CACT E-STUDIO
Alexandros Plomaritis was born and raised in Thasos, Greece. He moved to the United Kingdom to study Theatre and English Literature at the London Metropolitan University. He has received a Diploma on Dramaturgy at the Queen’s Mary University of London. Later on he completed his Master Degree on Contemporary Performance Making and Installations at the Brunel University. Ιn 2007 he realized his first performance with the performance company Leibniz Live Art Company at the NRLA Festival of Glasgow. He has also worked in Artsadmin of London where he had the chance to work with the artists Franko B, Bobby Baker and DV8 whose works have deeply influenced his performances. He has also worked with the photographer-performer Manuel Vason on various projects in London as well as in Thessaloniki during the 1st Performing Arts Festival, where he was the artistic director. He has presented a number of performances in Festivals, galleries and in public spaces in London, Glasgow, Rome and Thessaloniki. He lives and works in Thessaloniki.
Alexandros Plomaritis’ work governed by a strong socio-political quality, creates powerful images through the practice of performance. Frequently he explores issues of current political state of events, identity and history however he always returns to his very personal experiences in which motifs and symbols from the everyday interact and are identified, seeking identification and common grounds with his audience. Through his artistic practice Plomaritis narrates personal stories and memories that are not only actions of individual expression but rather invite the viewer to a process of collective experience. In his performances, in which he often gets self inflicted, he uses his body as a subject of torture and deliberate violence to emphasize on the artistic aspects and dimensions of the body, which becomes a tool of purification and catharsis. Moreover, Plomaritis’ performances place the viewer in a sensory experience where the human body is constantly challenged and undermined and the relationship and interaction between private and public are confused so as to captivate and challenge the receiver. A chair as an object frequently appears in his performances, as a symbol of power and imposition occurring in structured societies and mechanisms formed in them. Its destruction on one hand symbolizes the undermining of power systems and their potential descend and on the other hand the longing for renewal and a new beginning disengaged by the austerity of hierarchical structures. However the images and stories created and narrated by Plomaritis, condemn any form of establishment and occupy a commendable gravity in space. His narrative actions often ironic yet sophisticated, highlightens the absurd and isolated aspects of modern life dominated by anxiety and obsessions and scrutinizes our phony and artificial society and everyday life.
