Arkadi Zaides is a partner of the project. Their performance Necropolis emerges from and goes back to the List of Refugee Death .
Institut de Croisements (Arkadi Zaides)
Institut des Croisements is a French non-profit association, founded and directed by Simge Gü cü k Arkadi Zaides and supported by the French Ministry of Culture/DRAC Auvergne Rhô ne-Alpes. It promotes and produces Zaides’ research-based long-durational performance “Necropolis”, which has investigated and updated the UNITED list in several international residencies, workshops, and performances since 2018. Arkadi Zaides is enrolled as a PhD scholar in the arts at Ghent University, in collaboration with The University Collega Kask - School of Arts, Ghent, the Royal Conservatoire in Antwerp and the University of Antwerp, all in Belgium.
Performance-based reasearch locating graves
Arkadi Zaides is an Israeli independent choreographer and visual artist of Belarussian origin, currently based in France and Belgium, who developed, from the UNITED list, the long-term performance project Necropolis (2018 onwards). Each performance starts from the very point where the theatre venue is located, and embarks on a navigational choreography with dead migrants in the area, localizing local cases of migrant border deaths that are mentioned in the UNITED list. The research preceding every performance is done in close collaboration with local authorities, hospitals, archives and experts. As research precedes every performance, data continuously feeds the performance, but the performance also updates the research and the archive of UNITED.
The research project NECROPOLIS UNITED is running since 2023, but important field work has been conducted already in the Evros river region, in close collaboration with Arkadi Zaides, UNITED, local migration communities and data experts. Collaboration has been set up with local cultural practitioner Aktina Stathaki. To map the migration narratives, semi-structured, formal Interviews are conducted with key actors involved in the death management system, including forensic scientists Pavlidis and Miniati, activists, international red Cross volunteers, and local experts, such as the village mufti of Sidiro, who has been trusted by Greek authorities with the task of burying the victims of the Evros river, a majority of whom are Muslims.
The impacts of this field work, and the positive secondary benefits, considered in relation to the research questions mentioned above, will be measured during the remaining time span of the research project Necropolis United. However, considering the sustainable information system that is aimed at, and the ongoing research-based performance practice of Arkadi Zaides’ Necropolis, this practice will continue beyond the initial end date of the research project (2026).
“For their research, Arkadi Zaides and his team delve into the practice of forensics to conceive a new virtual depository documenting the remains of the many whose deaths remain to this day mostly unacknowledged.” (“Arkadi Zaides” n.d.)
"Arkadi Zaides (b. 1979, Homel, Ballarus, former USSR) works as a choreographer, performer and researcher. He obtained a master’s degree at the AHK Academy of Theater and Dance in Amsterdam. Since 2021 he is a doctoral researcher in the Arts at the Antwerp University, Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, Ghent University and KASK/School of Arts (HoGent). He is a member of CORPoREAL research group at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp and a member of S:PAM (Studies in Performing Arts), a research unit at the Ghent University.
Zaides’ work examines the ways in which political and social contexts effect the physical body and constitute choreography. His practice aims to challenge and inspire viewers. It offers an inclusive realm that brings together diverse communities and sectors of society. His works were presented among the following countries: France (Theater National De Chaillot, CDC Toulouse, KLAP), Germany (Fabrik Potsdam, Pact Zollverein, Weimar Nationaltheater), The Netherlands (Korzo, Bellevue, Stadsschouwburg Rotterdam), Switzerland (Tanzhaus Zürich), Canada (Firehall Arts Center, MAI), USA (LaMaMa, NYLA), Chile (FIT), Japan (Aoyama Round Theater, Dance Box, Session House), The Czech Republic (4+4 Days in Motion), Poland (Arts Station Foundation, Impart Art Center), Italy (Santarcangelo Theater Festival), Greece (Onassis Foundation), Spain (Mes De Danza, BAD Bilbao), and China (Shanghai Dance Festival)."
Extract taken from (“Arkadi Zaides” n.d.)