The Grove of Synergy is a duo exhibition & performance at the intersection of voice, video, live poetry and movement.

 

The project started at the Ancient Olive Grove in Aegina, Greece,  where we spent three weeks during winter 2023 exploring the synergy between man and nature, the tactile power of fragility and resilience, and specifically the synergy between the body of man and that of the tree:

To do this, we decided to capture images of the environment as stop motion film, in our quest to express the fragmented but perpetual cycle of life and death: the images encompassed the entire circumference of the olive’s trunk on its outer and inner perimeter. To do so, we had to move synchronously with the spiral of the tree’s circumference, in slow motion, constantly sliding back and forth between four palms. Here, the elements of space, time and bodies in motion were manifested in the proper action.

To further explore the dimension of time and timelessness, vulnerability and innocence, we filmed, over many hours, the human body led in silence, still, sunk between the huge olive roots. The images were then fast-forwarded.

The accelerated breathing and rapid spastic movement of the greenery, bursting through the roots, are in dialogue with the image of the solid roots as a symbol of a ground, a support.

The third video shows from afar the two bodies dancing, infinitely vibrating, amidst the vastness of the vivid landscape, in the background of the open sky, hinting at a regard for a different Consciousness.

We decided to present this video on a mobile device to highlight the paradox between the immediacy of applied technology and the timelessness of nature. Presented both as part of the performance and shared with the public via a QR code, the image is brought closer to the spectator and can be viewed also in their own time.

 

All sounds during the performance come from nature and our voices, to enhance the sense of the body of nature and man.

 

Concept, creation and performance:

Dorit Weintal, Iannis Psallidakos.

Poem: Dorit Weintal

Translation in Greek : Iannis Psallidakos

Co-produced by Weintal & Psallidakos, Public Benefit Company of Aegina-KEDA, the Historical and Folklore museum of Aegina, Greece

 

This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.