821

Type specialization

The main objective of the project is to highlight some of the unknown to the general public stories of the 1821 Greek Revolution, which played an important role in the establishment of the Greek state. Those stories concern the preparation of the great struggle and the ‘battles” on an organizational and theoretical level that took place in parallel with the historical struggles which are well known to all Greeks. Special importance will also be given to the promotion of love and self-sacrifice for the homeland of those Greeks, as nowadays this concept has almost disappeared. The authoring of the project is realized through the use of evidence from the PhD dissertations of Nikolaos Rotzokos and Ioannis Kokkonas. In order to cope with the needs of the project, a contemporary digital visual environment will be created, based on virtual reality and projection mapping technologies. The theatrical text will be adapted in the form of a multi-script in order to be integrated in the digital structure of the project and the actors will be properly trained through special seminars and custom rehearsals. The existing material from the archives will be used, such as engravings, paintings and other everyday elements of the time, which will feed the virtual environment that will complement the narration and will converse with the actors. The actors and musicians who will coexist with this digital canvas, sometimes being part of the digital space, sometimes interacting with it dynamically and sometimes talking to it through kinesiology and narration, will take the viewers on a journey to history through archives and images as seen by the artists of the time. Manthos Santorineos, new media artist, and Mania Papadimitriou, actor and director, collaborate for the creation of the project. The performance will be presented to the Greek Art Theatre Karolos Koun.

(Edited description from organiser’s website)