Thanos Vovolis

MA, Fontys University, The Netherlands

My main artistic research projects comprise:

• ‘Prosopon’. The Acoustical Mask in Ancient Greek Tragedy and Contemporary Theatre. Dramatic Institute 1990-1995. Research on the mask in ancient Greek theatre: mask and acoustics, mask and the performer, mask and the chorus, mask and the text, mask and time, mask and space.
• ‘The Mask in the European Theatre of the 20th Century’. Mask and drama, mask and theatricality, mask and actor training in the works of Copeau, Meyerhold, Brecht, Lecoq, Mnouchkine. In conjunction with the research project, I was appointed Visiting Professor and Artistic Research Director for The Centre of Mask Research, Dramatic Institute, Stockholm, Sweden 2007-2010.
• The Double ontology of Public Space: The Zappeion gardens in Athens as a representation of national, heteronormative identity and a space of queer desire. Performing Public Space, Fontys University, The Netherlands, 2019-2020.
• ‘Performance Activism and Citizenship’. The research examines the emergence of new forms of citizenship as a performative expressive practice. A practice that gained momentum in many European countries during the 21st century, emphasizing the performative dimension of citizenship as well as the artistic value of activism. Performing Public Space, Fontys University, The Netherlands, 2019-2020.

My current research project is on:

• Mask acoustics and polyphonic singing communities. Polyphony as a collectiveness of expression that constitutes unique, dense, and dissonant sonic phenomena, where the establishment of never-fading harmonics and overtones creates intense soundscapes. NorwegianArcheological Institute, Athens.
• Eugene O’Neill’s masked dramas. The research situates the plays within the 20th-century drama where the mask is essentially a paradigm for the crisis of the Self. A crisis is usually expressed by and based on the fundamental face / mask dichotomy, where the mask is perceived in contrast to the human face, the last resort of the idea of the unified self. The Eugene O’Neill International Society, USA.