GENESIS PROJECT Genesis: Genetic Research & Digital Visualization in the Performing Arts Newsletter IIi |
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The 'Genesis' Project aims to conduct primary research in the domain of the performing arts, and more specifically in the genetic analysis of performance and the digital visualization of the creative process. Genetic analysis has to do with the study of all the stages of the creative process, from initial conception up to completion on stage. It focuses on the gradual realization of dramatic and scenic composition, on the creators’ elaboration of dramatic material, the identification and comprehension of the theoretical background of artistic thought and of artists’ sources and references, the study of the process of rehearsal, the training of performers, the management of space, stage, sets, costumes, lighting, production, etc. The genetic approach of stage creation is considered a necessary presupposition for the scientific analysis and interpretation of a performance. The 'Genesis' Project is based on the rich and complex work of two internationally acclaimed stage directors, Romeo Castellucci and Dimitris Papaioannou. In the current newsletter we focus on one aspect of the creative process of Transverse Orientation by Dimitris Papaioannou, a work that we have been following from its very beginning until its finalization. |
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The Bull Creating an idea Step 1: Autobiographical connotations The first spark of inspiration for the idea of the bull should be sought in the autobiographical and personal reminiscences of Dimitris Papaioannou. The form of the vigorous but gradually weakening Father, the decline due to the passage of time, the issue of succession and generation change, the path towards the final exit; these are some of the thoughts which led to the original idea of the bull, under the general title “A Father’s Death”, as turns out from a perusal of Dimitris Papaioannou’s archival material. |
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Step 2: Readings and theoretical references The primary literary/intertextual reference is easily pinpointed in Greek mythology, and more specifically the story of the Minotaur. However, Greek mythology is not the only source of inspiration of the dramatic 'plot'. In the archive of Dimitris Papaioannou one easily locates several further readings revolving around the central theme of the performance, the succession and the path towards the end. Among them, the poems Thrush by Georgios Seferis and Frost at Midnight by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. |
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Primary creative material - Picasso's watercolor bull drawings |
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Step 3: Visual arts and complimentary inspiration material The basic iconography for the handling of the bull derives from Pablo Picasso. The centaur, the satyr, and most importantly the minotaur —a union of man and bull— appear increasingly in Picasso’s etchings of the 1930s. These beings represent the duality in all men and in the artist himself; the opposing forces he wanted to bring together as a person and as an artist, power and tenderness. |
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Step 4: Elaboration Next, Dimitris Papaioannou processes persistently the motif of the bull, drawing sketches in his notebook. Regiebücher and director’s notes reveal the stage aspects of creation that were impossible to observe, or to recognize in the finished stage result, and therefore can be used to follow how an idea changes and evolves, is rejected and abandoned, or adapted and implemented. Going through an enormous collection of bull sketches, the director finalizes the conception of the bull's final form. | | |
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From conception to stage application |
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Step 5: Collaboration with artistic and technical contributors For the technical design and the implementation of the bull, Dimitris Papaioannou collaborated with the engineer and inventor Dimitris Korres. Dimitris Korres designed two bulls, a prototype and a back up to be used in tours. The technical teams undertook its construction. At the same time, the sculptor and stage designer Nektarios Dionysatos contributed to the bull’s final visual form. |
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Dimitris Papaioannou demonstrating the handling of the bull to Michalis Theophanous at the rehearsals of Transverse Orientation |
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Step 6: Testing The construction of the bull proceeded gradually, and was improved during the rehearsals period, as the team faced mechanical difficulties or as new ideas came up. So the creative process contributed also to the development of this central stage object. |
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The 'Genesis' project is directed by Assistant Professor Eleni Papalexiou (Dept of Theatre Studies, University of the Peloponnese), who has put together a team of accomplished and experienced researchers from Greece and abroad, affiliated to academic institutions such as the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the University of Antwerp, the University of Rennes 2 and the University of Nicosia. The project is funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation in the framework of the First Call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects to Support Faculty Members & Researchers and Procure High-Value Research Equipment. |
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