The work The Stage Is Empty: Part Ι and II (2021) is presented to Kolonos Theatre and Hill on October 9, 10 and November 20. The work is a new commission by NEON to artist Chrysanthi Koumianaki for Portals and expands beyond the exhibition building, the former Public Tobacco Factory, into public space, aiming to create a dialogue with the neighbourhood and to further engage with its inhabitants.

The first part of The Stage Is Empty is composed of textile works in the form of banners hung at first on existing pillars in various parts of the Kolonos Hill and now exhibited in the courtyard of the former Public Tobacco Factory.

Τhe second part of the work takes place in the Theater of Kolonos and is a play realised exclusive through light.

Koumianaki uses light as a means of translation and rendition of dramaturgy, emotion, speech, expression and movement to create a performance. Light is seen as a code that highlights, directs and visualises an action. The theatre stage remains seemingly empty yet a non-material performance takes place on it. Viewers are invited to imagine it or invent a performance of their own by coming on stage. At the same time at certain spots on Kolonos Hill actors perform ‘in conversation’ with the play on stage and with whatever is happening in the theatre’s immediate surroundings.

By reversing inside and outside, as well as actions and roles, The Stage Is Empty: Part Ι and II creates a game; it shifts our perception and challenges the conventions that rule both our everyday routines and attendance at theatre performances. It deals with the reversal of our way of life during the last year – the transformation of sociability, conviviality and coexistence to social distancing and isolation – as well as with the invention of survival tactics. Koumianaki approaches the traumatic nature of this experience in an empathetic way and refers with humour to the unknown future that, in a way, we are all trying to decipher through signs.