• /3
    PHOTO: DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU
  • An interview with Klimentini Vounelaki that appeared in the programme of the 11th Kalamata International Dance Festival (2005).

    What is Black Box?
    It is me, talking.

    Just you talking?
    Visual aids will also be used to exemplify the points I make.

    What drove you to talk now about the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games?
    I clearly still feel the need to talk about how this production was designed and executed. My hope is that this discussion with the public will cure me once and for all.

    Why call it Black Box?
    Because it is something we open to discover the causes of a crash.

    Why do you say "crash"?
    The presentation of these ideas promised something explosive. It was a fateful collision.

    Your work on the Opening Ceremony had an amazing impact. You certainly managed to "maximise your audience."
    It was an amazing experience... Many have said that it sparked a re-examination of the Greek national psyche. It seems it acted as a mirror, offering an idealised portrait of the nation, as was its duty.

    Given that it was a hit with the public, why analyse it at all?
    I don't know... Because it was a public commission on a massive scale, and because a level-headed look at the processes behind the production could perhaps prove to be an interesting topic of discussion.

    But such a dissection of the facts destroys the magic of our first impressions, does it not?
    It either destroys the magic completely, or it gives it depth. What is important here is that this work was not so much the result of inspiration, but of design.

    In the wake of such huge success, will you be entering this discussion with a degree of self-satisfaction?
    I come with a lot of unanswered questions and devoid of all sentimentality, ready to dissect the ceremony with medical precision.

2005 / BLACK BOX / A TALK ON THE CREATION OF THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE ATHENS 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES
 

Production: Kalamata International Dance Festival
75 minutes
Given: 24 July 2005, at the 11th Kalamata International Dance Festival - Kalamata Castle Amphitheatre (Kalamata - Greece)

Speaker: Dimitris Papaioannou
Production Co-ordinator: Tina Papanikolaou
Production Assistant: Yorghos Matskaris