FLOW – Long duration performance in public space

In 2023, with the long-duration performance “24 hours in the city | Like a Shadow | Thessaloniki”, the artist Alexandros Michail, walking in public spaces “like a shadow” for 24 hours gauged social interaction with the unfamiliar through his body, provoking countless and varied reactions from a very broad audience. The performance went viral, and people of all ages and social classes spoke about the shadow man” and recognized him in the streets.

https://vimeo.com/user171558113

This year, continuing his research on the dynamics of human body interaction with public space, the artist introduces to the audience of Thessaloniki the long-duration performance FLOW, a physical exploration of the dialectical tension between the internal and the external, the private and the public. Self-restricting within an open spherical architectural structure placed in busy locations throughout Thessaloniki (like an inverted panopticon), Michail transforms himself into an exhibit. A living sculpture in perpetual flow, constantly altering shapes in a slow but steady manner. Combining his training in mime dynamics, physical theater and dance as well as his experience as a model for artists, he will allow his body to move autonomously, like in free association, in a state of “total participation”. One movement follows another, governed by an internal logic without conscious involvement, entering the absolute present and a state of unified fluidity, where everything merges: inside and outside, above and below, environment and self, swirling in a vortex of increasing vulnerability within the public space. It is a physical and spiritual trial of immersion and emergence, inspired by Pre-Socratic philosophy and rites of passage, reminding us that the only constant in the physical world, in life and in human experience is continual change.