Just For Today
How difficult it is to position ourselves in what we call 'today'? To attempt to grasp matters of temporality and history, so as to escape the empty continuity of an infinite linear time, in which each today devours the other, just like Chronos did with his children. Is 'today' ungraspable, something we would be able to get hold of only when distanced by time, as gathered past moments to reflect on? Or are we fully immersed in the present, in its continuous ripples, sudden fractures and unforeseen trajectories? Many of these questions were addressed in the three-day meeting (27-29 October), Just for Today: Gestures that brings us close the things the world is made of, which took place at the Isadora & Raymond Duncan Dance Research Center (DDRC), in Athens, Greece. The event was the opening act for the co-operative project Plant: Performing Life Akademia Network, which takes place between artistic partners in Greece, Spain and Portugal and will be unfolding as a series of events and artist residencies over the next two years. As intended, the word 'today' was a central concept in the encounters and workshops, more like an invitation to surrender peacefully or even approach with curiosity what lies in the moment, which calls for our bodily presence, our opening of mind and heart, our articulating of needs, wishes, dreams, and fears.
Reflection co-written by Anastasio Koukoutas and Kiriakos Spirou, available for download here.