DARKNESS VISIBLE
an immersive performamce-making workshop by RON ATHEY
with the facilitators:
Hermes Pittakos: stagecrafts, sets , propos, masks
Michele Occelli: Hypnotherapist
Federica Dauri: Choreographer, performer
I lifted the title “Darkness Visible” from the same-named William Styron book, subtitled “A Memoir of Madness”, for the very concept of state of mind that is supposed to stay masked, hidden, invisible. And strong inspiration from Antonin Artaud, from the Theater and the Plague: “All the great Myths are dark, so that one cannot imagine, save in an atmosphere of carnage, torture and bloodshed, all the magnificent Fables which recount to the multitudes the first carnage of essences that appeared in creation.
The theatre, like the plague, is in the image of this carnage and this essential separation. It releases conflicts, disengages powers, liberates possibilities, and if these possibilities and these powers are dark, it is the fault not of the plague nor of the theatre, but of life.” This is an almost impossible era to find meaning and make work. The war on culture resumes in many countries. And from the “inside,” gatekeepers strong-arm the themes of artworks with both funding and programming. Hell a climate to make work, but lets reshuffle the skillset.
We started these workshops as a way to introduce other bodily, or esoteric ways of exploring work (i.e. automatism, hypnosis, somatic therapy, immersion, group experience). Goals to step up, or think bigger, to construct and ignite phenomena.
Besides the facilitators and the labor of 10 immersive days, the magic of positioning of DV in Athens, Greece, besides being in the hometown of our co-founder Hermes and love of the culture, it’s: The ruins, a day trip to the site of the Oracle at Delphi, not to mention the archeology/anthropology museums and Byzantine sites. And our host space PLEX, formerly the site of Communism, is a choice for having enough work space and running long days plus a kino for projections. This installment, supporting all modes of live art, will additionally try to support performance-for-camera projects.
Is open for artists, performers, movers, writers, ritualists, pornterrorists, body hackers. Anyone ready to push the limits of dark, esoteric, sex-positive, and transformative performance.
THEMES: POST-PORN MODERNISM, RITUAL MODES
DISCERNMENT, PROPHECY AND AUTOMATISM; ARCHETYPE
WORK: GHOSTING ART HISTORY.
What you’ll do: how to represent esoteric work on camera, stage, gallery, intervention, what stands in for the intangible, can phenomena be constructed? Is there a new sacred? We will research, build, embody, destroy, support, be supported and leave with a project in motion.
We warmly welcome participants of all abilities. Please note that the venue is only wheelchair accessible on the ground floor & due to the age of the city and limited accessible infrastructure in parts of Athens, full wheelchair access may not always be possible. We’re committed to doing our best to accommodate and support everyone where possible.
Join Ron Athey and facilitators Hermes Pittakos, Michele Occelli, Federica Dauri + Guests for Darkness Visible 2, an immersive 10-day Performance making bootcamp .
This is a deep-dive into experimental performance, ritual, body art, ecstatic states, and collective creation. Expect immersive workshops, one-on-one mentorship, themed excursions, and a final public presentation.
Each day, we begin with somatic warm-ups, vocal exercises, and group hypnosis sessions. Afternoons unfold into research hours, one-on-one mentorship, breakaway groups, and themed seminars: performance for camera, storyboarding, automatism, body fluids in performance, choreography, DIY self-producing, ethics, prop making and more.
Federica Dauri will be leading movement practice, Hermes Pittakos on developing persona through Prop making, stage design, Michele Occelli will guide the group through tools of hypnosis and creative automatism.
Past edition included transformative group excursions, like our philosophical pilgrimage to Elefsina, the ancient seat of initiation. The bootcamp culminates in a public performance pageant style finale showcasing your own work in progress or developed.
No gatekeepers. No gurus. Just the work
work.inquiries: info.darknessvisible@gmail.com
Federica Dauri: My offering as a facilitator of Darkness Visible begins each morning with a deep physical and energetic warm-up , a gentle awakening of the body that prepares participants to enter a state of heightened presence. Through breath, grounding, and subtle energetic activation, the body becomes receptive, attentive, awake, and sensitive.
From this foundation, the workshop unfolds as a research-based exploration of the body as a poetic and perceptive space. Rooted in Butoh, Eurythmy, somatic dance, and performance art, the practice investigates what truly makes a body present , not only its physical form, but the invisible layers of sensation, voice, breath, and energy that shape its being.
Participants deepen internal awareness, refine movement sensitivity, and discover new tools for improvisation, composition, and emotional expression. They access an intuitive physical vocabulary that connects body, memory, and imagination.
This offering welcomes all bodies and opens a space where presence becomes an act of listening, transformation, and embodied truth.