The Laboratory of Narrative Research (LNR) is a teaching and research unit that is part of the School of English at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. It has been designed to bring together scholars and researchers from across the humanities, the social sciences and other scientific fields who have a special interest in the workings and the politics of narrative production.
Lab Director: Dr Effie Yiannopoulou
Virtual Art Communities: Limitation or Freedom?
Maria Angelidaki and Pavlos Nikolakopoulos
“Virtual Art Communities”, a dialogic session based on openness, discusses the audience reception, the shift from personal expression to collective creation and the changes in boundaries and knowledge fields. In this context, the two speakers explore the potentialities that the global communication offers in the experimentations with the intangible as well as the limitations imposed upon corporeality, openness, and fluid forms. Finally, the session raises questions as regards the form changes in education in the virtual environment of the cyberspace, characterized as this is by ambiguity, fluidity and randomness
From the Big Screen to the Small One: The End of Cinema is not Near
Sotirios Bampatzimopoulos and Geli Mademli
Movies frequently preach that the end of the world is just around the corner. But the question is… what happens to the movie industry when there is actually a real pandemic? How have our movie going habits been affected and what does this mean for film festivals, independent movies, blockbusters and digital platforms? Is this a temporary phase or will it go on forever and ever? Obviously we don’t have the answers. We hardly know whether we are asking the right questions. All we can do is wonder, guess and hope for the best.
There is nothing new to say. Let’s see/watch together
A dialogue between Martha Bouziouri and Amalia Kontoyianni
The attempt to decode the conditions, the reactions and the possible impact of Covid-19 on theatre and artists is, by all means, useful. Since last March, artists have developed a number of initiatives, all seeking to answer a basic question emerging: What kind of theatre do we turn to now? Many issues have arisen: theatre in a digital environment, the lack of cultural politics, theatre in public space, our reaction and our place within a globalized socio-political context, and many others. With our future turning bleaker and conditions worsening. there is no answer sufficient enough to pacify and cater for our basic need for expression and contact. Our discussion will attempt to highlight those elements of the pre-epidemic theatre crisis that could resonate with today’s condition of required silence and pause.
Old Wine in New Bottles(?): Literature in Fusion with Social Media
Vasiliki Misiou and Dionisis Marinos
Literature generated in the lived moment, when everything changes in an instant. Do (introspective) writings following fragmented impressions and fragile emotions cohere? Can they reach out to readers-followers who also strive to escape the effects of lockdown? From the blank page to the Facebook page posts, is there any convergence? Can social media act as cultural intermediaries? These are some of the questions that will be addressed during our discussion of the spaces offered by social media platforms for the production and dissemination of innovative creative works and of the possibilities that (may) arise at the intersections of literature and digital culture amidst a global health crisis.
Literature and Art Narratives under Lockdown: Panels
