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Waiting for Invisibili , Les Abbesses - Paris  ©  Mehmet Kerem Özel, 15.01.2024 At the beginning of the piece, the thick black frame with three sides, which was lying on the floor of the stage, gradually rose backwards, lifted the cloth lying on the floor attached to it and gradually revealed the image printed on the cloth to us, the audience. When the frame was erected, the Triumph of Death stood before us in all its splendour, measuring 6 metres by 6.5 metres.  Originally exhibited in a museum in Palermo, the Triumph of Death , whose painter is unknown, dates from the 1440s and is one of the most impressive works of medieval art in terms of content, colour and composition. In the centre of the fresco, which probably depicts the plague known as the Black Death, which entered the ports of Sicily and ravaged the entire European continent about 100 years before it was painted, there is a gigantic Death in the form of a skeleton.  Death rides a galloping horse, also in...

INK, Megaron-Athens, 2023, January 12th, World Premiere © M ehmet Kerem Özel 15 January 2023, on the plane, on the way back to istanbul  there are two worlds: one lived inside, the other projected outwards. the first is at the level of the stomach; full of water, turbulent, whirling, swirling, emotional, sensual; naturalness, sexuality reside here, this is where man is born. the second is at the level of the head; the mind, thoughts, lights scattered around... the old man on the stage, in black trousers and a black shirt with rolled up sleeves, has these two worlds...  in the first moment, the old man suddenly grabs an octopus from the ground, pulls it out, tames its flesh by beating it, bites off a piece, eats it, then sits down on a chair and rests... at that moment, the fountain moves in a certain radius from the level of the man's head and sprays water, the water hitting the curtain behind him...  the hunt for octopus is a very greek phenomenon, it's something that al...

For this article, that consists of sort of a play within itself, Dimitris Papaioannou selected and sent to the authors six images, previously not shared with the press, particularly for this article, from Transverse Orientation that the authors have watched together two nights in a row, on the evenings of October 10-11, in Plovdiv, within the scope of One Dance Week 2021. The authors then selected five images each and wrote down their recollections and impressions independently of each other. Just as Papaioannou does, for all his works, inviting a trusted friend for final rehearsals to give a title to the work, the authors invited choreographer/dancer Gizem Bilgen to give a title to this article. (Left aligned bold text by Mehmet Kerem Özel. Right aligned normal text by Ayşe Draz) Black orb-headed creatures that make vaguely mechanical noises; they're cute, they're happy. They are easily distracted, they can easily get involved in a game, but they can easily lose themselves ...

Dimitris Papaioannou- Portrait (Photo: Julian Mommert) At the end of November, when I was at Megaron Hall in Athens to attend the final performances of Dimitris Papaioannou’s The Great Tamer , I was introduced, in the foyer, to a lady by my Greek friend: Vicky Marangopoulou, the founder and former artistic director of the Kalamata Dance Festival, Greece's most famous and well-established dance festival. When my friend told her that I came all the way from Istanbul just to watch this piece, Ms. Marangopoulou said with her sparkling eyes: “ Years ago, the director of your festival, Dikmen [She refers to Dikmen Gürün, who was the director of the Istanbul Theater Festival between years 1993-2012] asked me to recommend a Greek company, and I told her Papaioannou's Medea . ” In other words, before Papaioannou became famous with the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games , and long before he became a sought-after and praised figure worldwide in the last...

[The Turkish translation of this interview is published and can be accessed on  art.unlimited .] Dimitris Papaioannou- Portrait (Photo: Julian Mommert) On the first Sunday morning of December in a sunny and warm weather, we meet with the painter, director and visual artist Dimitris Papaioannou in a cute café in Pangrati, one of Athens’ bohemian and green neighborhoods. Dressed in a black tracksuit Papaioannou is in an emotional and sad mood. Following its 2.5-year-long world tour in 38 cities of 23 countries with more than 70,000 spectators, his last work The Great Tamer was performed for the last time on two previous sold-out evenings (29-30 November 2019) at the Megaron, Athens' largest theater of 1750 people. When I ask him about how he feels, Papaioannou describes the final performance of The Great Tamer as “ the funeral, the funeral of the show ” and adds: “ I very much like the fact that we closed The Great Tamer , we finished it, but I’m also very emotional about th...

In this series of interviews we try to get to know the directors/choreographers who will be the international guests at the 23rd Istanbul Theatre Festival in November 2019. Our eighth guest is Marco Martins. Ayse Draz & Mehmet Kerem Ozel Art Unlimited Performing Arts Editor & Writer [The Turkish translation of this interview is published and can be accessed on  art.unlimited ] What is the spirit of theatre in your opinion? How do you define contemporary theatre today? In a way, my way of looking at the theatre has changed a lot over the last few years I have worked with ARENA (my company). What I want to draw from a process and a show is radically different today. I started by doing Repertoire Theater, which is something that would hardly interest me today as an author. I do not want to say that I do not admire many authors working from a single text but my processes are rather extremely open research processes, without an a priori defined body of text and theref...