NOULA DIAMANTOPOULOS TO PERFORM QUEST @ MELBOURNE ART FAIR

Artereal Gallery is excited to announce that Sydney based artist noula diamantopoulos will be performing Quest at the upcoming Melbourne Art Fair. 

Noula will be performing an endurance QUEST

Everyday of the Art Fair from

13 - 17 August 2014

At the Royal Exhibition Building

Melbourne, Victoria

The invitation to perform at Melbourne Art Fair marks Quest’s very first performance in Melbourne, and comes following its success and warm reception at last year’s inaugural Sydney Contemporary 13, where it was included as part of Sydney Contemporary Director’s Choice.

Quest is an experimental performance work, in which the artist & participant engage in a silent conversation of questions (no answers) with each other.

Quest is an intimate and personal experience, in which the participant enters a shared space with the artist, and is called interact with the artist in an unconventional form of engagement.

Every Quest is unique, and participants are challenged to be curious, and shift the way they think. Quest highlights the powerful nature of questions, and calls us to question whether the answers we seek could actually be revealed within the questions we ask.

During QUEST, participants are invited to hold a short written conversation of questions with the artist, where no talking is permitted. Participants begin by writing a question and in response, the artist reflects on the question before replying with another question. 

The challenging Q&Q format of the performance is in direct contradiction to the answer-driven society in which we live today. 

“By deliberately focusing on the question rather than the answer, the performance forces participants to stop, pause and reflect – a process which, in many instances, leads individuals to the realization that the initial question they began with was not the real question that lies at the heart of the matter,” she said. 

As part of the endurance performance at Sydney Contemporary, noula sat on meditation pillows in QUEST’s calming pink lit surrounds for 28 hours over 3.5 days, foregoing food, drinks and bathroom breaks throughout the Fair’s opening hours. 

Noula will continue her endurance-like approach to Quest at Melbourne Art Fair, where she will sit for 40 hours over five days.