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.


IT SHOULD BE LEFT UNDERGROUND
Natalia Koutsouradi, Chrysi Kamproudi, Ermioni Mylona

In this piece, which represents both the end and the beginning of life, we created a digital space depicting a factory after its destruction as a result of poor human management. Inspired by lignite, a harmful substance for humans, we created an environment that reflects human presence at a certain point in time, showcasing the repercussions of their interference with nature. Although, at first sight, this suggests some kind of end, at the same time, it heralds a new beginning. The title is inspired by the words of scientists, who have repeatedly argued that lignite should never have seen the earth’s surface. Our goal is, thus, for you to observe various elements throughout the site, which we designed to raise awareness and mobilise the public. Sound enhances the feeling of nostalgia, while the use of a guitar as an empty box draws parallels to the desolate factory.

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