HOMO S CAPE / WAVES OF LIGHT PPC: MEGALOPOLIS

Description

The Greek National Opera’s online festival Waves of Light, in collaboration with the PPC and curated by Giorgos Koumendakis, features the first series of site-specific performances inspired by the Megalopolis Steam Power Station.

Homo S Cape
Adonis Volanakis - Department of Theatre Studies – University of Patras
The collaborative contribution of the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Patras titled Homo S Cape is a ten-minute-long audiovisual work. It focuses on human evolution, influenced by a theatrical improvisation game known as LARP (Live Action Role-Playing). It aims to reimagine the industrial site of PPC in Megalopoli, through a fantasy game. Our proposal was based on Yuval Noah Harari’s book Homo Deus, which explores the evolutionary-environmental revolution. In the context of our research, we explored themes such as energy production, renewable energy sources, ecological destruction, environmental reports, the rupture between nature and humankind, dark tourism, the concept of landmarks / memory, and gender stereotypes. The goal of Homo S Cape is to discuss and raise questions about art and space, creating an essential experience that will bridge imagination, art, and contemporary issues.

The Greek National Opera assigned the organisation of a cross-university / interdisciplinary arts workshop focused on the Megalopolis Steam Power Station to the Department of Performing and Digital Arts at the University of the Peloponnese, involving eight university arts departments from across Greece. As part of the online festival titled Waves of Light, 20 young artists and artistic teams from university departments throughout Greece drew inspiration from the striking sites of the old PPC factory in Megalopolis to create 20 new site-specific digital works for GNO TV, the GNO’s digital platform. These works are grouped into various genres that fall within the broader fields of performing, visual, and digital arts. The music and scripts in these works are inspired by the spaces, history, and people who worked there.
Participating in this workshop were students from the following departments: Department of Music Studies (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Department of Visual and Applied Arts (University of Western Macedonia), Department of Culture and Creative Media and Industries (University of Thessaly), Department of Theatre Studies (University of Patras), Department of Sound and Image Arts (Ionian University – undergraduate and postgraduate programmes), and the Athens School of Fine Arts.
PPC, a leader in Greece’s electrification through its emblematic factories, has evolved into an active cultural agent, offering its historical sites as a canvas for contemporary artistic creation. Through the Waves of Light online festival, PPC contributes to repurposing industrial landmarks into vibrant reference points between the past and the future, where energy meets art.

Creative team – Cast

CONCEPT - DIRECTING:
ELENI ANAGNOSTOPOULOU
KATERINA KANELLOPOULOU
MARILENA KOURSARI
MARIA PAPADAKAKI
ILIAS POLYCHRONIDIS
ARISTEA PSOUNI

PERFORMERS:
GEORGIA ADAMOGLOU
MANOLIS VOULELAKIS
ATHANASIA GRILLA
MARILENA KOURSARI
KONSTANTINA KOUTSOKOSTA
VASILIS KRIKIS
FOTEINI OIKONOMOPOULOU
NIKOS PANAGOPOULOS
FOIVOS PAPAGIANNOPOULOS
NIKOLITSA PAPAELIOPOULOU
ILIAS POLYCHRONIDIS
PANAGIOTA FOUSEKI