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About us
Forced Memories is an international domestic tele-video-performance art project created in order to unite the emotions and memories of locked down artists from around the world in the middle of the pandemic. This project has been created as a reaction to the unique human isolation that the planet went through during Covid-19 crisis.
Artists from Greece, Canada, Argentina, Sweden, UK, and France inspired by Beckett’s confined and socially disabled characters, each decided to perform the sentiments of their memories during Covid-19 trying all together to sculpture the One human of nowadays; attempting to envision the One human after the locked down.
What is our goal
This artwork is a contemporary «memory recorder» of a global human; a lonely, locked down universal individual. These memories, created by a team of artists, are merged and interconnected, come to life and die on an electronic platform, in an intangible place to seek communication and create a contact with their untouchable global world, before the arrival of their oblivion.
Forced Memories is a study in surrealism; an attempt towards the freedom, a human effort to escape from her/his own prisons. In a locked-up globe, our memory cannot be free. We needed to experience a pandemic in order to realize it; and this is surreal. We are obedient global citizens fed by mass media and raised as agents who transmit images and expectations. We have always been locked up, raised with forced memories and choices that we have never decided for ourselves. Forced Memories is a project that seeks to create the human with free recollections. Isn’t this surreal?
When and Where
The performance art event took place on the 11th of July 2020. The artists streamed their artwork via ZOOM Webinar platform and were available there for an open discussion with their audience.
The recording of the latter discussions can be found on our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGgqoxn56NyL8DiMMlVjC-w.
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The "Video Art Miden" will host the video of this collaborative performance art event on Miden’s YouTube channel, between the 15th of July and 30th of August 2020. For more information regarding the screening by Video Art Miden please refer to its portal at http://www.festivalmiden.gr and/or its YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8ly7FIRWx2-fXyrAulY-DQ. |
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The project will be also streamed from the YouTube channel belonging to the Theatre Studies Department of the University of Peloponnese, located at the historic city of Nafplion in Greece: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaMyJsT73fLjLMq_8Z7Pgkw |
Afterwards a full recording of the "Forced Memories" event, including the discussion among arts and the audience, will be permanently available on the RFSAT YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGgqoxn56NyL8DiMMlVjC-w.
Participants Artists
We are a group of artists from Greece, Canada, Argentina, Sweden, UK, and France, united through our individual experiences during the COVID-19 crisis. Inspired by Beckett’s confined and socially disabled characters, each of us decided to perform the sentiments of our personal memories during COVID-19, trying to sculpture all together the One Human of nowadays, thus attempting to envision the One Human after the locked down condition.
Dr Emmanouela Vogiatzaki
Event Organiser, Producer & Tele-Director, Memory Artist
She is a multidisciplinary artist, member of the teaching staff of the University of Peloponnese in Greece. She worked also for BBC news resources in London as a tv studio operator for news-24 channel. She holds a PhD in theatre studies from the Open University of Cyprus, MA and BA (honors) in set and costume design from the Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, an MA in audio-visual production from the London Metropolitan University and a BA in Economics from the University of Athens.
Her portfolio includes over 30 theatre productions, 20 short films and 1 feature screened at British Film Institute. She has participated in a number of research projects funded by European FP7, Horizon 2020, COST Actions and Media-Europe programs. Her publications include two theatre plays and over 30 conference and journal articles, as well as several book contributions and invited lectures. She often serves as a Technical Committee member at prestigious national and international conferences, festivals and other events. Her research interests include: Cyborg Theatre, Virtual Environments and 3D Sets, Tele-Presence and Smart Collaborative Environments, Mixed Real, Virtual and Immersive-Reality Systems and Immersive User Interfaces, Serious Gaming in the Context of e-Health, Media Broadcasting and Future TV/Cinema beyond HD.
Prof Anna Birch
Memory Artist
Theatre and film director. She participates internationally in theatre, performance and creative interdisciplinary projects and is a consultant and External Examiner for Higher Education (UK and beyond). She is an invited artist with Feminist Performance Creation in the City (Montreal, Canada).
Technical Support
Event Schedule
11thJuly
21:00 (EEST)
Platform Zoom Webinar
Performance Start
Meet our performers
Moderator: Dr Emmanouela Vogiatzaki
Emmanouela Vogiatzaki
Youli Garofalaki
Kostis Georgakopoulos
Prof Kathleen Irwin
Tina Memou
Natalia Patrineli
Mariana Kútulas Vrsalović
Prof Anna Birch
Eva Reichberg
Katerina Diareme
Sneak Peek of the Performance
Trailer
Sponsoring and Production of the Event
Research for Science Art and Technology (RFSAT) Limited is a non-profit SME organisation, established in Ireland in 2018 with international offices in Sheffield (United Kingdom) and Athens (Greece). It supports Arts through Science, having established a Media Technologies for Arts and Culture group in 2018, aimed at applying company's technologies in all aspects of Performing Arts and Entertainment, from Theater and Dance to Multimedia Performances, Future Cinema beyond HD, 3D immersive television and future gaming. In this context RFSAT targets future entertainment without disregarding potential application for e-Education, e-Entertainment, e-Tourism, e-Health and other areas. Its most recent activities focus on promotion of technology transfer to Performing Arts for the benefit of the Artistic communities.