12.00-12.30: walk in & coffee
12.30-14.00
thinking containers: Ioanna Zouli & Valia Papastamou
Mind the Gap: Ways of thinking around care and complaints
The workshop will engage with practices of care and their challenges· artistic practices and artistic work as processes that put care in the center, that means “recognising and embracing our interdependencies” (The Care Collective, The Care Manifesto, 2020), and critically reflect on the neoliberal appropriation of care in cultural institutions. In this direction, we will consider how we can “carefully” read texts of intersectional feminist/queer theory, note the cracks and mind the gaps, recognizing the empowering role that “complaint” can have in this context. As, “doing the work of complaint often means ‘minding the gap’, the gap between what does happen and what should happen.” (Sara Ahmed, Complaint!, 2021).
* Thinking containers: If you would like to participate in the workshop Ways of thinking around care and complaints, please send an email to [email protected]
bio
Ioanna Zouli is a researcher and curator. She writes, teaches, translates on the realm of digital culture, internet ecologies as well as contemporary image culture and cultural heritage. She has collaborated with a variety of cultural institutions in Greece and abroad, including Tate Modern, The Photographers’ Gallery, The Royal College of Arts, the Onassis Foundation, Ethnofest, Diotima, Stavros Niarchos Foundation. She is an associate researcher at the Centre of New Media and Feminist Public Practices, in the Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly and the Communication Coordinator of the Onassis AiR artist’s residency program.
Valia Papastamou is a PhD Candidate at the Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology of the University of Thessaly. Her PhD dissertation, entitled “Artistic-research performative practices in the contemporary transnational condition: Feminist transformative politics of knowledge” examines the performative relation between research and art and is funded by the Center of Research, Innovation and Excellence (CRIE) of the University of Thessaly. With studies in architecture, cultural management and visual arts, her research interests are interdisciplinary and include art theory, postcolonial theory, feminist/queer theory, contemporary critical theory. She is associate researcher at the Centre for New Media and Feminist Public Practices, Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly.
14.30-16.00
thinking containers: Anna Majewska
Współmyślenia: Thinking-with at the Intersections of Art, Science, and Activism
Współmyślenia is a Polish neologism that defies direct translation, evoking the idea of knowledge as a shared commons and resonating with the new materialist concept of thinking-with—a collective approach to knowledge construction rooted in the politics of nurturing diversity. As a plural noun, współmyślenia reflects the multiplicity of relationships inherent in every processual act of thinking. This term also became the name of a grassroots platform dedicated to connecting individuals engaged in co-creative knowledge practices across the intersections of science, art, and activism. In Poland, these practices often operate on the periphery of artistic and academic institutions—precarized, underfunded and largely invisible. Initially, the platform sought to connect the diverse transdisciplinary practices, often unaware of each other’s existence, and to uncover situated, decolonial narratives about Polish artistic research and practice-based research. Over time, the initiative evolved into an ongoing self-research process, exploring transdisciplinary methods of thinking together while developing collective strategies to advocate for dignified working conditions. During the workshop, I will share insights from curating and co-creating this process, inviting participants to explore and exchange perspectives on artistic research and practice-based research within the context of their local environments. To facilitate this conversation, I will introduce collaborative thinking methods developed through the Współmyślenia initiative.
* Thinking containers: If you would like to participate in the workshop Dissenting Decisions, please send an email to [email protected]
bio
Anna Majewska is a researcher in the performing arts, cultural anthropologist, facilitator, and curator of artistic-research processes. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Warsaw. Her research focuses on the performativity of the body and matter, speculative strategies in contemporary culture, and transdisciplinary, collective practices of knowledge creation within art and science. She is currently curating the project Współmyślenia and co-creating the international feminist education initiative Schools of Care. Co-author of the book Look Around. Smell Around. Sense Around. Feel Around (Theatre Institute, 2023).
16.00- 17.00: lunch break
17.00-18.00
open mic: Medie Megas, Maria Papadopoulou, Rodia Vomvolou
one Q per person one A per spective
In a shared space, three cultural workers from the Greek context, representing different but directly related positions in the field of dance, are invited to participate in an open discussion of multiple directions. Following a score that gradually unfolds a chain of questions, they are invited to share thoughts, concerns and imaginaries around visible and invisible feminist practices and methods, while the audience becomes an active part of the chain through their own anonymous questions.
bio
Medie Megas was born in England in 1978. She graduated from the Greek National School of Dance and has a Master of Arts in Contemporary Dance from Kent University (aff. LCDS). She works as a choreographer, dramaturg and teacher of improvisation, choreography and history of dance and has been active in the field of inclusive dance since 2013. She is a founding member of the “Greek Network for Dance and Disability” and the “Syndesmos Chorou” network (2009-2018) and a board member of Danse Bassin Mediterraneé (2009-11). In 2024 she published Present Bodies: an introduction to dance theory (in Greek), a collection of 17 theoretical texts on dance. Her choreographic work has been a reflection on identity and recent Greek history, exploring the body as the intersection of the personal and collective experience. She has produced seven works, presented in festivals and theaters in Greece and abroad. Currently she teaches at Choros Professional Dance School and at ISON space for inclusive education.
Maria Papadopoulou was born in Athens in 1993. She graduated from the Greek State School of Dance (2014), the Faculty of Early Childhood Education at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2016), and completed her Master’s in “Education and Human Rights” (2023). She has worked as a dancer and teacher of non-formal education. Since 2021, she is the director of ‘InDancEdu AMKE’ which promotes inclusive education through dance in multicultural contexts. She has worked with organizations like Kokoika, Genderhood, and the Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network, in roles that include facilitation and pedagogical supervision. Her research focuses on the analysis of educational practices, and she teaches pedagogy at the Professional Dance School of Moragemou. In addition, she provides holistic hands-on therapies and is currently training in the SME program of Body-Mind Centering.
Rodia Vomvolou (1993) is a dance dramaturg and researcher based between the Netherlands and Greece. Working both in and with theory and practice, she creates artistic and discursive contexts around dramaturgy and choreography to explore a playful and critical approach of dramaturgical practice. She is currently doing her PhD research titled “Unpacking the self-positioning of the dance dramaturg: Labor, Practices and Discourses in the periphery and in the center” under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Maaike Bleeker in Utrecht University. As a freelance dance dramaturg, Rodia collaborates with multiple independent dance artists in the Netherlands, Greece and Cyprus. As a mentor and teacher, she works with institutions, dance houses and universities all over Europe (Dansateliers Rotterdam, Onassis Stegi, PERA School of Performing Arts, Academy of Performing Arts Bratislava, etc.), while since 2019 she is the mentor and co-curator of the Artistic residency programme “Moving the New” of Dance House Lemesos.
18.15-19:15
open mic: Silvia Bottiroli
Repeating, Interrupting, Suspending
Within the broader field of curation as a choreographic practice, the research project Repeating, Interrupting, Suspending assumes rhythm and relationality as the organizing principles of an open-ended, floating collection of images depicting performative works or interventions. Silvia Bottiroli shares her research with a presentation that weaves together the histories and the relations – based on affinities and distances – of a number of these images. Their singular traits and their combination raise questions around regimes of visibility, and how curatorial practices can engage absence, loss, imagination.
The event Repeating, Interrupting, Suspending is part of Silvia Bottiroli’s research project Repeating, Interrupting, Suspending. Rhythm as a Curatorial Principle granted by the Italian Council program (13th edition, 2024) and promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture.
bio
Silvia Bottiroli lives in Bologna, and works trans-locally as a curator, writer and researcher in the expanded field of the live arts. She was the artistic director of DAS Theatre in Amsterdam (2018-2021) and of Santarcangelo Festival (2012-2016) and (co)curated among the others the projects FUORI! (2022-2023), For the Time Being (2020-2021), The May Events (2018), Shipbuilding and other joint efforts (2015). She teaches Methodology, Critique, and Research in the Arts at Bocconi University in Milan, lectures and examines at institutions across Europe and works collaboratively in curatorial and editorial projects. Her latest book is What Can Theatre Do, co-edited with Miguel M. Melgares and published by BRUNO in 2024. Silvia is part of the artistic cohort of Rose Choreographic School in London (2024-2026) and co-curator, with Silvia Calderoni, Ilenia Caleo and Michele Di Stefano, of Short Theatre Festival in Roma (2025-2027).
19.15-19.45: pause
19.45-20.15:
performative act: Nikos Ntasis
VACUUM
VACUUM explores the dynamics of the relationship between the human body and the machine, focusing on questions related to identity, technology, and materiality. At the core of the performance, a body and a robotic vacuum cleaner coexist, interact, and co-create a shared space.
The two “entities” investigate boundaries and tensions, creating a dialogue between organic fragility and algorithmic precision. They do not maintain fixed roles but continuously negotiate their presence in the space, forming a fluid and uncertain field. They develop an abstract choreographic narrative that redefines relationships of dependence and control.
bio
Nikos Ntasis was born in Drama in 1995. He is a performer and maker, a graduate of the Drama School of the Athens Conservatoire and the Department of Marketing and Communication at AUEB. In theatre, he has collaborated with Theodoros Terzopoulos, Nova Melancholia, Marios Panagiotou, Giorgos Zampoulakis, Eleana Tsichli, and others. In 2023, he presented his personal theatrical performance ‘Divine Love’, and in 2024, his first solo performance, ‘user nick canceled the message’ as part of ‘Cheap Art Week’. Focusing on experimentation and the reinterpretation of classical and contemporary practices, he explores the relationship between the body, time, and language.
Additionally, his work centers on the concepts of identity and performativity in the contemporary social landscape.
20:30-21:00:
performative act: Pierre Magendie
TANK TOP
Halfway between the practical benefit of a tutorial and the soothing (and often hilarious) effect of a cooking TV show or a Tupperware gathering from the 90s lies TANK TOP, a sewing performance that aims at guiding you step by step through cutting and assembling a tank top using a household sewing machine, yet ultimately hopes to encourage you to dig into your closet and have fun with your style by creating, upcycling or customizing unique garments. Patterns, stylish fabric, DIY spirit and fun facts provided.
bio
Pierre Magendie is a dance artist based in Athens, Greece, whose work is best described as an invitation to explore multiplicity. Originally rooted in linguistics (BA Classics, Bordeaux 3 University) and contemporary dance (State School of Dance, Athens), his practice keeps shifting through different media and iterations, lately pole dance and sewing (as documented in 2018 by Manolis Mavris for ERT2 channel, Supernatural). He recently collaborated in Greece as a costume designer with arisandmartha (Skinflick, 2024), as a performer with Nova Melancholia (Sebastian, 2023) while assisting regularly the choreographer Andonis Foniadakis throughout Europe (since 2014). Created in 2011 together with Christina Karagianni, KTC (KammerTanz Coop) provides him with an unofficial platform for digital and real-life performances where dance meets comedy, live music and fashion.