Choreographing routine’s meditative beauty in a long-form theatrical piece

Presented as part of the Freespace Dance 2024 programme of cutting-edge work exploring concepts of time and space, INSIDE and BACKSIDE by acclaimed Greek avant-garde artist and choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou, documents a performance that took place in Athens in 2011, and offers a reflective intersection of physical, filmed and meditative space.

The theatrical installation includes two videos – INSIDE, a six-hour, unedited documentation of the live performance, and BACKSIDE, a behind-the-scenes perspective of the live action as the original performance was taking place.

INSIDE  

Framed like a large painting, INSIDE invites you to watch the action as if gazing at a landscape where time feels extended and movement slowly ebbs and flows. Through multiplied actions, and layers of spaces and rooms – both visible and invisible – people appear and disappear, scenes change almost imperceptibly, and gestures repeat like waves on a beach.

BACKSIDE

Filmed and edited by Papaioannou, BACKSIDE reveals some of the hidden magic of the original work from the perspective of the creator-director. Installed back-to-back with INSIDE, it offers a unique behind-the-scenes look.

About the original live performance of INSIDE 

For the original live performance of INSIDE, Dimitris Papaioannou
created a room on stage in which thirty performers repeated simple movements depicting the daily routines of returning home, in countless combinations and superimpositions. Open to the public for six hours each day, the production treated the theatre space as an exhibition space and the work as an exhibit, with the stage action beginning before the audience entered the theatre and continuing after the last visitor had left.

About the video installation at The Box 
As a visitor, you are free to stay as long as you like, sit wherever you like, and exit and re-enter as often as you like. Feel free to relax, and make yourself comfortable. Please keep your phone silent, your voices low, and move gently so that everyone can enjoy the atmosphere.