STAGE FRIGHT, Nitra Gallery, Athens, 2024.
Stage fright or performance anxiety, is a state of fear which occurs when an individual is faced with the requirement of performing in front of an audience. Stage fright symptoms can occur at different levels.
Physical: sweating, altered heart rate, headache, upset stomach, nausea. Cognitive: mental confusion, fear of failure and ridicule. Behavioural: urge to escape, stuttering, frequent or long silences. Stage fright is also associated with social phobia, which is characterised by underestimating of one's own capabilities, overestimation of the opinion of others, overestimation of the idea of rejection.
Source: Βrainly.ph
The installation consists of three elements that have been placed along an axis that sits diagonally in the gallery space: 1) A collection of props, that have been used in actual theatre productions, packed within a plastic container, 2) A wooden structure that reffers to the backstage condition of theater, where panels and walls are held up by such forms. The wooden structure is on wheels - a common place for stage sets – which serve for quick movements and set changes. At the front of the structure, there is a translucent 'theatre curtain'. Between the backstage and the curtain, the stage has disappeared, 3) A scaled model (1:50) of a stand with spectators, placed at the end of the diagonal axis. The spectators are a homogenous, gray mass, gazing towards the 'theatre curtain'. This is an attempt to capture the moment before one arises at the center of attention, blinded by the 'spotlight', overwhelmed, exposed to an 'audience' that is watching closely.
Curated by Aliki Tsirliagou, Photographs by Vangelis Dimopoulos.