The Department of Performing and Digital Arts (DPDA) of the University of Peloponnese (UOP) is co-organizing an international anniversary Conference, for the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great composer and architect Iannis Xenakis, in Athens and Nafplio on May 24-29th 2022. In Nafplio, the conference will be held on May 27-29th at the old Parliamentary building (named Vouleftiko) on May 27th and 28th and at the Fougaro Art Center (on May 29th), with the support of the Municipality of Nafplio and the Regional Authority of Peloponnese. The co-organization of the conference dynamically reinforces the key objectives of the DPDA, which is the organic connection of teaching and research, as well as the creation of wider networks of cooperation at local, national and international level.
Xenakis's work has not ceased to attract the interest of a wide range of artists and researchers, from music and architecture, to the new media, philosophy, art and dance. The Symposium, which is attended by prominent scholars of Xenakis's work from around the world, will examine aspects of his artistic creation through interdisciplinary approaches, while a series of artistic events will take place in his honor.
The Symposium
The program in Nafplio includes an open discussion with the President of the Association of Friends of Xenakis Mrs. Machi Xenakis, as well as presentations concerning Polytopa, multimedia works of a local nature, which were invented by Xenakis. Prominent among the Polytopes is the Mythical Polytope of Mycenae, which was presented in 1978 at the homonymous archeological site, in the area where the Department of Performing and Digital Arts (DPDA) is located.
See the Program of the Xenakis 22 Symposium online: https://pda.uop.gr/en/xenakis-22-symposium-program/
The Workshop
On Sunday, May 29th all day, the Xenakis' Workshop will be held, which mobilizes the academics and personnel of Greecee, with the participation of 11 University Departments of Fine Arts nationwide. Inspired by the work of Xenakis and guided by their teachers, students transform it into digital art forms for the 21st century, into works that exude creative freedom and talent. Part of the Workshop is also the multimedia performance "Meditations on Xenakis’s Motions, Bodies and Textures" co-created by the New York-based artists / teachers Mrs. Theodora Skipitares, Mrs. Anna Tzakou and Mrs. Katerina El Raheb, with 5 lessons of the DPDA participating.
The Workshop will take place at Fougaro in Nafplio, on May 29th 2022, from 09.00 to 18.00. In parallel, on May 29th, a guided tour for the delegates will be offered at the archeological site, as well as a presentation of the Xenaki's Mythical Polytope of Mycenae and a choral performance of Xenakis's plays by the "Soli Tutti" chorus.
See the Program of the Xenakis 22 Workshop online: https://pda.uop.gr/ergastirio-xenaki/
The artistic events include musical performances of Xenakis's plays by the internationally recognized pianist Stefanos Thomopoulos, as well as the French "Soli Tutti" chorus.
Languages - monitoring
The Symposium is held in English, while the Workshop is in Greek.
It is possible to attend the conference and the Xenakis Workshop via livestreaming at www.youtube.com/channel/UCC4rexRQpXrvbBNkU0FPItg/live
Information
https://pda.uop.gr/en/xenakis-22-symposium-program/
E. kotzaman@uop.gr, m.a.kotzamani@gmail.com
T. +30 27520 96127, M. +30 698 5564212
Xenakis 22 Symposium - Identity
Co-organization: Department of Performing and Digital Arts (DPDA) of the University of Peloponnese (UOP), Department of Music Studies of National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Musicdance Loboratory of University Paris 8, Friends of Xenakis Association.
Collaborating institutions:
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Ioannina, University of Thessaly, Xenaki Laboratory.
Organization:
Department of Performing and Digital Arts (DPDA) of the University of Peloponnese, along with the Music and Media Committee of the Xenakis 22 Symposium.
Collaborating Departments / Universities:
Superior School of Fine Arts
Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Western Macedonia
Department of Fine Arts and Art Sciences, University of Ioannina
Department of Cinematography, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Department of Music Studies, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Department of Music Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Department of Music Studies, Ionian University
Department of Documentary and Digital Arts, University of Peloponnese
Department of Sound and Visual Arts, Ionian University
Department of Digital Arts and Cinematography, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Xenakis 22 Sponsorship / Support:
Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, Greek National Opera, ASKI (Contemporary Social History Archives, Athens), Onassis Foundation -Stegi, École Française d’Athènes, National Technical University of Athens, Laboratory of Music, Acoustics and Technology, Mycenaean Foundation, Municipality of Argos - Mycenae, Municipality of Nafplio, Regional Authority of Peloponnese
Did you know that?
Iannis Xenakis (May 29th 1922 - February 4th 2001) was one of the most important Greek composers and architects of the 20th century. The pioneering synthetic methods he developed related music and architecture to mathematics and physics, through the use of models from set theory, probability theory, thermodynamics, the golden ratio, the Fibonacci sequence, and more. This was the reason why Xenakis was characterized as "neo-Pythagorean". At the same time, his philosophical ideas for music raised the demand for a unity of philosophy, science and art, contributing to the general reflection on the crisis of contemporary European music of the 1950s and 1960s.
On December 31st 1944, the 22-year-old then student of the Technical University of Athens, Iannis Xenakis, was injured by a howitzer's piece of shell on his face during the December Revolution, as a result of which he lost one of his eyes and the left side of his face was deformed.
He used to say: "Music is, perhaps by its nature, the most closely related art to mathematical thought".
