Proimion 2026
Proimion (“proem” in Greek) is a 20- minute
site-specific performance conceived for the FERTILE exhibition space. Serving as a prelude to the film Baccanti, the work unveils the original state of a traumatized body, tracing the threshold between wound, memory, and transformation. Female figures remain trapped within the dynamics of the male gaze, displayed like captive animals within a museum-like environment of white rooms, neon lighting, and frontal observation.
Three performers, each occupying a separate room, wear garments covered in white paint that blend into the surrounding architecture.
The initial poses are rigid and controlled, as prescribed by a manual of proper etiquette. The bodies repeatedly perform a sequence of movements inspired by erotic and provocative poses, drawing on a stereotyped language of femininity, while their gestures are constrained by stiff, restrictive garments.
As the performance unfolds, this image gradually fractures: the bodies move from a state of control toward ecstasy, initiating an animalistic and grotesque transformation.
Each performer engages with a fetish-object—domestic and symbolic elements that become instruments of resistance and rebellion. The performance ends in suspension, finding its evolution in the film Baccanti, where the process of transformation reaches its climax.
Proimion (“proem” in Greek) is a 20- minute
site-specific performance conceived for the FERTILE exhibition space. Serving as a prelude to the film Baccanti, the work unveils the original state of a traumatized body, tracing the threshold between wound, memory, and transformation. Female figures remain trapped within the dynamics of the male gaze, displayed like captive animals within a museum-like environment of white rooms, neon lighting, and frontal observation.
Three performers, each occupying a separate room, wear garments covered in white paint that blend into the surrounding architecture.
The initial poses are rigid and controlled, as prescribed by a manual of proper etiquette. The bodies repeatedly perform a sequence of movements inspired by erotic and provocative poses, drawing on a stereotyped language of femininity, while their gestures are constrained by stiff, restrictive garments.
As the performance unfolds, this image gradually fractures: the bodies move from a state of control toward ecstasy, initiating an animalistic and grotesque transformation.
Each performer engages with a fetish-object—domestic and symbolic elements that become instruments of resistance and rebellion. The performance ends in suspension, finding its evolution in the film Baccanti, where the process of transformation reaches its climax.