Fall 2020 & Spring 2021
After a much needed summer break, ONASSIS AiR, the (inter)national artistic research residency program in Athens convenes for the first time the school year of Infinite Rehearsals. Inspired by the title of a novel by Wilson Harris, The School of Infinite Rehearsals, is conceived as a collective research program focused on two thematic areas we find urgent to explore: identities & ecologies.
Having received more than 800 applications from artists, designers, activists, collectives, educators, lawyers, performance and film makers, economists, philosophers, and other practitioners, this year’s curriculum will be co-shaped by 23 selected participants, the conveners of Fall & Spring Movement groups, as well as other collaborators and guests.
Carrying on with the ethos of an un-disciplined, artist-run community of peers dedicated to artistic process towards a less product-obsessed arts ecosystem, the selection of The School of Infinite Rehearsals was done through a peer-to-peer process by the ONASSIS AiR 2019/20 participants.
The School of Infinite Rehearsals is composed of four Movement Groups, each consisting of six participants who will engage in a collective “rehearsal,” bringing their own “instrument” in the form of their existing practice that clearly engages with one of the research topic areas in a radical way.
In Fall 2020: Identities annihilated, performance theorist Hypatia Vourloumis will convene Movement I & Il. Following Edouard Glissant, we will seek to attend to the ways in which identities cannot be reduced or made transparent. In Spring 2021: Everything equally evolved, writer and artist James Bridle will convene Movement III & IV exploring how the tools we have at hand be reimagined to bring us down to Earth.
All accepted participants will receive a research fee, housing & travel to/from Athens—if from abroad—as well as a collective research budget, and other resources.
Fall 2020: Identities annihilated
Movement I: September 14–October 25, 2020
Federica Bueti, Anastasia Diavasti, Moriah Evans, Daniel Hui, Sumugan Sivanesan, Kostas Tsioukas
Movement II: November 2–December 13, 2020
Noor Abed, Alex Baczynski-Jenkins, Natassa Dourida, Latent Community, Will Rawls, Myrto Tsilimpounidi
Spring 2021: Everything equally evolved
Movement III: February 17–March 31, 2021
Tristan Bera, Marc Delalonde, Samuel Hertz, Lito Skopeliti, Ingrid Vranken, Lydia Xynogala
Movement IV: April 7–May 19, 2021
Dennis Dizon, Bryony Dunne, Faidon Papadakis, Kenneth Pietrobono, Miriam Simun
In order to not become insular, fragmented or introverted, ONASSIS AiR collaborates with like-minded institutions, artist-run initiatives, fantastical and real experiments, in Greece and in other parts of the world. The participation of Moriah Evans, Kenneth Pietrobono and Will Rawls was made possible through a collaboration with Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), that since 1973 has been the champion for independent artists in New York City and the cultural life force of Lower Manhattan, and ONASSIS USA dedicated to culture, community, and education, with projects that can effectively inspire social change and justice across borders.
ONASSIS AiR is an initiative of the Onassis Foundation, a cross-pillar collaboration between the Onassis Culture & Onassis Education pillars of the Foundation.
ONASSIS AiR team: Ash Bulayev, Georgia Giannakea, Myrto Katsimicha and Nefeli Myrodia.
