NECROPOLIS (FR) | Performance
Arkadi Zaides
04/10/2025 | Saturday | 20:30 | 45’
@Rialto Theatre – on stage
Language: English with greek surtitles
Tickets: €10-12 @rialto.com
Since 1993, UNITED for Intercultural Action, a network of hundreds of anti-racist organizations from all over Europe, has been compiling a list of refugees and migrants who lost their lives on their way to the continent. As of June 2025, when the latest updated version was released, the list included information on 66,519 reported deaths. The total toll is certainly much higher, as many people are neither found nor registered. When scrolling through the many pages of the list one cannot ignore the fact that only a very small number of the deceased are mentioned by name, leaving the vast majority without identifying details.
NECROPOLIS is an ongoing choreographic and documentary work about unknown bodies – a poignant reflection on the ongoing human tragedy at Europe’s borders. By integrating data analysis, choreographic gestures, and documentary practices, Arkadi Zaides and his team delve into the practice of forensics to conceive a new virtual depository mapping the remains of the many whose deaths remain to this day mostly unacknowledged. This archive, revealing a cartography made invisible, stretches across space and time, weaving together the mythologies, histories, geographies and anatomies of those who have found their way to NECROPOLIS. Although there are no bodies to dance with in the city of the dead, it is precisely this absence – the collective body of NECROPOLIS – that Zaides brings to life.
Credits:
Concept & Direction: Arkadi Zaides
Dramaturgy, Text & Voice: Igor Dobricic
Research Assistant: Emma Gioia
Performers: Arkadi Zaides, Emma Gioia
Sculpture: Moran Sanderovich
3D Modeling: Mark Florquin
Avatar Animation: Jean Hubert
Animation Assistant: Thibaut Rostagnat
Light: Jan Mergaert
Sound Design: Asli Kobaner
Grave Location Search:
Aktina Stathaki, Amalie Lynge Lyngesen, Amber Maes, Amirsalar Kavoosi, Andrea Costa, Ans Van Gasse, Arkadi Zaides, Benjamin Pohlig, Bianca Frasso, Carolina-Maria Van Thillo, Christel Stalpaert, Doreen Kutzke, Dorsa Kavoosi, Eleonora Soriente, Elisa Franceschini, Elvura Quesada, Emma Gioia, Eva Maes, Flavia Dalila D’Amico, Frédéric Pouillaude, Friederike Kötter, Gabriel Smeets, Giorgia Mirto, Gosia Juszczak, Igor Dobricic, Ilka Van Bijlen, Jordy Minne, Joris Van Imschoot, Julia Asperska, Juliana Andrea Tapiero Polanía, Juliane Beck, Katia Gandolfi, Katja Seitajoki, Lilas Forissier, Lina Gilani Tsitouri, Lovis Heuss, Luca Lotano, Lucille Haddad, Maite Zabalza, Manuel Lavecchia, Maria Sierra Carretero, Marijana Hameršak, Mercedes Roldan, Myriam Van Imschoot, Myrto Katsiki, Nevena Delić, Osnat Kelner, Özge Atmış, Pepa Torres Perez, Sarah Leo, Selby Jenkins, Simge Güçük, Solveig Gade, Sunniva Vikør Egenes, Tamara Vajdíková, Tilemachos Tsolis, Uroš Škerl, Uršula Lipovec Čebron, Valeria Povolo, Victoria Columba, Yannick Bosc, Yari Stilo, Eleana Charalambous
Technical Director: Etienne Exbrayat
Administration & Production: Simge Güçük / Institut des Croisements
Coproduction:
Théâtre de la Ville (FR), Montpellier Danse 40 Bis (FR), Charleroi Danse (BE), CCN2 Centre Chorégraphique National de Grenoble (FR), les ballets C de la B (BE), Tanz im August / HAU Hebbel am Ufer (DE), La Filature – Scène nationale de Mulhouse (FR)
Residency Support:
CCN – Ballet de Lorraine (FR), STUK (BE), PACT Zollverein (DE), WP Zimmer (BE), Workspacebrussels (BE), Cie THOR (BE)
Support for Experimentation:
RAMDAM, un centre d’art (FR)
Arkadi Zaides / Institut des Croisements is supported by the French Ministry of Culture – DRAC Auvergne Rhône-Alpes
Photography by Institut des Croisements or Arnaud Caravielhe
