Startup Wrapup: Dimitris Chimonas
Read | 28 October 2024Aerowaves continued its annual Startup Forum at Spring Forward 2024 in Darmstadt, Mainz and Wiesbaden, inviting ten emerging dance presenters to be guided through the festival by five Aerowaves Partners, and to propose a curatorial project. Three projects were awarded €10,000 each to follow through, those by Ilias Chatzigeorgiou (GR), Dimitris Chimonas (CY), and for the first time a group project, co-ordinated by Samuel Retortillo (ES) with Simona Deaconescu (RO), Nina Fajdiga (SI), Tony Tran (NO) and Masako Matsushita (IT).
We have been publishing snapshots from their production journeys to track their progress, problems and practical solutions. Here, Dimitris Chimonas talks about the final phase of his project called When the Sun Never Sets.
Dimitris Chimonas interviewed by Stella Mastorosteriou
Screenings and discussion – how to talk about what we cannot talk about?
Where the Sun Never Sets concluded with the screening of three films at Queer Wave LGBTQIA + Film Festival on 20 September 2024 – the final step of a long creative journey of meetings, discussions, workshops and happenings, reflected in the format of the films, which curator Dimitris Chimonas describes as “fragments of longer processes”.
“All three projects followed a rabbit-hole logic of associations, with images seamlessly merging into one another, each infused with an undercurrent of horror. Seda Astreou Karides worked with archival footage of school performances, manipulating the montage to recontextualize nationalistic school commemorations into a dreamlike sequence. Kris Adem explored the sirens that sound every year on 20 July in Cyprus – a harsh, unsettling sound that disturbs both animals and people, especially those who experienced the sirens during the invasion 50 years ago. Kris contrasted this with the mythological sirens, whose call is seductive, and created a video from a queer perspective, blending erotic, seductive qualities with imagery of abandonment in the Cypriot countryside. Emidio Vasquez, meanwhile, has been working for years on a project centred around Ayia Napa, Cyprus’ most popular tourist destination. During numerous trips there, he captured photos, which he mixed with AI-generated content and archival tourist documentary footage to construct an elusive and surreal narrative commenting on the blurred lines between reality and fiction when constructing national identity.”
The screenings were followed by a round-table discussion, as a wrap-up of the whole project. “We did not want to talk about what happened in 1974 in Cyprus,” Chimonas clarifies. “This is something we discuss and explore privately, it’s not something we can discuss openly so easily – it’s a very intense and touchy subject. We are never sure how to talk about it. This also relates to the abstract form of the videos: we are more concerned with the approach and the methodology rather than the final content.”
Such perplexity reflects how the participatory Where the Sun Never Sets event of 20 July revolved around the notion of a happening as a format and a curatorial approach, which is integral in Chimonas’ work and artistic thinking. “This fluidity, this openness, is very suitable for such moments, as if it is saying: Let’s live through this moment, let’s breathe through it. We cannot extract conclusions or watch this subject from a distance. It is not a description or a narration, rather the process connects to where we are now on a deeper level: we cannot talk about it, so let’s find out how we can embody it. This is exactly the point where I think what we do is essentially political, even if it is hard to put it into words. It is interesting that we do this a lot in Cyprus: we are very invested in the event as the artistic medium. It leaves no trace, it’s cheap to make, it doesn’t need a lot of materials, you can do it anywhere, it allows for freedom on many levels.”
Openness and authorship – the role of the curator
Chimonas has been employing this curatorial approach of happenings since his previous large-scale project called Sessions. “I believe strongly in this format and that has been confirmed with Where the Sun Never Sets and the collaboration with Viktor Szeri,” he says. “Inviting an artist with an acclaimed performance and discovering that what lies beneath are things we all strive for: the need for belonging, issues of financial instability and artistic uncertainty – it all becomes part of how you think about a proposal, from production to artistic content. We took Szeri’s piece Fatigue and entered its hinterland, where all these other needs are highlighted, to be together and to protest in this abstract way that he is proposing through his work.”
“The curatorial process works much like these interviews: I discover as I speak,” Chimonas laughs. “I approached Viktor and we sort of developed the proposal together. The same thing happened with the event and the movies.” This openness raises questions of authorship. How does Chimonas see his own role? “I am not sure. One of my collaborators told me: your talent and your curse is that you made us all say what you thought, like it was our own thoughts. This makes me part of a community: we are all bees and I also have my little role, which is as basic as everyone else’s role in the end. Even though I’m proud to say that I initiated and created this, in the end you disappear into it… and there’s something very beautiful about that. Something starts with you, and spreads out.”
Collaboration also has its hardships. “Anyone who claims collaborative projects are easy is not being truthful. Everyone brings their own concerns, worries, insecurities and traumas to the table. As the one who initiates the project, you carry the responsibility when things become challenging. It’s always a kind of rehearsal – figuring out how to navigate this idea of community. It requires a great deal of trust, both in yourself and in others. It’s a constant negotiation, as human relationships ebb and flow daily, and this inevitably influences the work. We all have too many things we need to unlearn, in order to gain the confidence to share openly and generously with others.”
Long-term effects and final thoughts
“We would like to pursue this idea of a retreat again next year – bringing people together to discuss key points of reference and create something meaningful. With the rise of AI, VR and other technologies, I fear we may lose touch with the essence of real life – what it means to feel flesh, hear speech, sweat and improvise. These physical, immediate experiences will become all the more precious. My concern is that we don’t forget, that we don’t drift into becoming purely cerebral. We need opportunities to remain present. Even in theatre, where something happens in the body during a performance, there’s still a sense of distance. I’m interested in pushing beyond that, exploring more performative, embodied experiences. The participatory performance of Fatigue in the woods was a revelatory moment for me in this regard. I definitely want to continue exploring these happenings, and see just how far we can take them.”
What becomes evident though, is the issue of production: “How do we do this again when we don’t have the funding any more, how can it be viable and sustainable? In Cyprus, we can be very resourceful and supportive as a community to make things happen. But you always need more people and you always need more money. Big projects like this can swallow you up and become your life, and this should be accounted for in a viable way.”
Before we wrap up, Chimonas reinforces the political essence of art making, especially as we live through crucial wars and conflicts: “In a Eurocentric context, how can we take into account our many different realities, structures and perceptions in order to be essentially inclusive? And at the same time, how do we relate to and stay aware of what is happening around us? How do we stay in touch with reality?”


