Under the title Tonight we Improvise, the EIGHT / ΤΟ ΟΧΤΩ proposes a two-day public program in the courtyard of the Drama School of the Greek National Theatre | School of Athens – Irene Papas as part of NEON’s exhibition space of togetherness, on Thursday 19 and Saturday 21 September 2024.

Inspired from Luigi Pirandello’s play with the same name, EIGHT / ΤΟ ΟΧΤΩ aims to highlight the cruciality of collective processes, public discourse and, especially, improvisation as a means of social transformation and agitation, collective and personal awareness on key current issues.

The programme is divided in two parts: On day one, we use ‘creative writing’ to collectively write and create new texts in the light of ecological, feminist and LGBTQ+ issues; on day two, we use methodologies and improvised-directed forms of ‘collective reading’ over a series of texts and materials. By approaching environmental and social care issues through the verbal diptych ‘we read – we write’, we wish to see how knowledge and action can be produced through embodied collective improvisations. This alternative school is hosted by invited artists and scholars as well as EIGHT  / ΤΟ ΟΧΤΩ creative team.

Thursday, 19 September

16.00 Performing writing | We share processes, write and edit lyrics and words around environmental and queer hybrids. Coordinated by Phoebe Giannisi and Vassilis Noulas

18.00 Listening collectively | The event takes as its starting point the text of Pier Paolo Pasolini about the disappearance of the fireflies (an allegory about the end of political life brought by neo-fascism and capitalism), but also the reflections of the philosopher Georges Didi-Huberman about reclaiming their survival through collectivities, communities, resistances and friendships. How can we listen again to such resistances that are often inaudible and invisible, not because they do not exist but because we have forgotten how to trace them? A collective listening focusing on the theme of how we listen to everyday survivals that take place around us. Concept, Texts: Anna Papaeti, Sound design & production: Nikos Arvanitis

19.00 Tonight we improvise | Collective sharing of texts with a performative attitude and open microphones.

Saturday, 21 September

* Day dedicated to Zack Kostopoulos / Zackie Oh, activist of the LGBTI community and HIV-positive people who was murdered on 21-9-2018.

16.00 Performing reading | Collective reading of texts and lyrics around the queer experience, love, trauma, and everyday stuff. Text selection and coordination by Alkisti Efthymiou

18.00 I can’t name it because it will die (30 min) | What’s the sound of a dying glacier; can we still fall in love while everything’s on fire, or all we can scrape by is “emo horny”? A performance on the intangibles of falling in love, our fragile emotional bonds with the natural world, and climate anxiety and grief. Performance by Chris Vrettos

19.00 Necklace of feminist and queer poetry | Participating poets: Krystalli Glyniadakis, Nikolas Koutsodontis, Vassilis Noulas, MKX, Mochi, Vasileia Oikonomou, Elena Polygeni, Eugenia Tzirtzilaki, Olga Vereli.