Series of texts-imprints concerning the participations of the artistic hospitality program theYard.Residency.25 around the theme "the day after", organized by the Performing Arts Center in Xydadiko.
Eleftheria Sokratous (creator, performer) writes about the participation of ISHIOTIKI by Renay Roussou
I sit end to end, on the right, in the first row, across from the one of the mirrors that the place has. I see my face in the glass, but the face of other creatures in the middle of the stone-built area of Xydadikos, who are sitting facing each other and talking. Their casual and personal conversation slowly changes course when Rene asks the creature with the short dyed blond hair what haircut they would like. He puts on his black hairdressing cloak before taking the scissors in his hand and confirming that he was correct through verbal repetition. As time goes on I begin to suspect that the performance is called "Ishiotiki" because it flattens anything straight or linear.
On the wall to my right is a video showing Renee in another spacetime cutting another person's hair while wearing the same black tank top, and the same tool belt around her waist. In the video, René's wool and the face of René alternate with each other and merge with the light of day. At the same time images of another video are projected on my front wall. The image travels to the dead faces in front of me, in painted coats, tufts of hair in various shades, hairstyle catalogs and many other objects that surround the space where I coexist with the audience. Trying to understand where the video is coming from, I find another person in the audience sitting a little further from me holding a camera in his hand to shoot. The image of this video minimizes the distance I have, which notebooks, diaries with writing, and sketches, and figures of indeterminate bodies, awaken her my desire and at the same time my comfort to become indiscernible.
Until I looked around, the wool τ@ ατόμ@ that was being cut in front of me was dry, and Rene's hands began to explore it rhythmically.
Comb, cut, thin, comb, cut, thin, comb, cut, thin, comb, cut, thin
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The recorded voice that is heard is enough to bring various other layers of time into the space. He guides with me τσαι τ@ ηπολοιπ@ θαμών@- in inner thoughts of René τσι in hairdressing experiences that lived the same when he was a small child στι they saw his mom doing what he does now. His voice is interrupted every now and then by a soundscape which is condensed by the wind, the hair dryer, chanting and other sounds of the interior room. My mind is stuck somewhere on the inner thoughts that are heard. Why are hairdressing salons considered places where women get their hair cut and treated, and salons are considered places for men? We wonder if the man's pubic hair is made differently than the woman's. We are wondering if there is a separate training for hairdressers. In the back of my mind, I'm putting it on my to do list to google the subject of gender hair jay hairdressing education that I will go home to after freeing my mind to go to another space-time – about 20 years away from the present.
I'm sitting in the headmaster's office and he's telling me: "You can't get away with wearing a vagrant like that at school. You're not going to seduce the other girls. I'm not going to expel you, but I'm going to let you go, until it grows to the point where, with your hair shaved off, I'll never see you again without a hat, neither in the classroom, nor in the yard," he shouts. I breathe heavily and return back to the hall. Rene, at regular intervals, turns the barber's chair in circles in various directions of the room as his hands continue to comb, comb, thin, comb, comb, thin, comb, comb, thin, comb, comb, thin the
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The narrating voice brings in the relationship created between the person who cuts the hair and the person who is cut. It is enough to remind the fragility of the individuals involved in this transformation process and the necessity of mutual trust. The embodiment of the narrative is not descriptive, nor redundant. The person getting the haircut has their eyes closed and is completely immersed in the almost ritualistic act. Rene's hands continue to comb, comb, thin, comb, comb, thin, comb, comb. thin, comb. cut down, dilute it
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while Rene almost acts in his attempt to follow the path that the client wants, the lines of his hand, and the path that the curves of his hair show him.
Despite the intimacy that is created, the relationship insists on being a relationship between customers, vendors, and services. Rene emphasizes that he is paid for his time - he gives it away. Be sure to get paid for what you offer. My mind wanders off into intervening spacetimes. What's in between paid caregiving time? What can be between the hairs that fall on the floor and in the formation of identities? What can exist between the hairs that are still rooted in the kkellen jai in the formation of these things? Finally, what is between time and time
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Performance art: Renay RoussouCreative direction: Rony Junior El DaccacheSound design: Elena SavvidouVisual design: Eleni Anastasiou*ISHIOTIKI, August 2025 in Xydadiko.
