DARKWAVES
DARKWAVES departs from a pixelated image.
Across a shifting structure of DIY LED panels, archives appear and disappear: riots, burning streets, bodies gathering. The performers move beneath and between them, caught in the passage from one image to the next.
DARKWAVES stays with the unstable power of these images: how they move us, shape memory, and through repetition can leave us numb. It asks what remains in the body after the image has passed.
An image has to be carried
The LED structure and coding are part of Vladimir Babinchuk’s contribution to the work. The MIR field test used four modular MDF panels, hand-soldered LED strips and a Raspberry Pi running custom scripts. Cables, supports and electronics remain visible.
Scenography is produced through handling: lifting a panel, carrying its weight, changing its position, setting it down. The archive is encountered through light, movement and the exhaustion of bodies.
After MIRfestival
DARKWAVES premiered at MIRfestival on 21 November 2025 at opbo studio, Athens, followed by performances on 22, 23 and 24 November. Following the creation of STRIKE in 2026, Eleni Roberts Kazouri and Vladimir Babinchuk are returning to DARKWAVES.
The next stage will deepen the curation of archival material, the bodily practices of rage and exhaustion, and the movement of the panels as choreography. Its duration and configuration remain open.
Recordings
Documentation. The work happened elsewhere.
Trailer
DARKWAVES · 2025
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Performance photograph · © Georgios Athanasiou / mufatsa
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MIR field test · 2025 credits
- Concept & performance
- Eleni Roberts Kazouri, Vladimir Babinchuk
- Sound composition & performance
- Antonia Kattou
- LED structure & coding
- Vladimir Babinchuk
- Dramaturgical advice
- Antoine Dupuy Larbre
- LED & coding mentor
- Lieven Menschaert
- Lighting design
- Ifigenia Yianniou, Tasos Paleoroutas, Athanasios Krioneritis
- Production
- SOAP Office (BE)
- Co-production
- MIR Festival (GR)
- Residencies
- Garage29 (G.IN 2024), P.A.R.T.S. Summer Residencies, TanzTendenz (DE), Moragemou (GR), FAMEUS (BE), LaVallée (BE)
- Support
- Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles Research Grant 2024; Wallonie-Bruxelles International
- Photographs
- Georgios Athanasiou / mufatsa
- Thanks
- Aliki Kazouri, Stathis Ioannou, Despina Sanida Krezia, Irini Anna Georgiou, Urtė Groblytė, Lieven Menschaert
Selected presentations
21–24 November 2025 · MIRfestival · opbo studio · Athens, Greece · World premiere on 21 November; further performances on 22, 23 and 24 November.