Project Description

Stage Fright

Dimitris Polychroniadis

Stage fright or performance anxiety, is state of anxiety or fear which occurs when an individual is faced with the requirement of performing in front of an audience.

Stage fright symptoms can occur at different levels:

  • Physiological: sweating, altered heart rate, headache, upset stomach, chills, nausea.
  • Cognitive: mental confusion, fear of failure and ridicule.
  • Behavioural: urge to escape from the situation, stuttering, frequent or long silences.

Often, stage fright is associated with social phobia, which is characterised by the following cognitive characteristics:

  • Underestimation of your capabilities
  • Overestimation of the opinion of others
  • Overestimation of the idea of ​​rejection

Source: Βrainly.ph

Nitra Gallery is excited to present the first of the pop-up exhibitions hosted at the new ArtSpark space in Mets, entitled Stage Fright by Dimitris Polychroniadis. The installation created for this first celebratory presentation of Nitra Gallery, deals with issues of exposure. What does it mean to be exposed? How does one feel the public’s gaze upon them? What elements make up his backstage? Dimitris Polychroniadis – a set designer himself, is inspired by his own scenographic reality and addresses the concept of “stage anxiety” and the fear of being the center of attention. With theater as a springboard, it confronts us with the question of whether life itself nothing is more than a stage.

Three elements make up the installation and have been placed along an axis that develops diagonally in the space.

A collection of real objects, placed on the floor, that have “played” in performances. The only elements of the installation that are 1:1 scale; true to life. In them one finds the security of the backstage, where the set designer rightfully belongs.

The viewer is confronted with the back of the structure, which is also the central element of the installation. The viewer recognizes the existence of an inscription, but there is a difficulty in reading it. We are still backstage. The geometry of the wooden structure refers to the backstage of the theater, where there are often structures that hold surfaces (walls, paintings, etc.) in place. In addition, they are on wheels – a common place for stage sets in the theater – which serve for quick movements and changes. The viewer is therefore invited to explore the space in order to find himself in front of the stage. In front of the structure, where one would expect the stage to be, one finds the translucent “curtain”. The stage space has been compressed (disappeared) between the backstage and the curtain. The phobia that swallows the act, or how stage fright swallows the very act of exposure.

The project is completed with the 1:50 scale model, at the end of the diagonal axis, placed frontally, opposite the sign. Viewers are a homogenous, gray, amorphous mass. It’s the looks of people.

The ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’, the ‘private’ and the ‘public’ are separated through the construction. The private,  safe; as opposed to the public. Today we live in an era where social life has become synonymous with the spectacle and everything we live as its mere representation; all features that have been magnified through social media. In such a context, what does it mean to be exposed today and how do we finally place ourself with confidence on our personal “stage” and ultimately on the stage of life? If the way to position oneself confidently is to present everything that is defined as commonly accepted, where is the space for personal expression beyond the expected, and what conditions ensure it?

Demystification, reconciliation, acceptance, courage. Perhaps they are the key words to help us define our own stages in our own stage.

 

 

Dimitris Polychroniadis

Dimitris Polychroniadis is an architect, artist and award winning set designer born in Thessaloniki, 1975. Lives and works in Athens, Greece. He is a qualified Architect with a BA and Diploma of architecture as well as an MA of Urban Design at the University of Greenwich, London. Furthermore, he has acquired an MFA at the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASKT).

As an architect he has worked for a number of years in private architectural practices, obtaining a wide range of experience in design and construction. As a stage designer he has worked for productions of the Greek National Theater, The Greek National Opera, Athens & Epidaurus Festival, The State Theater of Northern Greece, Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Thechnis (Art Theater) and Thission Theater, in collaboration with renowned Greek directors. Since 2011 he has started to make mixed media sculptures that strongly originate from his architectural and theatrical background. He has presented two solo exhibitions (Metamorfosis Gallery 2013 and Eirmos Gallery, 2016) and has participated in group exhibitions, in Greece and abroad.