DANIELLE GEORGIOU

As an artist, the mediums I’ve used include dance performances, theatre productions, online ritual experiments, site-specific public art projects, video art, and many, many balloons. I would describe my aesthetic as rhapsodic, anxious, and purposefully silly. The unifying characteristic of my work is employing humor and play to explore challenging subjects and the intensely personal nature of identity. I combine avant-garde performance art, contemporary dance, comedy, and cultural conversations.

 

I am inspired by the long history of immersive theatre and interactive performance artwork, artists like VALIE EXPORT, Carolee Schneemann, Ragnar Kjartansson, Joan Jonas, Marina Abramovic, and Bruce Nauman, who use their bodies as the site of commentary. I am inspired by choreographers Pina Bausch, Lloyd Newson, and Mark Dendy. I am also influenced by aspects of Robert Wilson’s theatrical approaches, Diamanda Galás’ performance style, Cindy Sherman’s photography, Chris Marker’s editing style, Matthew Barney’s avant-garde techniques, and Guy Bourdin’s highly sexual fashion photographs.

 

I’m interested in making art that responds to the current moment, using my body as the object of performance, or creating collective experiences using multiple bodies as storytellers. Whether in a solo athletic feat or a group dance performance, each piece explores the self as a representation, contemplating the body’s role as a signifier and conveyor of information. The work challenges audiences by scrutinizing the politics of the body, femininity, etiquette, the male gaze, and liberation. Through the interplay of classical theatre, comedy and tragedy, I live in the duality of the mediums. As Samuel Beckett wrote, “Nothing is funnier than unhappiness.”