I_LEFT TRILOGY

The 2023 Εleusis European Capital of Culture presents, for the first time together, the artistic projects of the trilogy Mystery 13 I_LEFT, conceived and directed by Yolanda Markopoulou, completing a multi-year long artistic research, focused on refugee, uprooting and starting over at a new place. Admission is free.

Three different historical and georgraphical routes, two site-specific performances, I_LEFT Asia Minor at the area of Synoikismos of Upper Elefsina and I_LEFT PONTOS at the OASIS Former Campsite, as well as the multimedia installation I_LEFT at the Old Canteen, each one of them with its own legacy come alive together through first-person narrations.

Percecutions, refugee and forced relocations form the core of the trilogy, a result of artistic reasearch and creation in the city of Elefsina, started in 2014. The experiences of the participants in each performance are reshaped and presented through different artistic media. The trilogy distilles a century of refugee stories, from the Asia Minor refugees and the Pontians to today's refugee and immigrants from Asia. Elefsina is the locus, the point of reception of the displaced, and the space where the audience partakes in a unique experience.

The performance I_LEFT Asia Minor is a distinctive chronicle of the history of the Asia Minor refugees of Upper Elefsina, with their descentants as the protagonists. The bits of the narratives comprise the palimphset of the pefromance, guiding the audience in the shacks and alleyways of Synoikismos. There, a new version of the story is revealed and presented in the form of an event combing performing arts with fine arts and digital technology. The performance has already been presented five times and the occasion marks the final celebratory presentation in Elefsina.

I_LEFT Pontos shines a light to a forgotten period of greek history. The narrations, unfolding with tearful eyes but also with humour, reflect on the cross-generational traume caused by the genocide of the people of Pontos, costing thousand of lives. The unpredictable mash-up of narration balances testimonies, memories and dreams and unravels under the big trees of OASIS former campite, at Upper Elefsina, a neighborhood built by the Pontians.

The trilogy is completed by the multimedia installation presented by Yolanda Markopoulou and Station Athens theatre group. A new version of the performance I _LEFT which was presented in 2018 in the area of Synoikismos of Upper Elefsina and precipitated the research and the two performances that followed. Video material of the performance will be presented in an innovative multimedia installation featuring the actors of Station Athens group from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.