Love (of Art) in a Time of Crisis – Berlin

Hellenic Foundation for Culture – Berlin invites you and your friends to a performance by Alexandros Plomaritis, inspired by the poem “I Sell Myself Cheap” (2014) by Angelos Theocharis.
Graphics: Stella Pistofidou
Translation of the poem into German: Theo Votsos
Curator: Sofia Eliza Bouratsis

Friday, 30 October 2015
19.00 clock
Hellenic Foundation for Culture, Monbijouplatz 12th

“Is it true that artists perceive truth more intensely? Are their joys deeper, their loves more passionate, their pain and their anger more violent? Or perhaps they know other ways, other words, other images and other actions through which they are able to express something that may be closer to life than life itself? Isn’t it difficult, in a time of crisis like this, living in Greece and Europe, to be an artist or work in the art world? Or is the inspiration from the crisis stronger than the crisis itself? After participating in the program “ΣτART” at the Robert Bosch Stiftung and based on this month’s shared experience in Berlin we propose – “we” being a Greek performer, a young poet, a graphic artist and a curator – an event against … or rather, on the basis of all of the difficulties involved with our choice to devote our lives to art, love and the love of art. A sort of catharsis. Because when we leave here, we go back into another reality that is harder, but still our choice.”

Alexandros Plomaritis was born in Kastoria and grew up on the island of Thasos. He studied drama at London Metropolitan University and dramaturgy at Queen Mary University of London. Then he took up postgraduate studies at Brunel University with a focus on installations and performance. In 2007 he presented his first performance with the founders of Leibniz Live Art Company at the Festival NRLA in Glasgow. In Artsadmin in London, he worked with internationally known artists Franko B, Bobby Baker, and with the DV8. Later he cooperated with the photographer and performer Manuel Vason in London and in Thessaloniki as part of the 1st Thessaloniki Performance Festival, for which Plomaritis was the artistic director. His work has been presented at festivals, in galleries as well as in public spaces in London, Glasgow, Rome and Thessaloniki. He lives and works in Thessaloniki.

Angelos Theocharis was born in 1989 in Athens. He studied at the Faculty of Law of the University of Athens and at Lomonosov University in Moscow. Theocharis was awarded the Poetry Prize and stipend of  the Takis-Sinopoulos Foundation. His poetry, essays and translations have been published in various literary magazines and websites. He lives and works in Athens.

Stella Pistofidou was born in 1989, and must have been influenced by the fall of the Berlin Wall that year. She studied product and system design at the University of the Aegean. Stella Pistofidou lives and works on Syros. She is still interested in the demolition of walls and obstacles, as well as at the opposite process of building them.

Sofia Eliza Bouratsis was born and grew up in Luxembourg. She studied humanities and philosophy in Montpellier and Paris and received her Ph.D. in aesthetics and art history at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Sofia Eliza Bouratsis is artistic director and editor of the magazine Prétantaine, published in Paris. She lives and works as an art theorist, curator and journalist between Thessaloniki and Luxembourg. Her research focuses on: the relationship between aesthetics, body and timeliness, the philosophy of contemporary art and contemporary civilization theory.

A heartfelt thanks to the program “ΣτART” of the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the Goethe-Institut Thessaloniki and the National Association of Sociocultural Centers e. V.