Action: The audience walks into a field and encounters the artist in a white robe sitting at its middle, with crossed legs and his arms resting over. After a period of time, the artist stands up, revealing a black folder on which he has been sitting. Walking behind it, he picks up a white A4 paper sheet with his right arm from inside the folder, that he then holds at its top with his extended arm. The artist walks up to one of the audience members and positions the piece of paper horizontally, to be held tightly by the viewer from its side edges with extended arms. Looking at the middle of the paper, the artist suddenly hits it with his right fist, in order to tear it in two, leaving the pieces of paper in the viewer’s hands. If the piece of paper is not torn from the first try, the artist similarly repeats this movement. He then bows in from of the viewer and returns to the middle of the field, where he unties the robe and uses the white belt in order to tie it around a part of his face. Next, he picks up a piece of yellow A4 paper from the folder, repeats the same series of interaction with the audience, and eventually returns at the field’s middle in order to reveal a yellow belt from inside the robe, that he then ties onto his face. This process is repeated another six times, with similarly coloured pieces of paper and belts, in orange, green, blue, purple, red and brown colour. For the final round, the artist picks up the black plastic folder, which he then places in the hands of a viewer, attempting to tear in two with his fist. After failing to do so, the artist takes the plastic folder and tears it with his hands, leaving its pieces at the ground. The last black belt is then tied onto the artist’s eyes, as it is the only facial part still uncovered. When completely blindfolded, he attempts to exit the field by dragging his feet onto the red soil, forming a pattern of lines that lead out of it. Once he has reached the field’s concrete surrounding, he takes all hanging parts of the nine belts and divides it into two parts at his back. He then attempts to tie these two large bundles together at his waist and takes a final bow.

Knock on wood (Training for performance #1)

Performance / Part of event "ASFA BBQ: Bodies that resist" / Athens School of Fine Arts / Athens - GR / June - 2015 / Duration: 40'

Material: artist’s body, white robe, white leggings, 9 coloured karate belts (in order of ranking ascendance from white to black), 8 A4 coloured paper sheets (in similar coulour ascendance), black plastic folder, audience members

Photo: Andreas Iacovou