The Exponential Festival Presents: Epikoinonìa

THIS PROJECT WILL BE PRESENTED ON YOUTUBE AND NOT IN-PERSON.

100% of donations made during the event and/or earmarked for Epikoinonìa go to the artists.

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The Exponential Festival presents Epikoinonìa

by Rawya El Chab

Welcome to Thebes 3023, Capital of the Milky way! In Thebes, we measure the distance between our citizens in XO. Organizing a video call with your mates can be a piece of cake, or furniture, or art.

Rawya El Chab

Aline Salloum

Lianne Souki

Tala Salman

As the plague ravages the galactic capital Thebes, 4 friends living in different time zones, try to organize a group call. In a hyper techno universe, friendship remains the only tangible rope to hang on to. But when the lines of communication blur, contagion becomes the expression of the future! Epikoinonìa (communication, transmission, and contagion in Greek,) is a virtual interactive exploration of communication, in the age of virtual social networks. With the Epic of Oedipus as a backdrop, this piece is not interested in royalty, but in the debates and discussions happening between the chorus.

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Rawya El Chab is a Brooklyn-based performance artist and theater-maker. A multidisciplinary storyteller, Rawya’s career trajectory combines classical training in theatre with contemporary art and community engagement, with extensive experiences in physical, interactive, and street interventions. She has performed in major productions, working with leading theatre and cinema directors in Beirut, Lebanon. Coming of age in the aftermath of the Civil War in Beirut, she has come to understand and experience theater and art as a critical space and practice where the state of emergency is suspended to give place for social, ethical and aesthetic reflections. Her philosophy and vision emphasize the democratization of the tools of theater as a means to respond and dismantle oppression and the reclaiming of public space as an extension of art-practice. Her process is immersed in ludic practices, engaging with ideas and concepts, and developing performances as a social commentary.

Image Credit: Tala Salman