Tschabalala Self The Bigger Picture

The Bigger Picture, a three-channel video installation by Tschabalala Self, will screen as part of the 25th edition of Hydra School Projects at the Melina Merkouri Art & Concert Hall, Hydra.

In three channels, The Bigger Picture displays a video recording of Self’s first live performance, Sounding Board, 2021. Written and directed by the artist, the play explores themes of domesticity, race, and gender. The dialogue is interspersed with music by Boney M, and the hand painted, sculpturesque stage – set in the bandstand of Harlem’s Jackie Robinson Park – employs the distinctive, brightly coloured geometry and pattern found in the artist's two-dimensional works.

The work presents a domestic drama in which emotional communication, gender roles, and power dynamics within intimate relationships are explored through the script. For Self, it is also an experimental performance about human connection and specifically, how one should romantically maintain an artist. A male and female actors perform emotional dialogues that waver between honesty and absurdity. The Boney M cover band accentuates pivotal moments of the drama, much like a choir in a Greek play. Themes of duality and identity are heightened as viewers notice that the two-character play is performed by four different actors. In the middle of the play, the man and the woman switch their lines and repeat the previous dialogues. This results in an overlapping cacophony of accusations. During the performance, phrases are repeated so often that their meanings change, disappear or become entirely emptied.

Opening hours from 7:30–11:30pm

Opening reception on Tuesday, 18 June, 7pm–12am

Hydra School Projects Exhibition Venues:
The Hydra High School
Gardenia Open Air cinema
Info: + 30 693 8024554