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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

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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.

Research and Work Experience

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.

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Tina Memou

Assistant Teledirector, Memory Artist

She holds a Master of Arts in Theatre Studies from the Open University of Cyprus. Her theatrical work includes Assistant Dramaturg role in Theodosis Papadimitropoulo’s play “To Themselves”.

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Youli Garofalaki

Memory Artist

She is a painter and stage designer, a graduate of Visual Communication and Advertising at Vakalo Art & Design College, School of Fine Arts in Athens and “Erasmus” participant at Universitat de Facultat de Belles Arts of Barcelona.

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Kostas Georgakopoulos

Production Assistant, Memory Artist

He is a student in Theatre Studies at the School of Fine Arts of the University of Peloponnese. He has worked as an actor in various Theatre and film productions and been involved in cinema, mainly documentaries.

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Prof Kathleen Irwin

Memory Artist

Associate Dean & Professor at University of Regina in Canada. Her scenography work intersects activism, art and performance across a broad spectrum of socially-engaged practices including disability arts practice, food & performance, and intercultural performance.

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Pavlos Krukowski

WEB Designer and Performer

He studies Informatics at the Univerity of Peloponnese. He participated in several EU funded projects, like FP7-StrokeBack, H2020-SCAN4RECO and H2020-ARCH.

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Natalia Patrineli

Memory Artist

She is a student in Theatre Studies at the University of Peloponnese in Greece. Her interests include painting, writing and music with past work related to Children Theatre.

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Mariana Kútulas Vrsalović

Memory Artist

She studied theatre, ballet, flamenco, modern and traditional dance from Spain, Argentina, Greece, Croatia and Arabia at National University of Córdoba, works as an actress, director, playwriter, musician and composer in Argentina and Europe.

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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).

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Eva Reichberg

Memory Artist

She is a Swedish scenographer and costume designer who is also a teacher. She uses her artistical skills in teaching art, drama, film, textile and wood craft and anything else that is related to it.

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Katerina Diareme

Memory Artist

She is a student in Theatre Studies at the School of Fine Arts of the University of Peloponnese. Theatre enthusiast and piano player, traveller and nature lover searching for new places, people, mentalities, customs and local cuisine.

Technical Support

 
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Dr Artur Krukowski

Producer, WEB Designer
Executive Technical Support

 

Researcher, engineer and technology enthusiast with wide range of engineering expertise, participant and reviewer of many EU funded proposals and projects. Technically supporting this project.

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Dianne Ouellette

Local Technical Support

Independent filmmaker, Communications Specialist, past student of "Film, Video and Theatre Design", recently MFA graduate in Media Production at the University of Regina.

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Nikiforos Kostavasilis

Local Technical Support

Studies at School of Fine Arts of University of Peloponnese. He publishes comedy sketches and experimental short films on You Tube, exploring and recording nature through glitch art. He collaborated with "Αυγώ Theater Group" in various projects.

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Event Schedule

11thJuly


21:00 (EEST)
Platform Zoom Webinar

21:00
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Performance Start

22:00
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Meet our performers

Moderator: Dr Emmanouela Vogiatzaki
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Emmanouela Vogiatzaki
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Youli Garofalaki
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Kostis Georgakopoulos
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Prof Kathleen Irwin
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Tina Memou
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Natalia Patrineli
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Mariana Kútulas Vrsalović
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Prof Anna Birch
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Eva Reichberg
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Katerina Diareme

Sneak Peek of the Performance

Dr Emmanouela Vogiatzaki
A neighbour with his eyes closed

Lost in the maze,
an unforgettable memory.
I caress the absence of all of you
and I resist those memories that were never forgotten,
Cold then,
walking in the rain
since I had nowhere else to find solace.
Until I got lost too,
there in the labyrinth
the unforgettable oblivion.
Behind a curtain the whole world celebrates.
Mariana Kútulas Vrsalović
Ancestors tree... staircase.
Transit through time.
Prof Kathleen Irwin
Reading To Lighthouse:
Time Passes
Stamatia Memou
Fear of ‘return to 'normality’.
Katerina Diareme
TV ... an umbilical cord
a connection to the outside.
Prof Anna Birch
'Lockdown 2020,
Black lives matter
Eva Reichberg
Poster of a woman
alone in a huge garden
Youli Garofalaki
Obsession & Repetition.
Challenge of moment,
past and feedback.
Kostis Georgakopoulos
Life in a vicious circle
caused by self isolation.
Natalia Patrineli
Painting dark world
locked in empty room.

Trailer

Sponsoring and Production of the Event

RFSAT logo

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.