Turbine Hall, Giswil, Switzerland
12 September 2026

In the context of Translocal Performance Art Giswil 2026 · Von Mond zu Mond, curated by Antonia Röllin and Benjamin Sunarjo.

Performance: Ektoras Papadimitriou, Kostas Karapanagiotis and Panos Sklavenitis.

Carnival of Contact is an ongoing artistic research project that approaches carnival as a technology of contact with the non-human. A group of travelling figures, Pulcinella, Greenman, Alien, Death, Agnanteros and Bird, move through landscapes following a series of simple protocols. Masks and carnivalesque figures become interfaces through which encounters with animals, plants, landscapes, spirits, the dead, monsters and other forms of otherness can be attempted. The journey produces an expanding archive of photographs, video, sound, drawings, texts, maps, observations and collected findings.

For its first presentation in Giswil, the performance began outside the exhibition space. Pulcinella was fishing in a meadow with a rod baited with a corn cob, while the Greenman suddenly emerged from the vegetation. Sklavenitis, wearing an enormous Swiss cowbell around his neck, led them towards the Turbine Hall, walking rapidly and swinging his body so that the sound of the bell filled the space.

Inside the Turbine Hall, the Greenman changed heads, becoming a hybrid GreenmanAlien: the body of the Greenman with the head of the Alien, carrying a large tree branch from which corn cobs were hanging. Sklavenitis then removed the cowbell, placed it within the installation and put on the mask of Agnanteros. The other masks and heads from the journey, including Bird and Death, were present among the accumulated material. Sklavenitis picked up Bird, and the three figures led the audience through the installation, handling and presenting the material of the journey performatively: photographs, maps, drawings, texts, masks and other findings gathered along the route from Athens to Giswil.

A video played on a loop, while Dr Schacher Seppli sounded loudly on a continuous loop throughout the performance.

Then, suddenly, the three performers left.

The audience remained inside the installation, reading the printed material, looking through the photographs and watching the video. Dr Schacher Seppli continued to play.