Crisis, Ruptures and the Rapture of an Imperceptible Aesthetics: A Recent History of the Hellenic Festival

Abstract

The focus of this article lies on the recent history of the Hellenic Festival, discussing the so-called new phase after 2006, when Giorgos Loukos took over as artistic director. While the Festival claimed an international profile promoting collaborations with major European festivals and theatre companies, its policies had to go through restructuring due to the raging economic crisis. The years from 2010 to the present marked a rupture with previous discourses and politics, turning the Festival into a topos of transformation and fluidity which seems to elude certain conditions of production and reception pertaining to its past history. The article presents an inquiry into the official policies as much as the artistic practices which constitute this topos, while also mapping out the emergent trends which produce its particular dynamic.