back to the overview I deutschsprachige Version des Textes What does it mean to live, act and manage everyday life in an environment whose language you do not understand? Is it possible to be authentic in an environment with a different language? How does one´s moral compass change in a new, confusing environment through which one must first navigate? In her work, Nikki Spanou explores the relationships between an unintelligible language and the reality of life in a new place. As a first approach, the theatre artist and director interviewed people who have chosen Berlin as their new centre of life. The reasons for this decision were the comparatively low cost of living, the diversity of lifestyles and the importance of art in Berlin. In the interviews, some of the interviewees answered in their mother tongue. In the exhibition area, these excerpts can be heard as a jumble of languages that is not immediately comprehensible and is reminiscent of DADA with its serious incomprehensibility. In an eight-hour performance, which is performed in the exhibition area and can be seen afterwards as a recording, Spanou leans on Freud´s concept of an It, and I and a Superego. The It is embodied in the model of boxes filled with packaging material, tools such as scissors and parcel tape as well as personal objects that emerged in the conversations with the Neuberliners. The superego is represented by a metal figurine dressed in a voluminous skirt made of packaging pellets and plastic foil. During the eight-hour performance, this skirt is constantly destroyed and rearranged until no more material exists. The ego is represented by the performer, who mediates between the It and the superego in order to change the appearance of the superego and thereby also herself. The scene is encircled by neon light letters, which, however, can only be deciphered as gibberish. During the transformation of the skirt, the performer asks the audience for help. However, these requests for help are in Greek. As the performance progresses, Spanou uses more and more body language to encourage the audience to bring certain tools. The overriding question is how much empathy the audience can muster in a situation where they do not understand the language and have little knowledge of the performer´s situation. The starting point of her explorations were conversations, walks, and her tireless curiosity about everyday life in Berlin. In doing so, the illustrator and graphic designer emphasizes that she has sometimes fallen hard for the clichés and stereotypes that characterize Berlin.A recurring experience is the way cash is handled in Berlin. In one comic, a couple is enjoying a meal in a restaurant. When they wish to pay, they discover that the restaurant only accepts cash payments. The male figure straps on his rucksack and heads out on his adventure, after telling his girlfriend that she should not wait for him, and that he loves her. He trudges through heat, rain, and snow until he finally stops at an ATM to joyfully hold banknotes in his hands.The artist’s observations in a supermarket also hover between everyday life and stereotypes, as each customer is made aware of the beginning and end of their purchases when the “product divider” is laid on the conveyer belt. In her book, António takes the opportunity to portray different characters, personalities, and moods of Berlin’s city life in each comic. Other specific Berlin behaviors that António depicts narratively in her comics include the Berliners‘ adherence to the rules, such as waiting for the green signal at a crosswalk, even when no vehicle is in sight, a stark contrast to the behavior of other big-city dwellers. Berlin’s administration is also famous and infamous for the way it works. António depicts their working methods in a comic strip that deals with the obsession with paper and the rigidity of Berlin’s bureaucracy. António brings a wry grin to the faces of Berliners with her depiction of their avoidance of small talk by keeping conversations going with the word “genau,” meaning “exactly.” In a Schöneberg street view, António shows a demonstration procession in front of large-scale street art. The counterpart to the public space used for politics is what António sees as a typical Berlin interior: A large room, very sparsely furnished with a chair on which a book by gender theorist Judith Butler is placed. The different characters represent many places and situations of life in a metropolitan area. At the same time, the comics are always subjective views and experiences of a woman who grew up in Portugal. The finely drawn images and the narrative interpretation facilitate the viewer’s sense of being part of subjective perceptions. At the same time, and therein lies the tension of the book, the comics analyze Berlin’s peculiarities very humorously and with great precision. Text: Dr. Silke Förschler Photo: Victoria Tomaschko Photo: Victoria Tomaschko Photo: Victoria Tomaschko Photo: Victoria Tomaschko Photo: Victoria Tomaschko Photo: Victoria Tomaschko Photo: Victoria Tomaschko Photo: Victoria Tomaschko About Nikki Spanou She studied ancient and contemporary theater in Greece and has been involved in theater and the performing arts her whole life. After graduating from theater studies in 2017, she has been exclusively working at the theater as a performer, director and a light and sound tecnhician for theater productions all around Athens. She is also a writer with two published short stories, two short story contest wins, and a documentary theater play about the crimes and trials of the Manson family murders that was presented over the course of three months at Argo theater in Athens. Her work focuses mostly on current events with commentary about recent issues and the constant struggle of being a human being in a world humanity itself has created. Main goal of her art is to be political without pushing agendas, but by making people think for themselves and interact with and participate at my performances.
