Integrated in the body of ‘Higher States’, ‘Thanaton, Rough Cut’ is the unrefined effort of the fourth part of
Kiriakos Hadjiioannou thematics, which signifies the biography of a body through existential situations, in view
of possible future prospects.
In an eternal altercation with death, the body is conceived as an element of substance of oneself and a
boundary of social action. Studying various philosophical sources, one can detect two basic theories about
time. One has Greek origins and advocates the closed, circular time; it is based in cosmology, having nature,
the universe and the world as an archetype and being symbolized as a circle or a sphere. The other, with
Jewish origins, adopts the open, linear time and is based in eschatology oriented to history, having the
straight line or the arrow moving straight as a symbol. ‘Thanaton, Rough Cut’ focuses on the above
controversial approaches of the circle and the straight line, thus creating a research field in which a series of
binary concepts can be recreated: body language and the ‘speaking body’, sound and melody, time and
duration.
Having these two basic theories as an axis, Kiriakos Hadjiioannou invites Jeremy Wade on stage, as iconic
representations of the Greek and Jewish origins respectively. They appear as living pillars who float and
haunt what is literally the other side of our spatial design, using death as a metaphor of awakening. Through
this, we are invoked to reflect on time, beyond its eschatological interpretations. Together they wonder or
even question contemporary perceptions of the body and how it is associated with our thoughts over death,
the possible extensions of the body after life and the agreements we make as a society.
In a dark and queer environment, a club, with experimentation as a vehicle, the artists experience different
deaths – the death of theatre, value, sense, attachment. With this research, they feature the death of western
society in the future, conveying anguished resistance strategies to the dominant forces of regularity on stage.

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Contributors

Concept, Direction: Kiriakos Hadjiioannou
Creation and Performance: Kiriakos Hadjiioannou, Jeremy Wade (with excerps from Death Asshole),
Nancy Stamatopoulou (video)
Light Design: Nysos Vasilopoulos
Filming and Editing: Alexandros Kontos
Costumes and Props: Kiriakos Hadjiioannou, Jeremy Wade, Minttu Vesala
Texts: Kiriakos Hadjiioannou, Dimitra Papaioannou, Jeremy Wade, Esra Green
Œuil Extérieur: Dimitra Papaioannou, Bernhard Siebert
Assistant Director: Danai Giannakopoulou
Assistant Camera: Vangelis Tsakas
Feldenkrais Instructor: Marilena Petridou
Death Asshole Video: Liz Rosenfeld
Death Asshole Music: Mika Risiko aka Ziur
Curating Collaborator: Stefanos Skoulikaris
Production Management & Coordination: Maria Vasariotou - Delta Pi
Production: Antibodies
Partners: Tanzhaus Zürich
With the Financial Support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports

 

 

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Kiriakos Hadjiioannou is a performance artist, choreography advisor and curator. His work focuses on specific aspects of choreography, movement and space, touching different types of art. He's been collaborating with various artists, filmmakers, researchers, in international productions. Next to many collaborations, he creates a body of works 'Higher States' (Higher States of Consciousness) exploring altered and transcendental conscious states. He is working on educational projects in universities and schools, giving workshops in Applied Theater, Choreography and Performance. He is a guest lecturer and choreography advisor at "Manufacture - Haute Ecole Des Arts De La Scene" in Lausanne and at the School of Fine Arts in Athens. In 2012 he founded the Association ANTIBODIES, a platform of artists, researchers and academics. The company is operating in the field of Performing Arts, research and entertainment, often referred to an anthropo-sociological and political context. For 2014 - 2016 he was the associated artist of the theater Kaserne Basel and the Swiss pilot part of the project ´YAA!  Associated Artistª supported by The Swiss Arts Council ProHelvetia. In 2017 he wins a prestigious award from the Swiss Federal Office of Culture at the Swiss National Dance Awards, the June Johnson Dance Prize for his outstanding approach and the development of the project "Higher States". He graduated from the State School of Dance in Athens (KSOT) and studied Choreography & Performance (CUP) MA in Applied Theater Science at the University of Giessen. He is based between Greece and Switzerland.

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Jeremy Wade is an extreme performer and performance maker with an extensive practice of
curating and teaching to boot. After graduating from the School for New Dance Development in
Amsterdam in 2000 and receiving a Bessie Award for his first evening length performance
“Glory,” at Dance Theater Workshop in New York City in 2006, he moved to Berlin and since then
works in close collaboration with the Hebbel Theater as well as Gessnerallee, Zurich. Recently,
Wade has created “Fountain,” “Together Forever,” “Death Asshole Rave Video,” “Drawn Onward,”
and “Between Sirens,” exploring the death of man, zombie subjectivity, strange modes of being
and feminist strategies of world making to undermine the social codes that define and oppress
our bodies. His alter ego, The Battlefield Nurse, is the founder and a co-host of a disability allied
project called The Future Clinic for Critical Care. Jeremy premiered a new solo, titled The

Clearing, in May 2019 with musician Marc Lohr at HAU2 and later in June he restaged his first
piece titled Glory, a brutal naked duet made in 2006 with Swedish Choreographer and performer
Sindri Runudde and Musician Brendan Dougherty at Sophiensaele.

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http://www.kiriakoshadjiioannou.com/