Rizes Lab

This week Friday, we are happy to host @kasedjin workshop of feminist perspectives on Kurdish oral literature. Cembelî and Binevşa Narin is one of the significant epics transmitted across generations within the dengbêj tradition of Kurdish oral literature. Rooted in the geography of Hakkari, this narrative is not merely a love story; it is also a political text in which power relations, social boundaries, and the regulation of the female body are rendered visible. Read through a feminist lens, the story of Binevşa Narin exposes the patriarchal order through forced marriage, the control of the body, and the transfer of decision-making power over women’s lives to male-dominated structures. Her frequently silenced voice offers a powerful entry point for questioning how women are represented within Kurdish narrative traditions. Beyond a romantic tale of love, this epic reveals the lived experience and silent resistance of a woman striving to exist within a constrained and unequal world. 📍 Musikarama, Valsamonos 1, Neapoli Exarchion @musikarama 🗓️ Friday 8 May | 18:30–21:30 🚪 Free entry – no reservation needed 🗣️ Workshop languages: Kurmanji & English (let us know if you need interpretation) 🎶 Closing the evening with a small concert by @piyacoline ✨ KASED is a women's cultural and social association based in Diyarbakır that works through art, music and collective practices to support Kurdish cultural expression and community life. Project realised in the context of @vahahubs , supporting collaborative cultural exchange and solidarity-based artistic practices. @zusaculture @anadolukulturorg @europeanculturalfoundation

Rizes Lab @rizeslab co-founder Stella Dimitrakopoulou @stelladrim participated in the Erasmus+ Training Course “Youth Work Flow 3.0: Inclusion In Motion” organised and implemented by Lernlabor @lernlabor.berlin in Sidi Kaouki, Morocco. Below she shares her experience: “As a dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher with many years of experience working with young people in different social, cultural, and educational contexts, I approach movement not only as an artistic practice but as a tool for connection, expression, and empowerment. Participating in this Erasmus+ Training Course strengthened and expanded my approach in meaningful ways. AcroYoga is a great technique for young people to experience cooperation, mutual support, and active listening, especially for those who struggle with verbal expression or confidence. The inclusive methodologies as well as the focus on consent and adaptability, explored during the training have reinforced my commitment to creating safer spaces where differences in background, gender, physical ability, and emotional state are respected and valued. Beyond specific techniques, this experience has also influenced my pedagogical mindset. I am even more attentive to power dynamics, group hierarchies, and the importance of care in facilitation. I will continue to use movement as a language that encourages participation, self-awareness, and collective creativity, supporting young people not only in developing physical skills but also in building confidence, agency, and a sense of belonging. Special thanks to @jurikussmaul and @brenda_upside_down for being such inspiring and trustful trainers. Photo credits: Juri, Mouna, Maja, Domi, Fidan #rizeslab #lernlabor #TrainingCourse #erasmus

We are pleased to announce the completion of the artistic program THE YOUTH OF PERFORMANCE ART PROJECT which was implemented under the auspices and with the funding of the Ministry of Culture (Greece). @minculturegr The program served as a platform for creative expression for young people, with performance art as the main means of expression. Through selected themes such as environmental protection, human rights, solidarity, and the value of democracy, teenagers and young adults participated in a creative process during which they developed critical thinking, expressed themselves creatively, and worked as a team to give their own response to contemporary social phenomena. For the program, we invited and collaborated with the following institutions: The Athens Intercultural Education Gymnasium, the Department of Performing and Digital Arts of the University of the Peloponnese @dpda.uop , the Experimental Primary School of Intercultural Education in Alsoupoli, the 2nd Unified High School of Nea Filadelfia, and the Ecumenical Refugee Program SYNIPARXIS - PYXIDA. We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the success of our project. Dr. Stella Dimitrakopoulou @stelladrim and Korina Kotsiri @korinakotsiri , program design and implementation managers Photographic and video material: Konstantza Kapsali @konstanza_k Music: Nikos Kyriazis @nikos_worldfusion Video Editing: Rizes Lab @rizeslab

💥 Την Παρασκευή 21 Νοεμβρίου είχαμε την χαρά να επισκεφτούμε το διαπολιτισμικό σχολείο Αλσούπολης για να υλοποιήσουμε μέρος του προγράμματος «The Youth Performance Αrt Project». Σκοπός του προγράμματος είναι η έκφραση των εφήβων γύρω από θέματα και προβληματικές που τους αφορούν και η καλλιτεχνική τους αποτύπωση μέσω της τέχνης. Το “The Youth Performance Αrt Project” πραγματοποιείται υπό την Αιγίδα και με την οικονομική υποστήριξη του Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού @minculturegr Εκπαιδευτικοί Τέχνης @stelladrim & @korinakotsiri ............................................................................... 💥“On Friday, November 21, we had the pleasure to visit the Alsoupoli Intercultural School to implement part of the program ‘The Youth Performance Art Project’.” The aim of the program is to encourage young people to express themselves on issues and concerns that affect them, and to translate these into artistic creation through Art. The “Youth Performance Art Project” is held under the auspices and with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture. @minculturegr Art Educators: Stella Dimitrakopoulou & Korina Kotsiri

✨ What a beautiful night to close our KILIM HUB! ✨ Many thanks to VAHA for initiating inspiring projects and processes across the VAHA III hubs The KILIM HUB Athens 2025, is composed by @ntizeza @yellowbrick_studio @khoraathens @rizeslab , thank you all for making KILIM HUB possible. 🌽🥣And a warm thank you to all our communities, the artists and collaborators: @vasilikisifostratoudaki @anastasteia @sofiazafeir @eliana.otta @anouckchenebeau @stelladrim @korinakotsiri Thank you for the shared work, the care, and everything we shaped together. 🧶 🫰The specially baked cornflower used in chavits was kindly provided by To Pontiakon store, Agias Fotinis 4, Nea Ionia 142 31, Greece

Την Πέμπτη 13 Νοεμβρίου, είχαμε τη χαρά να υλοποιήσουμε το εργαστήριο μας «Ένα κοινοβούλιο μέσα από την Κοινωνική Χορογραφία» στο Τμήμα Παραστατικών και Ψηφιακών Τεχνών της Σχολής Καλών Τεχνών του ΠΑΠΕΛ (Ναύπλιο) @pda.uop.gr @dpda.uop Στο εργαστήριο αυτό εστιάσαμε στο κοινοβούλιο και την διαχείρηση ανθρωπίνων υποθέσεων χωρίς την χρήση του λόγου, μέσα από μια βιωματική προσέγγιση βασισμένη στο έργο PARLIAMENT του χορογράφου Michael Klien. Οι συμμετέχοντες/ουσες χρησιμοποίησαν τα χορογραφικά scores ως εργαλείο και μέσα από πρακτική άσκηση εξερεύνησαν την έννοια της κοινωνικής χορογραφίας, πρακτικές συλλογικής δράσης και διαφορετικές μεθόδους ανατροφοδότησης. Το εργαστήριο πραγματοποιήθηκε στο πλαίσιο του προγράμματος Νεανικής Περφόρμανς, που υλοποιεί η ομάδα μας με την Αιγίδα και τη Χρηματοδότηση του Υπουργείου Πολιτισμού. @minculturegr Ευχαριστούμε την Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια Τζίνα Γιωτάκη για την φιλοξενία του εργαστηρίου μας στο πλαίσιο των μαθημάτων της, την Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια Χριστίνα Παπαγιαννούλη @chpapagi για την συνδιοργάνωση της συνεργασίας και την Βιτόρια Κοτσάλου @vitoriakotsalou για την υποστήριξη. ✨ Ευχαριστούμε επίσης όλες/ους εσάς που συμμετείχατε με ανοιχτότητα! -- On Thursday, November 13, we had the pleasure of holding our workshop "A Parliament through Social Choreography" at the Department of Performing and Digital Arts of the School of Fine Arts of ιν Nafplio. In this workshop, we focused on the management of human affairs without the use of speech, through an experiential approach based on the work PARLIAMENT by choreographer Michael Klien. Participants used choreographic scores as a tool and, through practical exercises, explored the concept of social choreography, collective action practices, and different methods of feedback. The workshop was held as part of The Youth Performance Art Project, implemented by Rizes Lab with the support and funding of the Ministry of Culture. We would like to express our gratitude to Gina Giotaki for hosting our workshop as part of her course and to Christina Papagiannouli for co-organizing and to Victoria Kotsalou for the support. #parliament #performanceart #youthperformanceartproject #youth

🗓 Thursday, November 20 | 7:00–9:00pm 📍 Stoa Fexi, Patision 14, 5th floor, Omonia, Athens, GR 🧩 KILIM HUB is excited to share a limited edition of our publication poster, visualising our work. This project is not about preservation—but about presence: listening, persisting, and weaving across a fractured urban fabric to meet the other. ✨ The poster was beautifully designed by @mat.nik Matina Nikolaidou. 🍲 The KILIM HUB Closing Event will take place at @ntizeza , with a collective cooking and tasting of a vegan Pontic dish, chavits (χαβίτς). Anastasia Diavasti (@anastasteia ) will lead the preparations, with her mum Sofoula and aunt Parthena (Nitsa) Andronikidou joining live via video call from Thessaloniki. 🔹 This is the final event of KILIM Hub, a collaborative project between: @khoraathens | @yellowbrick_studio | @rizeslab | @ntizeza as part of @vahahubs III: Reclaiming Common Spaces through Art and Culture in Solidarity. 🔹 Kilim Hub explored a hybrid narrative based on postmemory and oral history, focusing on herstory—a feminist approach highlighting women’s daily lives, perspectives, and experiences. Through oral narratives and urban space, we examined the city’s migration and movement history from an intimate, human lens. 💛 Many thanks to all the artists & collaborators who made this project possible, to VAHA & DSUSA for their mindful supper, and to Matina Nikolaidou for bringing the publication to life. 🧶 Artists & Collaborators: @sofiazafeir @vasilikisifostratoudaki @eliana.otta @anastasteia @stelladrim @korinakotsiri

🔸Kilim Hub invites you to NTIZEZA for a collective cooking and tasting of a vegan version of the pontic dish chavits (χαβίτς). Anastasia Diavasti, will initiate the preparations for this dish, with the help of her mum Sofoula and auntie Parthena (Nitsa) Andronikidou, on a live video call from Thessaloniki, 🔸The word “chavits” is of Armenian origin and means “porridge”. Ιt is made traditionally with baked cornmeal, butter, and cheese, and served as a warm, comforting dish. For this version, dairy products will be replaced with vegan ones. 🔸This is the last event of KILIM Hub, a collaborative project between Khora, Yellow Brick, Rizes Lab and NTIZEZA, within the context of VAHA III: Reclaiming Common Spaces through Art and Culture in Solidarity. 🔸Kilim proposed a hybrid narrative based on postmemory and oral history, focusing on herstory; a feminist approach to history that highlights the roles and perspectives of women and emphasises their daily experiences, emotions and gendered dimensions. We chose to examine the city’s migration and movement history through the humble lens of oral narratives and the urban space. 🔸On the same evening, we will happily share with you a publication poster that visualises our work as Kilim Hub. Both our work and this publication are not about preservation, but more about presence; listening as an act of persistence and weaving across a fractured urban fabric to meet the other. 🔸Collective chavits cooking with Sofoula and Parthena🔸 Thursday, November 20 7.00-9.00pm Stoa Fexi, Patision 14, 5th floor, Omonia, Athens, GR Languages: English, Greek and Pontic . . . . #Kilimhub #VAHAprogramme #herstories #pontic_food #pontic_greeks #collectivecooking #kilimhub_publication #commonspaces

Ευχαριστούμε πολύ όλους/όλες εσάς που ήρθατε εχθές στην πρεμιερα μας!! Σας περιμένουμε απόψε για μια τελευταία παράσταση στο Πανω Σπίτι Λεωφόρος Αλεξάνδρας 37 στις 20.00. 🗓 8–9 Νοεμβρίου 2025 | 20.00 📍 Το Πάνω Σπίτι, Λεωφόρος Αλεξάνδρας 37 Το Πάνω Σπίτι 🎟 Είσοδος: 10€ (δεν υπάρχει προπώληση - μόνο με μετρητά στον χώρο) ⏳ Διάρκεια: 50 λεπτά 🌿 Δημιουργική ομάδα: Σκηνοθεσία, Οργάνωση και Παραγωγή: Στέλλα Δημητρακοπούλου @stelladrim Ερμηνεία: Μαρίσσα Μπίλη @marissa.bili , Αιμιλιανή Σταυριανίδου @aimilianistavrianidou , Στέλλα Δημητρακοπούλου Φωτιστική Εγκατάσταση: Κωνσταντίνος Τσιώλης, Νικόλας Μαγκριώτης Ενδυματολόγος: Αντιγόνη Ευτυχιάδη @anti.ef Video: Κωνσταντίνος Τσιώλης Εταιρεία Παραγωγής: Rizes Lab @rizeslab

ΑΕΡΟΦΥΤΑ μια τελετουργική περφόρμανς για τον ξεριζωμό και την δύναμη της επιβίωσης. 🗓 8–9 Νοεμβρίου 2025 | 20.00 📍 Το Πάνω Σπίτι, Λεωφόρος Αλεξάνδρας 37 🎟 Είσοδος: 10€ (δεν υπάρχει προπώληση - μόνο με μετρητά στον χώρο) ⏳ Διάρκεια: 50 λεπτά Μέσα σε ένα ιδιαίτερο και ατμοσφαιρικό σπίτι οι θεατές περιπλανιούνται ελεύθερα, συμμετέχοντας σε μια τελετουργία σταδιακής μεταμόρφωσης. Τρεις γυναίκες συναντιούνται, όπως άλλοτε γύρω από το μοιρολόι, για να μετατρέψουν τη σιωπή σε φωνή και τον πόνο σε συλλογική μνήμη. Τα αερόφυτα είναι φυτά χωρίς ρίζες, που απορροφούν τα θρεπτικά συστατικά τους από τον αέρα. Στην εύθραυστη ύπαρξή τους καθρεφτίζεται η εμπειρία του ξεριζωμού - το αέναο αιώρημα ανάμεσα σε τόπους, γλώσσες και μνήμες. Ταυτόχρονα, αναδεικνύεται η δύναμη της επιβίωσης και προτείνεται ένας τόπος όπου η διαφορετικότητα μετατρέπεται σε μορφή αντίστασης. Η περφόρμανς αφιερώνεται στους μετέωρους ανθρώπους και σε όσους αναζητούν το «ανοίκειν». Μέσα από το σώμα και τη φωνή , το έργο κινείται ανάμεσα στην απώλεια και την ανθεκτικότητα, αναζητώντας το πώς μπορεί κανείς να ριζώσει, έστω μέσα στον αέρα. 🌿 Δημιουργική ομάδα: Σκηνοθεσία, Οργάνωση και Παραγωγή: Στέλλα Δημητρακοπούλου @stelladrim Ερμηνεία: Μαρίσσα Μπίλη @marissa.bili , Αιμιλιανή Σταυριανίδου @aimilianistavrianidou , Στέλλα Δημητρακοπούλου Φωτιστική Εγκατάσταση: Κωνσταντίνος Τσιώλης, Νικόλας Μαγκριώτης Ενδυματολόγος: Αντιγόνη Ευτυχιάδη @anti.ef Φωτογραφίες: Γιαννης Ρουσουνέλος @yannis_rousounelos Video: Κωνσταντίνος Τσιώλης Εταιρεία Παραγωγής: Rizes Lab @rizeslab

Last day, September 13th, of the Transnational Networking meeting in Pristina, Kosovo, along with @rizeslab and @khora , as Kilim Hub. Many thanks to the organizers VAHA @vahahubs and Sekhmet Institute @sekhmet.ks for such a beautiful moment, to our host @termokiss and to all the participants for the meaningful exchanges! We are excited for the next steps to come! Photo credits: @grid_visualss @zana_begolli KILIM HUB ATHENS : @ntizeza @yellowbrick_studio @khoraathens @rizeslab

Some first impressions from our workshop «Βody topographies: Movements, Threads, Narratives». 🧶 Through breath, movement, and guided meditation, every participant followed the quiet pulse binding body, memory, and place. Slowly, an atlas of sensations began to emerge. In the end, these body maps are more than artifacts, they are meditations in form, dialogues between the seen and the unseen, the “inside” and the “outside.” Each one a cartography of being, a testament to the ways we inhabit ourselves. 🧵Thank you to all who joined us and we look forward to meeting you again. 🌻KILIM Hub proposes a hybrid narrative based on postmemory and oral history, through a series of collaborative practices. Focusing on “Herstory,” a feminist approach to history that highlights the roles and perspectives of women, emphasises their daily experiences, emotions and gendered dimensions. A workshop by KILIM HUB in the context of @vahahubs Designed and led by @rizeslab @stelladrim @korinakotsiri Hosted at @yellowbrick_studio Photos by @konstanza_k 🍋 KILIM HUB : @khoraathens @sofiazafeir @rizeslab @korinakotsiri @stelladrim @ntizeza @anastasteia @yellowbrick_studio @vasilikisifostratoudaki @anouckchenebeau @eliana.otta #VAHAprogramme #CulturalNetworks #IndependentSpaces #ArtAndDialogue #artistrunspace #yellowbrick_studio #ntizeza #rizeslab #khora