The darkish sides of want: Dimitris Papaioannou’s “Ink” on the Berlin Pageant Home

It splashes, sprays and splashes. Within the efficiency “Ink” by Dimitris Papaioannou, nonetheless, no ink flows onto the stage of the Festspielhaus. As an alternative, tons of of liters of water pour from a sprinkler into the black room, which is roofed with plastic sheets. Papaioannou is hit by a strong beam proper at the start; He stoically endures the water working down him. He later collects it in a spherical jar and homes an octopus inside. It’s only a dummy, no animal is tortured throughout this efficiency.

The whole lot flows

The efficiency may be referred to as “The Revenge of the Octopus” based mostly on Dirk Roßmann’s thrillers. However “Ink” is a really private piece. The Greek artist delves deep into the unconscious. His play with symbols and legendary motifs takes on one thing mysterious as a result of fluid meanings and fixed metamorphoses.

Papaioannou began out as a painter and draftsman, and you may see that within the efficiency. “Ink” is fascinating merely due to its visible design. The artist makes use of water not solely as a symbolic but in addition as a sculptural aspect. This permits him to create fascinating photos that usually have one thing surreal about them.

However Papioannou can also be a performer who captivates together with his sturdy presence. Within the younger dancer Šuka Horn he has an equal accomplice. His bare determine appears to emerge from the water. As he glides throughout the stage, he looks like a chimera, then like a wriggling fish or an amphibian. Papaioannou, the lone guardian of an deserted place, first tries to fend off the intruder, seize him and lock him in a Plexiglas tube. Horn then appears to be like like a clone in a check tube.

The battle of the younger and the previous man goes by means of totally different phases: at instances the 2 look like father and son or grasp and pupil, at different instances they’re harking back to lovers. Homoerotic facets will be present in the entire Greek artist’s works. He finds uncommon photos for bodily union: Horn does a handstand and pours the water from the spherical aquarium onto the Papaioannou beneath him – like a fountain sculpture.

A combat for dominance and submission

However Šuka Horn is not only the obscure object of want, he additionally embodies the evolution of dwelling beings. Sooner or later the older man trains him like a monkey and eventually offers him a pair of underwear to cowl his nakedness. The sport then turns into bloody critical. Papaioannou mutates right into a sadistic circus tamer in a purple tailcoat and wielding a whip.

Whereas the string sounds recorded by the Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis and his ensemble musicAeterna initially conjure up one thing mystical, a waltz with unusual tones now sounds. The combat for dominance and submission may be very bodily. However the younger hopper, initially a malleable creature, begins to insurgent. The hunter turns into the hunted. And shortly the tormentor is struggling within the ropes and is being pulled up like prey.

It’s the darkish sides of want that Papaioannou illuminates. He himself convincingly embodies a extremely ambivalent determine: an previous man who desires to regulate every little thing – and who finally loses management. The efficiency leaves it open whether or not the younger man is simply his personal fantasy.

Dimitris Papaioannou has made a reputation for himself internationally, however he has not but been seen in Berlin. It is rather commendable of Yusuke Hashimoto, the curator of the Efficiency Arts Season, to ask the artist together with his intimate efficiency. The 59-year-old’s Berlin debut was celebrated with a lot cheers from the viewers.