Eleni Kolioppoulou
ELENI KOLLIOPOULOU | BBDB (BBEYOND DERRY BRANCH) PERFORMANCE MEET| DERRY | 2018 | PHOTOGRAPHY | COURTESY OF BBEYOND
Eleni Kolliopoulou is a visual artist interested mainly in the intersection between Performativity and Philosophy. Initially Kolliopoulou trained as a painter, her research was concentrated in the abstract relation between elements as colour, lines, and shapes. From the very start her strongest interest was the movement occurring in the surface and stimulating the spatial awareness of the perceiver.
Since 2005 Kolliopoulou has been attending several performance art workshops and classes in contemporary dance (mainly release technique), physical theatre (Leqoc), Contact Improvisation, Yoga, Aikido and Butoh.
In parallel Kolliopoulou experiments with the medium of video, as a natural process of union between the image and movement. She has created numerous video-performances, either staging herself or directing performers and working/ editing the material generated in its filmic language.
In March 2020 Kolliopoulou was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for her practice-based research in Arts hosted by Ulster University. The research was focusing to psychophysical aspects of Butoh and its potential to enrich immersion in installation art.
STATEMENT
The topics of my works are poetic and philosophical, and they tackle indirectly social issues. I create atmospheres to express feelings and thoughts having my lived experience as a starting point. Performance-based art is a medium that I use because I perceive the body as a container and conveyor of body-mind intelligence where different strata of experience take place and unfold. My work pays much attention to the site-specific dimension of the performance/ installation which I perceive as a live organism in constant modification: a togetherness.