PERFORMANCE: Chawishe replaces the figure trapped in the ice with a live, naked human body, searching for meaning through multifold transformations and exploring the ever-changing nature of politics, society, and identity inspired by figures in T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. While digging through the soil and icy remains, Chawishe unmasks false stereotypes and patterns humans use as a cloak to conceal fears conform to societal norms. Chawishe enacts the roles people portray in a lifetime through colorful costumes and makeup, only to discover the only one that matters is the true self. Preoccupied with ideas about transformation and ridicule, she tests the audience’s acceptance of the incongruous and unfamiliar to the limit.
Michalis Argyrou (born 1968) is a visual artist, creative director and set designer. He received a scholarship to study at the National School of Fine Arts in Athens, graduating with honors. He holds degrees from the Open Photography Studio, Focus and the Royal College of Art in London. Michalis is the founder of the event production company “Sambo Events” and the Architectural office “Create New Ideas Architects.” He has participated in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally and has curated and designed performances, exhibitions and cultural events, and design projects. From 2006-2008 he was the General Director of the international art fair of Athens, “Art Athina.” In 2009 Michalis founded the Art and Culture Center, Beton 7, a venue for new ideas and trends in contemporary art and culture. In 2011 he founded Beton7artradio, “We Speak Art,” a radio station covering art and culture issues, highlighting recent creation nationally and internationally. Michalis has also been Greece’s director of the Art Film Festival, Hellas Filmbox Berlin. The Art Film Festival was created by a collective of activists in 2015, aiming to break the media bashing against Greece and introduce the Greek visual arts and cinema scene to the German audience. He is also the co-director of the Platforms Project International Independent Art Exhibition that presented platforms and artists’ collectives from over 26 countries with more than 2,400 artists from the five continents from 2013-2017 and opened a productive dialogue on culture and art. . He has also been the deputy director of Athens Biennale from 2016 to 2019. And recently, in 2020 he is the co-founder of the Metaphor Athens Creative Hub Art Space in Athens.