Yorgos Sapountzis and the city as a stage
Somewhere in Lichtenberg, between the famous Dong Xuang Center and other industrial areas, is the studio of Yorgos Sapountzis. And that’s what we’re looking for! However, it is so well hidden that we find Yorgos waiting for us only on the second try. He welcomes us in the courtyard and accompanies us through the building, across a small roof terrace and into his wonderfully hidden studio. Here, countless models, printed fabrics, metal rods, figurines and many small curiosities are gathered – and we also find a comfortable place in a sofa corner.
Yorgos comes from Athens, the cradle of European theater, which fills him with pride. You can feel his fascination and love for theater very much! Even as a child he loved art, painted a lot and knew that he would become an artist one day. During his studies he did an exchange semester at the UdK in Berlin, which he then extended for another 6 months – and extended again. In the meantime he has been living here for twenty years!
We ask him if in such a hidden studio art is also created that hides something. To which Yorgos laughs: “I don't hide anything, I show!”
In the center of the room is a large model of an amphitheater made of paper. It is the amphitheater in Epidauros in Peloponnese, which is considered one of the first theaters in the world. And for this, Yorgos has made a stage design. Yorgos tells us that for him the city is actually also like a stage and we, who move around in it, are always part of a great performance. For Yorgos, the memory of a city and the encounters with its architecture become the material from which he tells or builds stories. In his performances and installations, all kinds of things that he encounters in everyday life appear. Because Yorgos likes to find and track down things, like the life-size plush figure of a dog that stands among his art. It was found by a carpenter on the street in Münster and then became part of an installation by Yorgos. Or the Easter egg that, in Greek tradition, has been hanging in a corner at the very top of the wall for at least six years (and does not escape our attentive eyes).
Together we talk about sculptures and statues that we have already seen in Berlin: We remember the lions in the Tiergarten or the horses on the Brandenburg Gate, but also the naked figures from the park in Lichtenberg, which are printed on fabrics everywhere here. And now we’re painting them all on fabric. Fabric is one of Yorgos’ favorite materials, because it belongs to the body and the body belongs to the performance. Yorgos also does performances; once, for example, he was a human fountain. The fact that the audience is present is important, because the time he spends together with the audience and the empathy that can arise is what fascinates him so much about it.
Then Yorgos sits down on the floor of the studio and invites us to continue painting on his white shirt. And it’s so many things at once: irritating, new, funny, close, fun. Afterwards, Yorgos admits that it wasn’t that easy, that it’s actually always a challenge to get in front of an audience. But afterwards, as he stands there in his freshly painted shirt and says goodbye to us, he seems very proud and satisfied that he has once again dared...
