A Quick Chat with Nikos Kalaitzidis at #WSD2013

Whilst looking around the World Stage Design Festival Exhibition at RWCMD I was fortunate enough to have a quick chat with Greek designer Nikos Kalaitzidis about his work.

His exhibition piece showcased the design for Fovos (Fear), a site-specific piece exploring the female characters in the work of Edgar Allan Poe. The show took place in 2012 in Bensusan Khan, an old hotel that is 102 years old and therefore provided a suitably eerie backdrop for Nikos's chilling design.

During the performance 20 'guests' are led into the central room (see floor plan below) where they are split into 4 groups and led on a sinister tour through the lives of the ill-fated heroines.

What is most striking is Nikos's attention to detail, 300 hundred old books make up an integral part of the set and candles are the only light source as he says "the audience will notice straight away if something doesn't fit". Parts of the set, such as a blood stained sheet, later become costume adding to the sense of horror and violence so characteristic of Poe's work.

Every part of the design: from set, to costume, to make up; combined to build an immersive and macabre world that certainly would have left the audience unsettled and more than a little spooked.

 
I really recommend having a look at more of Nikos's work at : www.behance.net/nikkos