NECROPOLIS

ARKADI ZAIDES/INSTITUT DES CROISEMENTS (IL/FR)

Since 1993, UNITED for Intercultural Action, a network of hundreds of anti-racist organizations from all over Europe, has been compiling a list of refugees and migrants who lost their lives on their way to the continent. As of June 2020, when the last updated version was released, the list included information on 40,555 reported deaths. The total toll is certainly much higher. Tragedies such as these are usually handled with a standardised and almost automatic institutional response: pathologists and forensic experts are employed to collect data from the bodies and living relatives in order to enable identification. However, this procedure has not been followed for most of the victims of the current migration crisis on Europe’s doorstep. At the bottom of the sea, on the coasts and inland, a mass of decomposed bodies tells the story of a multitude whose ghost hovers over European territory. Through their research, Arkadi Zaides and his team conceive of an immense virtual memorial site documenting and honouring the remains of those whose deaths are still largely unknown. This growing archive, this map, this invisible city of the dead extends in all directions through space and time, linking the mythologies, histories, geographies and anatomies of those who have been admitted to Necropolis. Freedom of movement must be restored to those admitted to Europe – the dead. “No-body-left-to-dance”. It is exactly that no-body, the body of Necropolis, that Zaides wants to bring back to life.

NECROPOLIS concept & direction Arkadi Zaides
dramaturgy Igor Dobricic
research assistant Emma Gioia
performers Arkadi Zaides, Emma Gioia
researchers Aktina Stathaki, Amber Maes, Ans Van Gasse, Arkadi
Zaides, Benjamin Pohlig, Carolina-Maria Van Thillo, Doreen Kutzke, Elvura Quesada, Emma Gioia, Frédéric Pouillaude, Gabriel Smeets, Giorgia Mirto, Gosia Juszczak, Igor Dobricic, Joris Van Imschoot, Julia Asperska, Juliane Beck, Maite Zabalza, Maria Sierra Carretero, Mercedes Roldan, Myriam Van Imschoot, Myrto Katsiki, Pepa Torres Perez, Sarah Leo, Simge Gücük, Sunniva Vikør Egenes, Yannick Bosc, Yari Stilo
production Simge Gücük / Institut des Croisements
coproduction Théâtre de la Ville (FR), Montpellier Dance Festival
(FR), Charleroi Danse (BE), CCN2 Centre chorégraphique national de Grenoble (FR) residencies support CCN – Ballet de Lorraine (FR), STUK (BE), PACT Zollverein (DE), WP Zimmer (BE), Workspacebrussels (BE), Cie THOR (BE), PimOff, Milan (IT), Co-laBo at Les Ballets C de la B (BE) support for experimentation RAMDAM, UN CENTRE D’ART (FR)
Arkadi Zaides / Institut des Croisements is supported by French Ministry of Culture – DRAC Auvergne Rhône-Alpes.

SUN 4.10 .2020 | 20.30
PALCO TEATRO LAC – LUGANO

22.00 After-show meeting with the audience,
moderator Simon Valdwogel