Greece 2022

Loukia Alavanou represents Greece at the 59th Venice Biennale with a contemporary revision of a greek drama translated into a VR film. In Sophocles’ Greek drama “Oedipus at Colonus”, the aged and mortally ill Oedipus is accompanied by his daughter and sister Antigone to Colonus, a sacred mountain near Athens. This is where he wishes to die. For the first time, he goes against the will of the gods, who were responsible for his tragic fate and life. So he chooses Colonus, a holy place consecrated by the gods, as his final resting place. However, the people of Athens intend to deny him this wish, considering him unworthy.

Today, the Roma who live in the western part of the city, not far from Colonus, also struggle against their fate. These nomads, who usually do not possess any citizenship, are prevented from being buried near their last place of residence by the Greek authorities. In Loukia Alavanou’s most recent VR film, members of this Roma community, who occupy a shantytown on the outskirts of Athens, play the roles of the drama, becoming its amateur actors.