The Performance Biennial took place on 23 June to 4 July 2016. It begun in the occupied cultural space of Green Park, open out to embrace the park of Pedion tou Areos, and then depart via boat from Piraeus to the island of Cythera.
Seeking to problematise the role of performance in the neoliberal narrative we collectively engaged in ongoing disruptions between the institution and the self-instituted, between buildings and parks, between the centre and the periphery, between urban and rural. Emerging from DIY self-organised cultural practices appearing during these past years in Athens, this event critically interrogated the role of performance, in relation to political and social materialities and imaginaries. Playfully subverting the term ‘biennial’ into a self-organised practice, the event tested self-instituted forms of culture and politics. Under the title “No Future” this guerrilla biennial operated through a practice of “self-curating” as assembling. Resisting hierarchies and categorisations the programme consisted of timezones of conflictual “fields” and practices that were co-curated with the participants in a changing here and now.
The event brought together both conventional and non-conventional investigations including: performances, talks, lecture-performances, workshops, discussions, interventions, city walks, community works, actions and screenings. All activities of the event were open and free of charge to the public. More than 100 artists, collectives and theoreticians participated such as:
WHW (What, How & for Whom), Ant Hampton, Adrian Heathfield, Britt Hatzius, If I Can’t Dance, Joe Kelleher, Alan Read, Nick Ridout, PA Skantze & Matthew Fink, Ash Bulayev, Jonas Staal, Snejanska Mihaylova, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Kostis Velonis, Giorgos Sampatakakis, Urban School of Ruhr, Andy Field, Ilan Manuach, Elpida Rikou, Maria Sarri, Andreea Micu, Akoo-o Collective, Chrysanne Stathakos, KangarooCourt, Iliana Fokianaki, Adam Gallagher, Hypatia Vourloumis, Ioanna Gerakidi, and many more.
The event was initiated and organised by Gigi Argyropoulou, Vassilis Noulas and Kostas Tzimoulis.
