]sym.posion[

]sym.posion[ is a series of multimedia performances that invites the audience to a table where a new subject is explored each time. Our work draws on the ancient spirit of the symposium, where food, dialogue, and collective reflection were inseparable. Conceived as a contemporary symposium, ]sym.posion[ transforms the setting of an intimate dinner into a space for shared reflection and exchange. The table becomes both stage and commons: a site for a ritual where live music interweaves with gestures, words and projections like courses in a collective feast. As images, movements and poetic text unfold within an immersive soundscape, themes of democracy, ecology, and collective action flow through the gathering, asking how we might live and act in relation to each other and our home, Earth.

In the performance ]dia.logos.sym.posion[, dialogue is our raw material and the heart of our encounter is a question of democracy. Around the symposion table we explore dialogue not as a tool for agreement but as a fragile, necessary ritual—an open invitation to think, dream, and act together. What does it mean to have a dialogue? What are the ingredients of an open dialogue? What does it mean to sit together in a time of ecological urgency? How can the voices of non-human animals be included in our dialogue? How can democracy feel when it is not debated in halls of power, but embodied in small acts of listening, responding, and imagining otherwise? Around the symposion table the performance explores dialogue not as a tool for agreement but as a fragile, necessary ritual—an open invitation to think, dream, and act together.

]eco.philia.sym.posion[ invites the audience to participate in an intimate ritual of reminiscence, action and sharing. They are given an opportunity to rethink and experience their connection to the natural environment and to consider what it means to rebuild their friendship (philia) with nature (home/eco). The term ‘ecophilia’ can be considered as the love for the place where all beings live, that is, the Earth and nature.

The degradation of natural sources and the environmental crisis are dramatic manifestations of the disturbance of our relationship with nature. How can we restore our friendship (philia) with our home (eco), nature? What does it mean to love nature? Can we think of sustainability as a healing project? What are the myths that are cultivated, and how can we dismantle the ‘myth of progress’?

]eco.philia.sym.posion[ takes place around a table in the form of an intimate dinner, where whilst the audio-visual media is used to enhance the immersive atmosphere. Through the embodied knowledge that is built collectively and the value of sharing, ]eco.philia.sym.posion[ constructs a new narrative that opposes the dystopian landscape and invites us to imagine a different future.

Presented at ECOPHILIA NOW International Festival, PLYFA, October 2024

Creative team: Barbara Bridger, Noèlia Diaz-Vicedo, Geo Kalogeropoulou, Eirini Margariti, Hari Marini, George Portokalis, Andreas Tsanakas
Music: Geo Kalogeropoulou, Serafeim Kontonasios (aka Bias)
Performers: Barbara Bridger, Yro Michalakakou, Sevi Staikou, Eirini Margariti, Hari Marini 
Video: Georgia Kalogeropoulou

Presented at Thessaloniki Fringe Festival, May 2024

Creative team: Barbara Bridger, Noèlia Diaz-Vicedo, Geo Kalogeropoulou, Eirini Margariti, Hari Marini, George Portokalis, Andreas Tsanakas
Video & soundscape: Georgia Kalogeropoulou
Artistic & technical support: Yro Michalakakou
Performers: Barbara Bridger, Evi Cherouvim, Eirini Glambedaki, Rania Mprilaki, Sevi Staikou

Interviews and Reviews

Naya Papapanou – Boem Radio (February 2025)

Interview with Rafiq Abdeen – RADIOKOINOTITES

Article by Maro Triantafyllou – EPOHI Newspaper (23 November 2024)

]sym.biosis.sym.posion[ focuses on the intersection of performance space with participatory practices from feminist perspectives in times of crisis. Socio-political circumstances that reinforce borders, spatial power, gender inequalities, environmental degradation, accompanied by the uncertainty of the post-pandemic era have reshaped our involvement in public life and the dynamics of human interaction.

]sym.biosis.sym.posion[ asks questions about living space and the value of collective action. What it means to assemble, to find ourselves in the same space and time, to share, to construct a new narrative and to imagine a different future.

]sym.biosis.sym.posion[ takes place around a table that travels to various locations in the city and ends in an intimate dinner at the performance space. The audience is invited to participate in discussions that include a series of philosophical questions and provocations relating to public life, collective action, gender, diversity, ecophilia, cultural and spatial politics.

First presented at the Audio-visual Arts Festival 2023, Department of Audiovisual Arts, Ionian University, May 2023

Creative team: PartSuspended
Barbara Bridger, Noelia Diaz-Vicedo, Georgia Kalogeropoulou, Serafeim Kontonasios, Hari Marini, Yro Michalakakou